Crewe–Manchester line

Crewe–Manchester line
Northern Rail Class 323 at Cheadle Hulme railway station
Overview
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Stockport Crewe Cheshire Manchester North West England
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Avanti West Coast CrossCountry Northern Trains TransPennine Express Transport for Wales Rail Limited
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

v t Crewe–Manchester line
Legend
Liverpool–Manchester lines Ordsall Chord to Manchester Victoria Deansgate Manchester Oxford Road Manchester Piccadilly Huddersfield line and Glossop line Mauldeth Road Levenshulme Burnage Heaton Chapel East Didsbury Stockport Mid-Cheshire line | Hope Valley line Gatley Cheadle Hulme Stafford–Manchester line Heald Green Handforth Manchester Airport 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–Manchester line is a railway line in North West England, running between Crewe and Manchester Piccadilly. It is a spur of the West Coast Main Line.

History[]

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. This, in turn, became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

The route 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 upgraded in the early 2000s, as part of the West Coast Main Line modernisation programme. A full service resumed on the line in March 2007.

The line is joined at Cheadle Hulme by the West Coast spur from Stoke-on-Trent. At Stockport, it is then joined by the Mid-Cheshire line from Chester and by the Hope Valley line from Sheffield together with the Manchester–Buxton line.

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

Services[]

Northern Trains operates services between Crewe, Alderley Edge and Manchester Piccadilly, via Stockport and the Styal line via Manchester Airport. A number of the Crewe / Alderley Edge – Piccadilly services also extend beyond Piccadilly to terminate at Liverpool Lime Street, Southport and Wigan North Western. Also, a number of services to/from Manchester start or terminate at Wilmslow.

Transport for Wales operate a through express service between Milford Haven and Cardiff, via the Welsh Marches line, to Manchester.

Avanti West Coast operate West Coast Main Line services between London Euston, Crewe and Manchester.

CrossCountry also operates a small number of services on the line between Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and the South.

The maximum speed of the line is 110 mph.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crewe to Manchester Line.

• Website of Crewe to Manchester Community Rail Partnership