Andy Burnham wants to take Manchester’s ’embarrassing’ train stations back into local control

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has said he wants to take control of Manchester’s five city centre train stations, saying they are ’embarrassing’ to the industry.

Just one month after a judge ruled in favour of the mayor taking Greater Manchester buses back under public control, Burnham plans to order the government to invest in the city’s train stations or hand over the control.

Burnham believes the five city centre stations – Piccadilly, Victoria, Oxford Road, Deansgate and Salford Central – have been neglected by the railway industry for decades, with none of them having seen any substantial investment in that time.

He told The Manchester Evening News: “These stations in city centre Manchester are an embarrassment to the rail industry because they are outliers in the city.

Jorge Franganillo / Flickr

“You’ve got modern buildings where thousands of people are working in a really attractive environment and stations that are just nowhere near the same level. It’s really something that can’t be allowed to continue.”

Burnham claimed that Manchester has been ‘left out’ when it comes to investments, pointing out that Piccadilly Station hasn’t had ‘substantial’ investment since the late nineties, while others have waited even longer.

Read More: Andy Burnham wants to add £22 to council tax to pay for buses, fire service and police

He described Salford Central station as ‘dangerous’ due to the ‘massive gap’ between platforms and the trains forcing people to ‘jump onto the platform’, while one platform at Oxford Road has no disability access.

Platforms 13 and 14 at Piccadilly Station are also not a ‘safe environment’, and Deansgate ‘gets dark at night’ and ‘isn’t modern’, according to the mayor.

Burnham explained that he would eventually like full control of all ninety-eight Greater Manchester train stations, saying the region would take an ‘innovative approach’ by working with the property industry to ‘maximise the value of the assets’ and generate an income which would be reinvested in the stations.

He also said he wants to make all stations in Manchester’s city centre as ‘modern’ and ‘attractive’ as all of the Metrolink stations currently managed by TfGM. 

He said: “London has got stations where they have built property above those station because it’s an attractive thing – you’re building for public transport.

“You’re building flats that are highly connected. It’s very easy to live in a place above a transport interchange. Maybe not everyone wants to live there, but younger people might and it’s much more convenient.”

Devolution talks are expected to start in May after the local elections.