Useful catch-up meeting with Matt Croasdale today from Northern. With our last 2 meetings having been at Morpeth, then Cramlington, today’s was at Manors, and my first challenge to Matt, who walked there from Newcastle, was to see if he could find the station entrance. He did! But agreed with me that signage at the station, and between the National Rail and Metro stations is poor, and there is scope for many other simple improvements like making it clear the TVM machine actually sells tickets and is not just an advertising box. SENRUG’s long term vision for Manors however, which includes a 4th running line through the station (part of a vision to quadruple the track between Newcastle and Benton junction), a 2nd platform (so that local trains on any of the 4 lines can serve the station), level access with direct connections to both the Metro station beneath and the Manors Multi-storey Car Park adjacent to the station, upgraded the high level walkways from the car park to the city centre, with creation of level access at the city end, and conversion of the unsightly triangle of neglected land over the Trafalgar Street tunnel into an attractive patio or community garden, is obviously beyond what Northern’s remit, and needs buy-in from the City council, Network Rail and Nexus, with possibly the Mayor’s Office playing a role too.
