OREANDA-NEWS. October 15, 2015. The Ordsall Chord is part of 1bn+ of improvements across the north of England included in Network Rail’s ‘Railway Upgrade Plan’.

By linking Manchester’s three main railway stations - Piccadilly, Victoria and Oxford Road - the Ordsall Chord will improve capacity and enable faster, more frequent services between towns and cities across the north, as well as the creation of new direct routes to the city’s airport.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We welcome this decision as the Ordsall Chord forms a key part of our Railway Upgrade Plan for the north of England. More than ?1bn is being invested to provide passengers with better services and we plan to start work on the Ordsall Chord as soon as possible.” 

Today’s judgment was handed down by Mrs Justice Lang in the Planning Court in London.  She dismissed all three claims made by Mark Whitby: two statutory challenges of the Transport and Works Act order, one of the Listed Building Consent and a judicial review of the planning permission.  Mrs Justice Lang also refused permission for Mr Whitby to appeal.

The Ordsall Chord will support the delivery of:

  • Two new fast trains per hour between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool
  • Six fast trains an hour between Leeds and Manchester
  • A new direct service through Manchester city centre to Manchester Airport
  • Faster journey times to Hull, Newcastle and the North East
About Network Rail

Network Rail owns, manages and develops Britain’s railway – the 20,000 miles of track, 40,000 bridges and viaducts, and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations (the largest of which we also run). In partnership with train operators we help people take more than 1.6bn journeys by rail every year - double the number of 1996 - and move hundreds of millions of tonnes of freight, saving almost 8m lorry journeys. We’re investing ?38bn in the railway by 2019 to deliver more frequent, more reliable, safer services and brighter and better stations.