Tritax in play to move Old Trafford rail terminal to St Helens
A pivotal land deal that could help unlock the economic benefits of the proposed new Manchester United FC stadium is being worked on by metro mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram.
If successful, the deal would see Freightliner relocate its rail terminal from Old Trafford to Parkside East in St Helens. Freightliner is understood to be operating at capacity in Trafford and is keen to expand in a new location. Savills is representing Freightliner on the land deal discussions.
Burnham spoke on the Old Trafford Regeneration stand at the Labour Party conference on Monday where he said the deal was progressing well.
Manchester United FC owns the land where the new stadium would be built next to the current ground but the added rail freight acreage would enable the development of the wider area to be maximised.
Around 20,000 new homes are envisaged at the development, being led jointly by Trafford Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and the football club.
Removing rail freight would free up capacity for passenger services on the Liverpool-Manchester line and ease the bottleneck through Castlefield.
Freightliner handles around 20 services a day at Old Trafford, receiving containers from Northern ports via rail to offload onto the road network through Trafford Park’s extensive distribution warehouses.
Project team partners present on the Old Trafford Regeneration stand include Ineos, the Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s chemical giant, as well as Marketing Manchester, analysts from Oxford Economics and newly appointed urban designer Foster + Partners.
The deal would enable the footprint of the football ground development area to be widened to around 250 acres, of which the rail terminal makes up nearly a third.
Old Trafford Regeneration stand at Labour party conference. Credit: PNW
Foster + Partners, architect of the new Wembley, aims to create a masterplan for Old Trafford that makes it more than a sports stadium and turns it into a neighbourhood.
A new passenger station would be built next to the ground at the existing but unused Old Trafford Halt station beside the South Stand.
There would be offices, retail and leisure throughout the development and new pedestrian bridges across the Manchester Ship Canal to Salford and MediaCity.
A study by Oxford Economics predicts that the regeneration plan will create more than 90,000 permanent jobs and add £7.3bn per year to the UK economy.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create something special,” said Lord Sebastian Coe, the leader of the Old Trafford Regeneration Task Force, in a video show at the Labour Party conference.
Jeremy Hinds, head of the Northern planning team at Savills, said: “As advisor to Freightliner, Savills is assisting in conversations between all relevant parties to help both the club and Freightliner achieve their respective ambitions. This is an exciting scheme and it’s great to be part of it.”
Tritax Big Box Developments bought 221 acres at Parkside East in October 2023 from a private investor in an off-market deal and immediately began planning a 2.5m sq ft rail terminal. Parkside has tax-efficient freeport status and was reserved for rail development in the local plan adopted in 2022.
Freightliner would be moving to Tritax’s Intermodal Logistics Park North at Parkside if the deal went through.
Tritax declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Freightliner said: “Freightliner is committed to working with all stakeholders to assess the feasibility of relocating Freightliner’s Manchester terminal to ILP North, considering the benefits not only to the local economies of Manchester and Liverpool, but also to national and international supply chains.
“We recognise the importance of Manchester United’s new stadium plans to the public, and it is important to ensure that any future development aligns with government targets to grow rail freight volumes by at least 75% by 2050, acknowledging the economic and environmental benefits that modal shift to rail brings.”
Changing the timetable to reroute rail from Trafford to St Helens would require government intervention. Burnham said this was the only factor where government help was needed, not with the financing of the stadium as previously reported.
The housing that could be built on the rail freight sidings could generate 56,000 out of the 90,000 jobs locally and nationally, through the supply chain, Oxford Economics forecast.
Private sector investors and developers are expected to be attracted by the prospect of building homes next to the new ground in the thriving Manchester residential market.
Port Salford is also being considered as an option for the rail terminal, if required.
Let the games begin!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Mike
Hurry up and get rid of that noisy abomination. St Helens is welcome to it!
By G gunns
Resuming train services to the Old Trafford station are desperately needed
By Anonymous
Make a hybrid of Wembly of the North and Canary Warf of the North!
By Anonymous
Rail freight to the park side site in St Helens excellent location benefits from Liverpool free port and good access to motorway
By George
“The housing that could be built on the rail freight sidings could generate 56,000 out of the 90,000 jobs locally and nationally, through the supply chain, Oxford Economics forecast”.
Is this right as it seems very high.
By JB
Greate news. So also no more freight/goods trains from the South running via Piccadilly and the Castlefield Corridor. That eases the Manchester rail bottleneck.
By Anonymous
Glad to see Oxford Economics paid to do a proper Economic Study showing the real economic benefit; and not some “Business Case” assessment with folk asking Will it be profitable? Where is the money coming from? and so on. The “ECONOMIC” return, not just the “COMMERCIAL” return, on each pound invested will be enormous.
By Anonymous
@Paul Unger – Did you mean ease the rail bottleneck through Castlefield? The freight trains don’t pass through Warrington Central.
By Bob
Hi Bob – we’ve asked for clarification on this, as we were told at the stand it was Warrington. I’ll let you know when we’ve heard back.
By Julia Hatmaker
Hi Bob! We have gotten the clarification – and you are right, it’s Castlefield, not Warrington. The story has been updated. Thanks for commenting!
By Julia Hatmaker
Freightliner Trafford Park actually receives trains from the southern and eastern ports!
By Anonymous