The busway follows the same route up to Boothstown. From Boothstown to Manchester the old line has been built on, that's why the busway will then go down the Lancs. Solution would be to have a train line from Leigh to join the Wigan-Manchester line at Tyldesley/Little Hulton border - there are no houses in the way then from Leigh to where it would join the line. Then the problem is Manchester can't take any more trains without significant investment.

I agree with Matt and I'm still wondering why this option has not been looked at. This option would also benefit the upgrading of the line.

Suppose there might be issues with Warrington Council?

Ah yes I forgot that 30 yards the other side of the Lancs is Warrington Cheshire Council. But does that not come into play with the other plans aswell?

I think that, on the other side of the East Lancs, the line would follow the old 'Cheshire Line' track bed, and would presumably be on railway-owned land? On the Leigh side of the East Lancs, it looks like it would run through farm land, avoiding any buildings. Presumably there would still be some compensation for farmers, though.

The thing is though , unless your going to run a ine directly into the town centre , then it isn't going to get maximun usage , a ' Pennington ' station still isn't a Leigh station is it ?

Still better than nowt.

Is it ? , if the only trains using the station are dedicated trains to that station will they be busy enough to make a profit , because if they dont , they wont continue , so you know what will happen , the cost will be too high leading to less and less trains

Atherton station is no where nesr the town centre, so is Westhoughton, Salford , there are lots of staions not in the town centre. A free station shuttle were by you buy your ticket for the train at the bus station would be the answer.

Profit doesn't make the slightest bit of difference on the railways Starbug. Only one company nationwide made a profit in 2009 and 2010. And if you are worries that it won't survive on trains only dedicated to that station, don't, there are lots of lines that have smaller towns than Leigh at the end of them and the trains are packed out. Buxton is one of those that I work with regularly that the trains are packed.

In fairness, Buxton is quite a popular tourist destination - not sure if Leigh falls in to the same bracket!

It's also tiny and no-one lives there. Also the arguement about lines being electrified won't make any difference to a station in Leigh, the train operator will probably be Northern and the trains they use are about 95% Diesel. Pretty much all local trains are Diesel too, so if the Manchester-Liverpool line is electrified (which I doubt will happen any time soon) it won't make any difference.