Which would again suggest that extending the by pass to the line and putting a regular bus service tied in with trains that would stop as a better option surely

You'd think so wouldn't you? Wasn't this mooted last time, but the residents of Kenyon/Culcheth didn't want a car park ruining the wasteland at the former Kenyon Junction station.

Makes sense to do that (and is massively cheaper).

It will save a lot of money and reduce a lot of mileage as people could drive to a park & ride facility at the 'Leigh Parkway' station along with perhaps extending the 582 bus to start/ terminate there.

You should have realised by now that the planning dept at Wigan have to be free of common sense to work there.

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