Hazel Grove railway station

Hazel Grove railway station is a junction on both the Stockport to Buxton and Stockport to Sheffield lines, serving the village of Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester, England.

Hazel Grove
National Rail
Hazel Grove railway station
General information
LocationHazel Grove, Stockport
England
Grid referenceSJ919867
Managed byNorthern Trains
Transit authorityTransport for Greater Manchester
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeHAZ
ClassificationDfT category D
History
Opened1857
Passengers
2017/18Increase 0.717 million
2018/19Increase 0.802 million
 Interchange  7,119
2019/20Decrease 0.730 million
 Interchange  Decrease 4,465
2020/21Decrease 0.107 million
 Interchange  Decrease 886
2021/22Increase 0.360 million
 Interchange  Increase 2,468
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History
The station in the 1900s

The station was built for the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway, by the London and North Western Railway, and opened on 9 June 1857. From 1923 until 1948, it was owned by the London Midland and Scottish Railway and, following nationalisation, it was operated by the London Midland Region of British Railways.

There was once another station in the village, Hazel Grove (Midland) station, on the Midland Railway's line from New Mills South Junction to Manchester Central, via Cheadle Heath; this opened in 1902, but it was less conveniently situated and closed in 1917.

The line was extremely expensive to build with extensive earthworks. The navvies were accommodated in specially-built houses near the Rising Sun pub, which still exist and are known as the Navvy Mansions. The line from Edgeley Junction, just south of Stockport, to Hazel Grove was electrified in 1981 on the 25 kV AC overhead system. This allowed electric trains on the route from Altrincham, via Sale, to serve the station until that line was closed for conversion to Manchester Metrolink operation in late 1991; electric services to and from Piccadilly continued thereafter.

The signal box on the Buxton-bound platform remains in use. This controls the junction between the Buxton line and the chord linking it to the route through Disley Tunnel towards Sheffield at the country end of the station; it also controls a pair of carriage sidings at the Stockport end used for stabling trains that terminate here.

The single-track Hazel Grove Chord opened in 1986.[1] This allowed trains to/from Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly to access the former Manchester Central – New Mills South Junction line, just south of Hazel Grove station; this provides a faster route between Manchester and Sheffield than the former route via Romiley and New Mills Central. The chord also enables Sheffield trains to serve Stockport and run to/from Liverpool Lime Street.

Facilities

The station is staffed all week, with its ticket office on platform 1 open 06:05-19:00 weekdays (until 20:00 on Fridays only), 07:00-20:00 Saturdays and 09:00-16:30 Sundays. There are waiting rooms on both platforms, toilets in the main building and a small coffee shop on platform 2. Train running details are provided via automated announcements, timetable posters and digital information screens. Step-free access is available to both platforms via the lifts built into the footbridge linking the platforms.[2]

Services

As of December 2022, the station is served on weekdays by two trains per hour northbound to Manchester Piccadilly and one train per hour southbound to Buxton, with one southbound train terminating here. The service terminating here does not run on Sundays. The station is also served by one train per day on the Hope Valley line to Sheffield.[3]

Many regular services operated by East Midlands Railway and TransPennine Express pass through the station but do not stop.

Recent history

Class 323 units operated the hourly Hazel Grove to Manchester Piccadilly service but, from October 2015 until May 2018, diesel multiple units ran the service as the route was extended to run to Preston and through to Blackpool North,[4] to replace the weekday service from Liverpool Lime Street that is now operated by EMUs.

Electric operation returned at the May 2018 timetable change, with one train per hour to/from Piccadilly worked by Class 319 EMUs. This was part of a major timetable revamp that saw 3 trains to Manchester each hour off-peak on weekdays and Saturdays and 2 each hour to Buxton. Regular running to destinations beyond Manchester ceased temporarily at the May 2018 timetable change.[5] Through running resumed in May 2019, with an hourly Monday-Saturday service running to the now-electrified Blackpool North using Class 331 EMUs. As of December 2022, this service has reverted to terminating at Manchester Piccadilly using Class 323s.

References
  1. Hazel Grove Chord (looking south) Whatley, Peter, Geograph.org.uk; Retrieved 17 May 2017
  2. Hazel Grove station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 23 February 2017
  3. Table 95 National Rail timetable, December 2022
  4. GB eNRT December 2017 Edition, Table 82
  5. "Rail North Committee Meeting – Item 5, Train Service Planning Update, p.2 Transport for the North Committee Meeting minutes, 9 October 2018; Retrieved 1 March 2019
  • Radford, B., (1988) Midland Though The Peak Unicorn Books
  • Harrison, P., (2006) Striking A Chord With Electric
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hazel Grove railway station.
Preceding station   National Rail National Rail   Following station
Northern Trains
Limited service
Northern Trains
Terminus

53.3777°N 2.1226°W / 53.3777; -2.1226

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