A new route linking Piccadilly and Victoria stations in Manchester is ready for use
Completion of the two-year Ordsall chord project was marked on 9 November 2017 in Manchester when Rail Minister Paul Maynard installed the final rail clip onto the new piece of rail infrastructure. The new chord enables trains to run from the north east into Manchester’s Victoria station and then through Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations and on to the south of the city to Manchester Airport. This avoids the need for these services to cross the station throat at Piccadilly and reverse to reach the airport, as they did with the previous eastern approach to the station, thus releasing capacity for more services to serve Piccadilly in the future.
The principal feature of the chord is the world’s first asymmetric rail bridge, which takes the chord over the river Irwell and stands alongside the birthplace of modern inter-city railways where, in 1830, George Stephenson unveiled the Liverpool-Manchester railway.
The first passenger service to use the Ordsall chord is due to be the 08.40 Manchester Victoria to Manchester Oxford Road on Sunday 10 December 2017. As a result of infrastructure programme slippages, the first major…
