Wilmslow railway station

Wilmslow
The station in 2007
General information
LocationWilmslow, Cheshire East,
England
Coordinates53°19′37″N 2°13′34″W / 53.327°N 2.226°W / 53.327; -2.226
Grid referenceSJ850811
Managed byNorthern Trains
Platforms4
Other information
Station codeWML
ClassificationDfT category C2
History
Opened1842
Key dates
1959Electrified
Passengers
2020/21 0.260 million
 Interchange  16,853
2021/22 0.838 million
 Interchange  66,870
2022/23 0.993 million
 Interchange  90,395
2023/24 1.136 million
 Interchange  93,226
2024/25 1.249 million
 Interchange  0.110 million
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Wilmslow railway station serves the town of Wilmslow, in Cheshire, England. It lies 12 miles (19 km) south of Manchester Piccadilly and 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Stockport on the Crewe to Manchester Line, a spur of the West Coast Main Line. It is a junction with the Styal line, which takes an alternative route to Piccadilly via Styal, Manchester Airport and Heald Green.

History

Both the main and Styal lines were electrified in 1959, as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification and modernisation programme. This included construction and installation of a state of the art signal box and control centre, near to the end of the Styal line down platform, and serving virtually the entire railway from Crewe to Manchester on both routes. The complexity of that installation was not repeated for the remainder of the electrification scheme, which had its control and signalling systems renewed in ways that were less highly automated.

In March 1997, the Provisional IRA exploded two bombs in relay boxes, near to this signal box, causing disruption to rail and road services.[1] The railway reopened the following day.

In April 2006, as part of the total renewal of the railway from Crewe to Cheadle Hulme, the large 1959 signal box was demolished.[2]

Large-scale resignalling of the line through Wilmslow was completed behind schedule in the autumn of 2006.

The economic case for High Speed 2 Phase 1 included one train per hour each way stopping at Wilmslow, travelling between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly.[3]

Facilities

The station has four platforms with disabled access to all but platform 1, the northbound Styal line platform. There are two waiting rooms, public toilets and also has a double-staffed booking office below the platforms.[4]

Services

Wilmslow station is served by three train operating companies, which provide the following general off-peak service in trains per hour (tph):

Avanti West Coast:[5]

Northern Trains:[6]

Transport for Wales:[7]

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Avanti West Coast
West Coast Main Line
Transport for Wales Rail
Northern Trains
Northern Trains
Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street via Chat Moss
(Styal line local stopping service)
TerminusNorthern Trains
Wilmslow to Liverpool Lime Street
(Monday to Saturday nighttimes and Sundays only)

References

  1. ^ Jenkins, Russell; Tendler, Stewart (27 March 1997). "Security tightened as police warn of further attacks". The Times. No. 65848. p. 2. ISSN 0140-0460.
  2. ^ "Network Rail reduces the station's 60s signal box to rubble". Macclesfield Express. 19 April 2006. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  3. ^ "The economic case For HS2" (PDF). Department for Transport. October 2013. pp. 39, 42. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Wilmslow (WML)". National Rail. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  5. ^ "Our latest timetables and ticket info". Avanti West Coast. 14 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  6. ^ "Train Timetables". Northern Trains. 14 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  7. ^ "Timetables". Transport for Wales. 14 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.

Further reading

  • Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2014). Crewe to Manchester. Middleton Press. figs. 38-42. ISBN 9781908174574. OCLC 892047119.