Mills Hill: Concern over ‘unreliable’ Chadderton train service

Train company Northern says a new timetable will increase reliability for passengers.

According to Network Rail, millions of pounds were spent at the start of 2021 to upgrade Mills Hill station, which serves Chadderton and Middleton, to make it more accessible.

Upgrades included a new lift to make Platform two accessible to those who cannot use stairs – such as wheelchair users.

ALSO READ: Travellers left stranded as vandals damage lift at Mills Hill train station.

Mills Hill station, on the border between Chadderton and Middleton

However, trains now only stop once every hour in off-peak times, whereas they used to stop every half an hour.

On Thursday, August 25, Lynne Oakley, aged 68 from Royton, arrived at Mills Hill at just after 9.15am to travel to Manchester Victoria.

Mrs Oakley travels to Manchester regularly to volunteer and prefers to drive to the train station to make her journey into the city more environmentally friendly, as well as cheaper.

When both the 9.25am and 10.26am services were cancelled, Mrs Oakley faced the prospect of two hours of disruption for what should have been a 12-minute journey.

Mrs Oakley, from Royton, waiting for a train to Manchester Victoria (Image: Jack Fifield, Newsquest)

Luckily, Mrs Oakley used the station’s help point to contact customer service, who ensured a passing train would make an unscheduled stop to pick up anxious passengers.

Speaking to The Oldham Times, Mrs Oakley said: “There’s nearly always a problem.

“They’ve changed the timetable, so instead of it being every half-an-hour, it’s once an hour.

“By luck, I managed to find out they’d made another train stop – which I didn’t know they could do. Unless you knew that you’d have gotten to the station and thought they’d cancelled, and you’d give up.

“Disabled people have been encouraged to go to Mills Hill because they’ve got a lift and ramp, yet with it being so unreliable, people don’t feel they can use it.

“What’s the point of spending all this money on an upgrade when the service has been reduced?

“I’ve had to resort to driving in before, which I don’t want to do. Petrol is very expensive and it’s not good for the environment.

“I don’t understand, because they’re trying to encourage people to use public transport because driving’s not a green form of travel.

“It’s always been a good train line, but it’s degenerated into something else.”

The Oldham Times put Mrs Oakley’s concerns to train company Northern, which said it would be reinstating the half-hourly off-peak service from December.

The company added that more than 98 per cent of trains on the line operated as planned.

Chris Jackson, regional director at Northern, said: “We’re pleased to be able to offer these additional services for customers travelling through Mills Hill.  

“Customers are at the heart of everything we do, and the new timetable will deliver high levels of reliability.

“Northern operates nearly 2,000 services each day on a complex network shared with several other operators and freight carriers.

“We continue to work closely with colleagues from Network Rail, and the other operators, to keep this disruption to a minimum and our customers on the move.”

Speaking to The Oldham Times after finding out the half-hourly service would be reinstated, Mrs Oakley said it was “absolutely marvellous”.

A Transport for Greater Manchester spokesperson said: “Yesterday, there was an unexpected fault on the 9.25am Northern train which calls at Mills Hill and continues onto Manchester Victoria and Rochdale, which meant this service had to be cancelled at Mills Hill.

“Due to these circumstances, Northern’s control centre responded by asking a train to Wigan, which usually wouldn’t call at Mills Hill, to stop there at 9.45am, to allow passengers affected by the prior delay and cancellation to go about their journey.

“Currently two trains per hour call at Mills Hill, which arrive at Manchester Victoria at 14 and 25 past each hour.

“The service did operate only once per hour during the pandemic due to low patronage numbers, however the service was restored by TfGM and Northern once restrictions began to ease. In December 2022, these two trains per hour will return to half hour spacings each way.”