Manchester to Southport Line

Manchester to Southport Line

A Northern Class 150 at Appley Bridge railway station
Overview
System National Rail
Status Operational
Locale

Greater Manchester
Lancashire
Merseyside

North West England
Operation
Opened 1855/1888
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) Northern Rail
Technical
Line length 35.75 miles
Track gauge 1,435 mm
(4 ft 8 12 in)
standard gauge
Route map
Legend
SouthportMerseyrail
  Merseyrail Northern Line

St Luke's
  to Preston
Meols Cop
Butts Lane Haltclosed 1938
Blowick
  to Altcar
Bescar Lane
New Lane
Burscough Bridge
  Burscough Curves

Burscough Jct  Preston–Ormskirk
Hoscar
Parbold
Appley Bridge
Gathurst
  Manchester–Kirkby Line
  West Coast Main Line

Wigan North Western

Wigan Wallgate
  
Crossovers between
WCML and Wallgate lines

  Liverpool to Wigan Line
  West Coast Main Line
Ince
Hindley
  to Bolton via Westhoughton
  to Blackrod
Daisy Hill
Hag Fold
Atherton
Walkden
Moorside
Swinton
Pendlebury
Irlams o' th' Height
Pendleton
  to Bolton
Salford Crescent
  to Liverpool

Oldfield Road

Salford Central
Deansgate (Manchester Metrolink Deansgate-Castlefield)
Manchester Oxford Road

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Metrolink

Manchester Victoria Manchester Metrolink
    & Manchester Exchange(closed)
  Caldervale & Huddersfield
  WCML, Hope Valley & Glossop

The Manchester to Southport Line is a railway line in the north-west of England, operated by Northern. It was originally built as the Manchester and Southport Railway.

Starting at the city centre stations of Manchester Victoria (also serving Salford Central on the fringe of the city centre) and Manchester Piccadilly (also serving Manchester Oxford Road and Deansgate), it runs in a north-westerly direction through the suburbs and centres of Salford and Wigan. It then proceeds in the same direction through the small rural villages of West Lancashire, before ending on the Irish Sea coast at the resort town of Southport.

Services on the line use Class 142, Class 150 and Class 156 DMUs. Class 153 DMUs are banned from operating on this route because the steps below the doors on these units foul the platform coping stones at Wigan Wallgate station.

Stations

There is ongoing feasibility into the conversion of parts of this line (Wigan–Atherton–Manchester) to operate as a Manchester Metrolink service[1] with a higher frequency metro service for the Greater Manchester Boroughs of Wigan and Salford into the city centre. In November 2013, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority approved a recommended strategy for reconfiguring existing commuter services into tram-train operation, identifying the Atherton line as providing an opportunity for extending potential tram-train services from the south-east (Marple, Glossop) across the city centre and outwards to the north west.[2] Southport and Kirkby services on this line would be diverted to operate via Bolton. Additionally, Network Rail has identified electrification of Wigan to Southport, together with the Ormskirk to Preston Line and the Burscough Curves as a possible source of new services.[3]

References

  1. http://www.salford.gov.uk/d/draft-core-strategy.pdf
  2. "Network RUS Electrification" (PDF). October 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Manchester to Southport Line.

Manchester Metrolink extension & conversion proposals

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