Originally Posted by
Scouseinmanc
How could Lime St be extended? There isn't any room for extension to the left or the right of the station. Even if there was, there are only 4 tracks within the station throat, which would not be able to cope with the additional traffic. The platforms are already incredibly long & do not need to be extended. However, the possibility of double deckers, similar to those in the Netherlands would be a definite possibility.
The platforms are not long enough for the Eurostar type of trains. They can be lengthened by cutting back the rock. The four tracks can cope indeed. Edge Hill has been mentioned as a waiting point for trains. The idea being to minimise the time a train is at a platform at Lime St. The new Jubilee Line in London shifts more train per hour because of computerised signaling. A lot of traffic can be pushed through four tracks.
The fantastic conversion by Manchester City Council of Manchester Central into GMEX during the 1980's (& funnily has now been renamed back to Manchester Central), is a prime example of how these great Victorian iron halls can be reused after their original use, rather than being torn down.
Central has no kerb appeal. A dockside location is far more appealing, than a hidden city centre location.
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This would have been an excellent location for a conference/exhibition centre. Although, I am still of the mindset that Central should never have closed in the first place, as I stated earlier!!
Central should have closed as the business was not there at the time. I think what you are saying is that a new Central high level should have been built instead of those stumpy buildings that are to be built on the site.
You also have to look ahead. The city centre is moving onto the river and dock waterways and will become more linear. Lime St will then be on the extreme east of the city centre. A new station can be built anywhere on the northern line and terminate near the centre/docks (at the end of the Waterloo tunnel?) with Merseyrail links.
The same can be said for the south end, again a station at the end of the Wapping tunnel with the Cheshire line tunnel to Central curved into the Wapping tunnel. Again access to Merseyrail. This would entail sharing of the tracks with Merseyrail trains, which currently share no track with any other service.
This new station(s) would then serve the new highly populated city centre.
How many people that alight at Lime St go to the centre? A minority at is for sure. Maybe Edge Hill should be used and promoted more.
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