Marsden Greenfield Fare Anomaly to be addressed by Northern Rail?
August 14, 2009
It’s official – the Marsden – Greenfield rail journey is one of the most expensive rail rides per mile in Britain. At £4.80 for 6 miles, it works out at 84p/mile. If the Greenfield to Manchester Victoria journey was charged at the same rate, then it would be £8.42 – passengers currently pay only £3.10.
No wonder travelers between Marsden and Greenfield feel hard done by.
At a time when the rail companies and government should be doing everything in their power to encourage more people to use the railways in preference to cars, the high fare on this route is actually causing commuters to drive across the Pennines and then catch the train, rather than use the nearest station.
The reason given in the past has been that the section of line that crosses the border falls between the sections of line subsidized by the bodies on the East and West sides of the Pennines – so neither subsidise it. However, speaking in the Manchester Evening News last week, a Northern Rail spokesman has stated that they are aware and are looking to address anomalies.
After years of suffering infuriatingly high prices and having to watch fellow passengers being charged a fraction of the fare they were paying, there may at last be a light at the end of the tunnel for cross Pennine commuters on this route.
Royce Franklin, a Saddleworth Parish councillor, added his support in the article, stating that he: ’knows of people who drive from Saddleworth to Marsden and from Marsden to Greenfield to get on the train to avoid the exorbitant costs’.
According to Mike Keegan of the Manchester Evening News, a Northern Rail spokesman has revealed that Northern Rail are: ‘aware of the issues’ and were looking to ‘address anomalies’. He went on to say: ‘we want to encourage as many people as possible to use our services from Marsdn and Greenfield, and we will continue to offer affordable fares from both stations, and address anomalies where we are able to do so’ .
Passengers on this journey have been paying unfairly high prices compared to their fellow passengers on this route for years and the Northern Rail needs to address this anomaly as soon as possible.
Do you use the Marsden/Greenfield cross Pennine route and feel you are being overcharged?
Help raise the profile of this issue by adding a comment below or post a complaint in our Marsden-Greenfield unfair fares section in the Northern Rail forums.
Posted in Fares
