Hindley railway station

Hindley
Hindley railway station in 2015
Location
Place	Hindley
Local authority	Wigan
Coordinates	53°32′33″N 2°34′30″W / 53.5424°N 2.5750°WCoordinates: 53°32′33″N 2°34′30″W / 53.5424°N 2.5750°W
Grid reference	SD619052
Operations
Station code	HIN
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2 (in use)
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.114 million
2005/06	0.126 million
2006/07	0.135 million
2007/08	0.153 million
2008/09	0.210 million
2009/10	0.234 million
2010/11	0.276 million
2011/12	0.325 million
2012/13	0.366 million
2013/14	0.341 million
2014/15	0.331 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Greater Manchester
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Hindley from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Hindley railway station serves the area of Hindley in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, England.

Hindley is one of the principal stations that lie on the Wigan to Manchester line, just before the route branches to use either the Atherton line or the Eastern Branch line via Westhoughton and Bolton. The station is located 14 miles (23 km) west of Manchester Victoria with regular Northern services to these towns as well as Salford, Swinton and Walkden, with onward trains to Kirkby and Southport. Hindley is one of the nearest stations to Aspull, although (from 2013) there is no direct bus link, the 559 bus having been withdrawn between Hindley and Aspull.

The station is situated some distance (about ¾ mile) from the centre of the town. Figures (to June 2008) showed that usage increased year-on year by 9%, with a further healthy increase for 2007/8, which continues. Interchange passengers (changing from the Atherton line to reach Bolton) amounted to around 13,000 further passengers annually. Figures (right) demonstrate that usage more than doubled from 2004 to 2011, with a further 17% increase from 2011 to 2012,and 13% from 2012 to 2013.

History

This station was formerly called Hindley North to differentiate it from Hindley South station (closed in November 1964)^[1] on the line from Wigan Central to Glazebrook. There were also stations serving Hindley at Platt Bridge and at Hindley Green (both closed in 1961) on the line from Wigan North Western to Manchester Exchange, the residual "fast local" and express passenger service ceasing on 1 January 1968.^[2]

At Hindley there are now two platforms in use, with the overgrown remains of two further platforms (for the fast lines taken out of use on 21 November 1965.)

Facilities

The car park has been enlarged but passenger numbers have increased so that it is probably in need of further enlargement.

Friends of Hindley Station

The garden on platform 1

There is now a "Friends of Hindley Station" group, formed in 2007, whose aim is to promote the use of the station by improvements. The group have had several weekend clearing sessions. During one such session a large nameplaque made of stones on the station banking was uncovered. The results objectively can be considered spectacular, evidenced by the number of "in bloom" and landscaping awards won.^[3] Also, partially as a result of their input, there is to be a direct link to Manchester Airport from December 2008.^[4]

Services

There are three trains per hour to Manchester Victoria during Monday to Saturday daytimes (with extra calls at peak periods) - two via Atherton (running every thirty minutes) and one via Bolton (serving most local stations south of there). Some of the former continue onward to Todmorden and Blackburn. The hourly service to Manchester Airport via Bolton and Manchester Piccadilly also now calls since the start of the new 2008-09 timetable, as noted above.

In the opposite direction there are four trains each hour to Wigan, with an hourly service to Kirkby and two per hour to Southport. At weekday peak times a small number of trains run to and from Wigan North Western (some also continued to Liverpool Lime Street, but the Liverpool via Hindley service ended at the December 2008 timetable change). During the evenings there are two services to Manchester (one on each route) and to Wigan, of which one extends to Southport (there are no services to Kirkby after 18:30).^[5]

On Sundays there are hourly services to Bolton, Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport, to Manchester Victoria via Atherton until the early evening (since the beginning of the 2010 Summer timetable) and two trains per hour to Wigan (hourly beyond to Southport). Alternate Stockport services continue to Chester via Altrincham or Hazel Grove.

References

1. Disused Railway Stations
2. Marshall, J (1981) Forgotten Railways North-West England, David & Charles (Publishers) Ltd, Newton Abbott. ISBN 0-7153-8003-6; p.138
3. "Garden Awards". Friends of Hindley Station. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
4. "Hindley Station has friends!". Manchester Transport Sucks. 10 December 2007.
5. GB eNRT December 2015 Edition, Table 82

External links

• Train times and station information for Hindley railway station from National Rail