Bargepole23 Â Â 337 #37 Posted February 19, 2021 11 hours ago, Delbow said: Well, we could always avoid flying, which is the sane thing to do in the current climate (pun intended) We could, but a lot of the time you have to be there in the flesh. I used to spend a large part of my time flying hither and thither to petrochem plants worldwide as an engineer. As do plenty of others, impossible to do via Teams unfortunately. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Annie Bynnol   596 #38 Posted February 19, 2021 14 hours ago, Man in Crete said: Fact remains that Sheffield is always an afterthought and sadly 3rd class  in most areas i don’t hear of this council kicking off in big style over this and it’s about time they did so?  Timetable options to improve rail performance in the north of England "Proposes options to improve train performance in the Manchester area and beyond by altering the north of England rail timetable. This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 10 March 2021"  The Council will need to think this through before jumping in with both feet. For example many more Sheffield residents would benefit from a faster and more reliable train service to Manchester than would from a hourly train to the the Airport. The start on the new Dore curve and station, the Bamford loop, the junctions at Hazel Grove and Stockport and another plaform at Chinley The failure of Government to fund platform 15/16 at Piccadilly and associated work after the completion of the Castlefield Curve is the root cause of Manchester awful train performance. Many other places including North Wales, Chester, Liverpool and Hull could loose their Airport connection. Sheffield needs allies and a well planned response.   Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
BigAl1   142 #39 Posted February 19, 2021 21 hours ago, andingmen said: In contrast to other people's experience, I have found the Manchester Airport direct train extremely useful, popular and reliable. I have used it on business for a number of years on different days of the week, mostly in the early mornings. I for one would be extremely disappointed if it were to be removed. Firstly, for the inconvenience caused to so many travellers, especially those with significant amounts of luggage or with disability and secondly, for the message sent out that, once again, Sheffield is not considered important enough to have a direct rail link to its nearest major air hub. I'm also sad that this possible proposal appears to be so meekly accepted by many. Useful: certainly I am with you 100%.  Popular: most people on the train are not going to the airport from Sheffield and further East and often overcrowed simply because of a reluctance to provide enough seats in the first place (fault of government franchichising and decisions when the class 185s were bought by First  reliable: depends on your definition but pre covid certainly TPE had serious punctuality issues - Take from 9 December 2018 to 18 May 2019 only 85% of TPE trains on time also cancellations have at times been high over 28 days of operation (21 July to 17 August 2019), an average of 42 trains were cancelled (or part cancelled) each day. This represents 12.9% of the overall number of services. (these dates were simply what I could find for pre covid not an attempt to look for a skewed period). The simple fact that going to the airport with a plane to catch you have to allow extra time for a cancelled train /late train  I do not know the numbers from Sheffield to the airport by train but this is nothing to do with importance and yes I would love a regular service myself but there s a bigger picture and I for one am not going to throw my toys out of the pram over this as unfortunate as it is I can see the logic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Annie Bynnol   596 #40 Posted February 19, 2021 (edited) There are a lot of comments on the number seats available on trains to Manchester. As a regular user of the trains to Stockport these comments are dated. Nearly all services are now "doubled". All the class 158 EMR trains are rostered as 4 car trains which split at Nottingham. All the class 185 TPE trains bar 2 turns,  are now 6 car services. The replacement Northern stopping trains cannot be lengthened because of the short platforms/door operation. There will be a change in operator and rolling stock soon.  Most of the cancellations, late and short trains are due to the congestion problems in the Manchester area with a knock on effect at Doncaster and Nottingham. It is these issues which the "plan" is trying to solve.  Separately the Liverpool Norwich trains are planned not to extend past Nottingham from December. York will control all trains as far as Hope. Dore Junctions/station and Bamford work should have started. It is likely that Airport Cleethorpes trains will terminate anyway at Doncaster in the future.      Edited February 19, 2021 by Annie Bynnol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Anna B   1,365 #41 Posted February 19, 2021 Surely if Doncaster Sheffield Airport is being extended, that will become the main airport for Sheffield.  Manchester airport is tatty and not a very pleasant place to be, and the drive over the Pennines is long, hard and almost impossible in a bad winter. Of course we should still have our own airport if it had been handled correctly.  Let's see if Sheffield City Council and Mayor can put some pressure on to get Sheffield a good deal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Annie Bynnol   596 #42 Posted February 19, 2021 2 minutes ago, Anna B said: Surely if Doncaster Sheffield Airport is being extended, that will become the main airport for Sheffield.  Manchester airport is tatty and not a very pleasant place to be, and the drive over the Pennines is long, hard and almost impossible in a bad winter. Of course we should still have our own airport if it had been handled correctly.  Let's see if Sheffield City Council and Mayor can put some pressure on to get Sheffield a good deal. Doncaster/Leeds/East Midlands are not going to provide the range of global non-holiday destinations that Heathrow/Gatwick/Manchester provide. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
