MPs protest over ‘sardine specials’

Train tracks

Angry MPs are demanding a meeting with transport secretary Lord Adonis to protest that his department has condemned Rochdale’s commuters to overcrowded trains.

Local transport leaders have warned his junior minister, Chris Mole, that a decision by the Department for Transport (DfT) to renege on a promise to send 180 new carriages to the region will threaten the area’s ability to recover from the recession.

And now they have fired up MPs of all parties to fight for relief from the misery of “sardine specials”.

After meeting 11 local MPs in the House of Commons yesterday, Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority (GMITA) chairman Councillor Keith Whitmore said that the MPs wanted to meet Lord Adonis before Parliament breaks for summer on Tuesday.

Councillor Whitmore said: “It was a very successful meeting and we made the point that the 106 carriages which are now coming instead of the 180 which were promised is just not enough.

“We also told them that the DfT was adding insult to injury by refusing to pay for the five Pacers from the Oldham loop line which otherwise will be sent to another part of the country when the line closes for conversion to Metrolink in October.”

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen has put down a Commons early day motion which says: “That this House notes that the Department for Transport will not be funding the retention of the Oldham 5 loop line rolling stock in Greater Manchester; is concerned that the department expects the Greater Manchester Public Transport Executive, the Integrated Transport Authority and Northern Rail to pay the leasing costs for Oldham loop rolling stock.”

It goes on to a urge the Department for Transport to reconsider funding for Oldham 5 given the impact it will have on commuters from Rochdale, Greenfield, Stalybridge, Ashton, Bolton, Atherton, Stockport and Manchester.