Ardwick railway station

Ardwick
National Rail
A Northern Rail Class 142 Pacer passing Ardwick station in 2015
General information
LocationArdwick, Manchester
England
Coordinates53°28′16″N 2°12′47″W / 53.47111°N 2.21306°W / 53.47111; -2.21306
Grid referenceSJ858972
Managed byNorthern Trains
Transit authorityTransport for Greater Manchester
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeADK
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Original companySheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Central Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
November 1842 (1842-11)Station opened
Passengers
2019/20Increase 1,520
2020/21Decrease 238
2021/22Increase 404
2022/23Decrease 324
2023/24Increase 396
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Ardwick railway station serves the industrial area of Ardwick, in east Manchester, England; it is located about one mile (1.5 km) south-east of Manchester Piccadilly, on both the Glossop line and Hope Valley line. Plans to close the station permanently were shelved in 2006, due to increasing activity in the area. From the Summer 2024 timetable, the station has just two trains calling per day on Mondays–Fridays and one train per day on Saturdays.

History

Ardwick station was opened by the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway in 1842 and became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway following mergers in 1847; that company changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897. The station became a junction between the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway under the Grouping of 1923, and passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways under arrangement with the Greater Manchester PTE until the privatisation of British Rail.

Ardwick railway depot, opened 2006 for TransPennine Express's Class 185 DMU fleet, is a short distance to the east.

From 1878 to 1902, there was also an Ardwick stop shown on Crewe–Manchester line timetables for collection of Manchester tickets on down trains.[1]

Non-closure

In its draft Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) for the North West, Network Rail proposed the closure of Ardwick, but the closure proposals were dropped from the final report published on 1 May 2007. Proposals to close Ardwick and two other stations in Greater Manchester were shelved after residents and passenger groups persuaded Network Rail that long-term development could improve the business case for keeping the stations open.

Facilities

Station entrance

Ardwick is unstaffed and has a single island platform on the electrified Glossop line and the Hope Valley line.

Pedestrians can enter the platform from a footbridge, but there is no wheelchair access. It is immediately adjacent to the main Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line and the two routes join just north of the station.

The station has a ticket machine and a seating area.[2]

Services

Northern Trains operates the only daily services that stop at Ardwick; these are the 07:16 to Manchester Piccadilly only and the 16:57 to New Mills Central on Mondays–Fridays. On Saturdays there is only the 07:16 to Manchester Piccadilly. There is no service on Sundays.[3]

The lines passing through the station are used intensively by non-stop trains and this, coupled with its location in a largely non-residential area, accounts for its infrequent service.

Preceding station   National Rail National Rail   Following station
Northern Trains
Limited Service

References

  1. ^ "The Manchester to Crewe line 1". The Railway Magazine. September 1960. p. 608.
  2. ^ Ardwick station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 25 April 2024
  3. ^ "Timetables and engineering information for travel with Northern". Northern Railway. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2024.

Sources