Greater Manchester mayor's bid to take control of railway stations

Andy Burnham said flagship stations in Manchester and Salford needed significant modernisation

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham wants to bring the region's railway stations under public control.

Mr Burnham described central stations in Manchester and Salford as "an embarrassment to the rail industry" and called for major improvements.

It comes a month after a judge ruled in favour of the mayor taking buses back under public control for the first time since the 1980s.

Network Rail said it was committed to upgrading its stations.

The Labour mayor will demand the government invests more in railway stations or hands over control of them as part of upcoming devolution talks, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

Control of railway stations did feature in an original devolution deal, but the government did not agree to handing over the power to Greater Manchester.

The mayor is to propose taking control of the city region's 98 stations

Mr Burnham stations including Victoria and Piccadilly were "nowhere near the same level" as their modern surroundings.

And he described Salford Central station as "dangerous" due to the "massive gap" between platforms and the trains, forcing people to "jump on to the platform".

One platform at Oxford Road has no disability access while platforms 13 and 14 at Piccadilly are not a "safe environment", according to the mayor.

He said Deansgate, which gets dark at night, was also "not modern".

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Transport for Greater Manchester took control of Horwich Parkway station last year, hailing the move as a blueprint for other stations.

The mayor now wants control of all 98 stations in the city region, with Network Rail's budget to maintain them.

A Network Rail spokesman said Salford Central's canopies and platforms would be renewed in January and Oxford Road station would be refurbished.

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