Crewe to Manchester Line

Crewe to Manchester Line

Northern Rail Class 323 at Cheadle Hulme railway station
Overview
Type Heavy rail
System National Rail
Locale Stockport
Crewe
Cheshire
Manchester
North West England
Operation
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) Arriva Trains Wales
First TransPennine Express
Northern Rail
Virgin Trains
CrossCountry
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge
Crewe to Manchester Line
Legend
Liverpool to Manchester Lines
Deansgate Manchester Metrolink
Manchester Oxford Road
Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Metrolink
Huddersfield Line and Glossop Line

Mauldeth Road
Levenshulme
Burnage
Heaton Chapel
East Didsbury Manchester Metrolink
Stockport
Mid-Cheshire Line | Hope Valley Line
Gatley
Cheadle Hulme
Stafford to Manchester Line
Heald Green
Handforth
Manchester Airport Manchester Metrolink

Styal
Wilmslow
Alderley Edge
Chelford
Goostrey
Holmes Chapel
M6 motorway
to Northwich (freight line)
Sandbach
to Chester | WCML northbound
Crewe
Welsh Marches Line | to Stoke
West Coast Main Line southbound

The Crewe to Manchester Line is a railway line in north west England, running from Crewe north east to Manchester.

The line serves the following places: Crewe; Sandbach; Holmes Chapel; Goostrey; Chelford; Alderley Edge; Wilmslow; Cheadle Hulme; Stockport and Manchester.

The line was built by the Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company, which diverted to Crewe in 1841 and merged in 1846 with others to form the London and North Western Railway Company, which in turn became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

The line from Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly (including the Styal Line) was the first section of the West Coast Main Line to be electrified, in 1959. The line was recently upgraded as part of the West Coast Main Line upgrade. A full service resumed on the line in March 2007.

The line is joined at Cheadle Hulme by the WCML line from London via Stoke-on-Trent and at Stockport by the Mid-Cheshire Line from Chester and by the Hope Valley Line from Sheffield joined with the Manchester to Buxton Line.

In April 2006, Network Rail organised its maintenance and train control operations into "26 Routes" and the Crewe to Manchester line was included in Route 20 (North West Urban).

Services

Services on the line are provided by Northern Rail, which operates trains between Crewe/ Alderley Edge and Manchester Piccadilly via Stockport and the Styal Line to Manchester Piccadilly via Manchester Airport. A number of the Crewe / Alderley Edge - Piccadilly services also extend beyond Piccadilly to terminate at Manchester Oxford Road. Also a number of services to/from Manchester start or terminate at Wilmslow. Arriva Trains Wales operate a through express service between Milford Haven and Cardiff via the Welsh Marches Line - Manchester. Virgin Trains operate West Coast Main Line services between London Euston/Birmingham New Street/Crewe - Manchester. CrossCountry also operate a small number of services on the line between Manchester Piccadilly - Birmingham New Street / the South Country.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crewe to Manchester Line.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 01, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.