Styal line

The Styal line is a suburban commuter railway line which runs through south Manchester, England; it commences at Slade Lane Junction, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south of Manchester Piccadilly, and ends 12 miles (19 km) south at Wilmslow.

Styal line
Airport line
A Northern Rail Class 323 at Mauldeth Road in 2013
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerNetwork Rail
LocaleGreater Manchester
Cheshire
North West England
Termini
Stations9
Service
SystemNational Rail
Rolling stockPrimarily:
Class 185
Class 323
Class 331
Class 397
Ridership7.4 million per year
History
Opened1909
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification25 kV AC overhead
Operating speed70 mph speed restriction
Route map

(Click to expand)

Opened in 1909, by the London and North Western Railway company,[1] it takes its name from the Cheshire station of Styal, the last stop before the junction at Wilmslow. A branch line to Manchester Airport was built in 1993, accessed via a triangular junction between Heald Green and Styal; it is also referred to as the Airport line.[2]

Journeys into Manchester on the line have risen sharply since the 1990s and the opening of Manchester Airport railway station in 1993 fuelled an increase in express services from Northern England and beyond. As a result, it is now one of the most congested lines on the National Rail network, with services frequently susceptible to delays and cancellations.[3]

Between May 2018 and December 2022, the line operated on a skip-stop basis, with each station having a dedicated express service to Liverpool Lime Street, Preston, Blackpool North and Windermere. This was to maximise the number of train slots between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport but, due to poor performance and falling passenger numbers, in December 2022 the service reverted to half-hourly service calling at all stations, with one service running between Crewe and Manchester Piccadilly and the other running between Manchester Airport and continuing on to Liverpool Lime Street.[4] The three busiest stations, Heald Green, Gatley and East Didsbury retain a third hourly express service in addition to the stopping services. As only 1 train per hour runs between Manchester Airport and Wilmslow, Styal is served hourly.

History
When operated by British Rail, the line was served by Class 304 EMUs

In the early twentieth century, the line between Manchester London Road (now called Piccadilly station) and Stockport became unable to cope with the increasing traffic. To solve the problem, a new route avoiding Stockport was constructed by the London and North Western Railway. It ran from Slade Lane Junction, located in Longsight, to Wilmslow through what was then mainly a rural area. The primary purpose was to provide a bypass for express trains, but a few wooden stations were built on the line to encourage suburban development. In practice, very few expresses latterly used the line, as it was necessary for most trains to serve the important station at Stockport. The line opened in 1909 and, from 1923, was operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway.

In the 1950s, as part of British Rail's Modernisation Plan, the British Transport Commission identified the Styal line as a suitable test track to prove its new electrification scheme; the line was electrified in 1959. Some of the stations were rebuilt using the Mod-X system at this time.[5] Following the Styal line tests, it was decided to adopt the 25 kV system across the electrified Great Britain rail network, outside the Southern Region.[6] There was half-hourly electric service (Monday - Saturday) between Manchester Oxford Road and Alderley Edge operated by Class 304 EMUs.[7] Services were extended to Altrincham when the MSJAR was re-electrified at 25 kV AC in 1971 and operated in this way until the line between Altrincham and Manchester was transferred to Manchester Metrolink in 1990.

In the 1970s, the Styal line was included in a proposal to create an underground railway across Manchester City Centre. The Picc-Vic tunnel was planned to connect the two major mainline railway termini, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria; it would have enabled Styal line trains to run directly across the city to Bolton and Bury. The Picc-Vic scheme was abandoned in 1977, due to funding difficulties.[8]

In 1993, a short spur line to Manchester Airport was opened, branching away the Styal line between Heald Green and Styal. Initially, services ran via Heald Green only, until a triangular junction was added a few years later which provided a link towards Styal.[9] Many services were then diesel powered until 2014. The introduction of Class 350s, by First TransPennine Express on the Edinburgh-Manchester Airport line, in December 2013 and Class 319s by Northern Rail in early 2015 curtailed the use of diesel trains on the line; this allowed for a 100 mph service compared with 75 mph limit for many diesel trains, such as the Class 156 and the now-retired Class 142 Pacer trains.

In 2006, the platforms at Mauldeth Road, Burnage, East Didsbury and Gatley stations were all reconstructed, as well as access improvements at Heald Green. Patronage on the line increased after this investment. At the time, most platforms were future-proofed and extended to allow six carriage operation; however, it was not until 2019, with the arrival of the Class 195 and Class 331 units, that this platform capacity was fully utilised on Northern routes to Liverpool (Mauldeth Road) and Blackpool North (Burnage, East Didsbury and Gatley) which operate with six coaches.

In recent years, usage of the line has surged with growing commuter patronage, along with non-stopping services which use the line between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport. Nowadays, most services on the line operate via the airport. There are a couple of services each day (mainly long-distance trains) which take the direct route from Styal to Heald Green; that is to say, from Heald Green South Junction to Heald Green North Junction, for traincrew route knowledge retention purposes northbound. However, the only services on the junction southbound are either freight or a Transport for Wales service which doesn't stop at either station and only operates on Sundays. This route can also be used for diversions if the Stockport route is closed for engineering work or is blocked due to an operational incident.