peteh1 Â Â 10 #43 Posted February 19, 2021 Doncaster would be my airport of choice but fares are almost always more expensive, not sure why that should be, East Mid / Birm always significantly cheaper, more than enough to cover additional travel time and costs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Bargepole23   337 #44 Posted February 19, 2021 3 hours ago, Anna B said: Surely if Doncaster Sheffield Airport is being extended, that will become the main airport for Sheffield.  Manchester airport is tatty and not a very pleasant place to be, and the drive over the Pennines is long, hard and almost impossible in a bad winter. Of course we should still have our own airport if it had been handled correctly.  Let's see if Sheffield City Council and Mayor can put some pressure on to get Sheffield a good deal. Don't think I've found any airport a nice place to be, and I've been in an awful lot of them. They're a means to an end for business travelers.  Doncaster will never be any sort of replacement for Manchester or Heathrow, I think I've used it once on business. Sheffield airport was handy only because of that connection to Amsterdam, from where you can fly virtually anywhere. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Westie1889   0 #45 Posted February 20, 2021 13 hours ago, Anna B said: Surely if Doncaster Sheffield Airport is being extended, that will become the main airport for Sheffield.  Manchester airport is tatty and not a very pleasant place to be, and the drive over the Pennines is long, hard and almost impossible in a bad winter. Of course we should still have our own airport if it had been handled correctly.  Let's see if Sheffield City Council and Mayor can put some pressure on to get Sheffield a good deal. Manchester airport is a bit tired in places but they are spending a billion to expand and renovate it with the terminal 2 expansion last year being the first step so it will outgrow any airport in the north by some distance. Doncaster is a lovely little airport and so convenient but in terms of business I’ve only been able to use it for Warsaw and Eindhoven and I think the Eindhoven flight has now stopped. They did fly to Dublin but the times are not really convenient when I last looked.  Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
BigAl1   142 #46 Posted February 20, 2021 15 hours ago, Anna B said: Surely if Doncaster Sheffield Airport is being extended, that will become the main airport for Sheffield.  Manchester airport is tatty and not a very pleasant place to be, and the drive over the Pennines is long, hard and almost impossible in a bad winter. Of course we should still have our own airport if it had been handled correctly.  Let's see if Sheffield City Council and Mayor can put some pressure on to get Sheffield a good deal. Dream on Doncaster will never be able to provide the range of destinations offer by Manchester  Have you ever tried getting to Doncaster airport by public transport from Sheffield - makes changing trains at Piccadilly seem like a walk in the park  Agree that in many respects Manchester airport is a second rate experience  the various changes that Annie Bynnol should make the service far more reliable and despite the need for a change far less stressful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
AndrewC   271 #47 Posted February 22, 2021 On 20/02/2021 at 10:43, Bigal1 said: Dream on Doncaster will never be able to provide the range of destinations offer by Manchester  Have you ever tried getting to Doncaster airport by public transport from Sheffield - makes changing trains at Piccadilly seem like a walk in the park  Agree that in many respects Manchester airport is a second rate experience  the various changes that Annie Bynnol should make the service far more reliable and despite the need for a change far less stressful. I don't disagree that it's unlikely Doncaster will ever rival Manchester but it's a little short-sighted to simply look at the public transport situation now and state - 'that means it can never be any better than it is'.  The connections grow and change with the airport. Investment in connections helps the airport to grow, and growth in the airport helps makes more and better connections more financially viable and attractive.  Needless to say, public transport connections to Manchester Ringway airfield decades ago were non-existent!  There have been interesting proposals to try and link DSA up to the nearby East Coast Mainline, opening up new markets including London, and - more important locally - opening up the chance of a direct train from Sheffield to DSA via Doncaster, but sadly they've been knocked back. Shame; would have been a game-changer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
tinfoilhat   11 #48 Posted February 22, 2021 3 hours ago, AndrewC said: I don't disagree that it's unlikely Doncaster will ever rival Manchester but it's a little short-sighted to simply look at the public transport situation now and state - 'that means it can never be any better than it is'.  The connections grow and change with the airport. Investment in connections helps the airport to grow, and growth in the airport helps makes more and better connections more financially viable and attractive.  Needless to say, public transport connections to Manchester Ringway airfield decades ago were non-existent!  There have been interesting proposals to try and link DSA up to the nearby East Coast Mainline, opening up new markets including London, and - more important locally - opening up the chance of a direct train from Sheffield to DSA via Doncaster, but sadly they've been knocked back. Shame; would have been a game-changer. Depending on how airlines and holiday companies get on next year, I wouldn't be hugely surprised if some airports like Doncaster shut completely. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...