Stations
Styal line stations (with 5 year patronage statistics)
Station Image Location National services Annual
entry/exit
(millions)
1997/98[10]		 Annual
entry/exit

1999/00[10]		 Annual
entry/exit

2004/05[10]		 Annual
entry/exit

2009/10[10]		 Annual
entry/exit

2014/15[10]		 Annual
entry/exit

2019/20[10]
Mauldeth Road Ladybarn Northern Trains 87,054 Decrease 82,723 Increase 118,566 Increase 239,796 Increase 321,878 Decrease 305,762
Burnage Burnage Northern Trains 71,774 Decrease 70,803 Increase 92,908 Increase 158,674 Increase 186,778 Increase 213,780
East Didsbury Didsbury Northern Trains
Transport for Wales		 87,893 Decrease 86,832 Increase 124,511 Increase 272,656 Decrease 254,256 Increase 296,966
Gatley Gatley Northern Trains
TransPennine Express		 121,459 Increase 130,086 Increase 151,681 Increase 238,096 Increase 309,926 Decrease 338,506
Heald Green Heald Green Northern Trains 191,537 Increase 204,190 Increase 245,950 Increase 379,956 Increase 497,988 Decrease 482,318
Manchester Airport Ringway Northern Trains
TransPennine Express
Transport for Wales		 1,132,740 Increase 1,259,513 Increase 1,576,260 Increase 2,620,252 Increase 3,460,854 Increase 5,747,000
Styal Styal Northern Trains 679 Increase 1,332 Increase 3,719 Decrease 2,206 Increase 5,668 Decrease 21,670
Total 1,693,136 Increase 1,835,479 Increase 2,313,595 Increase 3,911,609 Increase 5,037,348 Increase 7,406,002

Services

Stopping services

All stations on the line are served by two stopping services per hour operated by Northern Trains- one runs between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Airport and the other runs between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe. On Sundays, this is reduced to 1 train per hour which runs between Liverpool Lime Street and Wilmslow. These services are usually operated by a Class 323 electric multiple unit. The busier stations - East Didsbury, Gatley and Heald Green are served by an additional third express train every hour. Early morning, late evening and peak services sometimes make additional stops to provide additional services. For example, Gatley is served by a Blackpool North bound train at 07:43 on Sunday mornings.

Mauldeth Road, Burnage and Heald Green are served exclusively by Northern Trains.

East Didsbury is also served by Transport for Wales Rail and Gatley is also served by TransPennine Express services.[11]

Styal line off-peak services (as of December 2021)
StationtphStopping serviceExpress serviceAdditional express service
Mauldeth Road2Half hourly 'stopping' service
Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street
calling at all stations on the Styal line
Burnage2
East Didsbury3Manchester Airport to Llandudno
(Transport for Wales)		Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness/Windermere
Gatley3Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness/WindermereManchester Airport to Saltburn
(TransPennine Express)
Heald Green3Manchester Airport to Blackpool NorthManchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness/Windermere
Manchester Airport7to Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool North and Llandudnoto Redcar Central, Edinburgh and Glasgow Central
Styal1

Express services

TransPennine Express run through services, via Manchester Piccadilly, from across the north of England; these include Saltburn, via York and Leeds. Their trains also operate from Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley (both 2-hourly) via Preston and Manchester Piccadilly. [12] These were operated by Class 185 DMUs until December 2013, when they were replaced with electric Class 350 EMUs.[13] which were transferred to London Northwestern Railway in 2020, following replacement by Class 397 EMUs. Transport for Wales Rail run a limited weekday service from the Airport to Chester, as an extension of their route between North Wales and Manchester Piccadilly, using Class 175 units.

See also

References
  • Haywood, Russ (2009). Railways, Urban Development and Town Planning in Britain: 1948-2008. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9780754673927. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  1. Haywood 2009, p. 237.
  2. "Commons Transport Select Committee - Memorandum by the Greater Manchester Branch of the Institute of Logistics and Transport (REN 40)". HM Government. 11 July 2003. Retrieved 9 December 2018. increased TransPennine services to Manchester Airport—these presently reverse out of bay platforms on the eastern side of Piccadilly, with consequent waiting delays for through passengers from the west, and then cross West Coast Main Line and local tracks to reach the Styal (Airport) line approach to Slade Lane junction, on the extreme west of the layout
  3. "Timetable recast: too much, too quickly". Railway Gazette. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  4. "Manchester Recovery Task Force Public Consultation" (PDF). Department for Transport. September 2021.
  5. "Station to station: a spotter's guide to prefab design on the railways". The Guardian. 14 February 2022. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  6. Gourvish, T. R.; Blake, N. (1986). British Railways 1948-73: A Business History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 625–6. ISBN 9780521264808. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  7. Haywood 2009, p. 261.
  8. Brook, Richard; Dodge, Martin (2012). Infra_MANC (PDF). CUBE Gallery. p. 131. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  9. Haywood 2009, p. 210.
  10. "Station usage". Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  11. Table 85 National Rail timetable, December 2022
  12. "Timetables | Download timetables | TransPennine Express". TransPennine Express. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  13. "New Rolling Stock for London Midland and for First TransPennine Express". London Midland. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
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