Major bridge replacement work at Stockport from Saturday 2 to Friday 22 August 

Route(s) affected

Avanti West Coast between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe / London Euston

CrossCountry between Manchester Piccadilly and Reading / Birmingham New Street / Bristol Temple Meads / Southampton Central / Bournemouth / Paignton

East Midlands Railway between Crewe and Nottingham / Newark Castle, and between Liverpool Lime Street and Nottingham / Norwich

London Northwestern Railway between Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent / Stafford

Northern between Manchester Piccadilly and Hazel Grove / Buxton / Sheffield / Alderley Edge / Crewe, between Manchester Piccadilly / Manchester Oxford Road and Stoke-on-Trent, between Manchester Piccadilly / Stockport and Chester, and also between Stockport and Stalybridge

TransPennine Express between Liverpool Lime Street / Manchester Piccadilly / Manchester Airport and Cleethorpes, between Liverpool Lime Street and Sheffield / Doncaster

Transport for Wales between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe / Shrewsbury / Cardiff Central / Swansea / Carmarthen / Pembroke Dock / Milford Haven / Fishguard Harbour

Description

Major Engineering work is taking place at Stockport, and between Handforth / Bramhall and Stoke-on-Trent, closing all lines.

You can find more information below and on Network Rail's webpage for the Greek Street bridge replacement.

Avanti West Coast

No trains will run between Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly.

Trains between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston will run a reduced service of 2 trains per hour. These trains will be diverted between Manchester Piccadilly and Wilmslow via Heald Green.

Replacement bus services will run between:

• Wilmslow and Stockport

• Wilmslow and Macclesfield

• Crewe and Stafford, calling at Stoke-on-Trent

CrossCountry

No trains will run between Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke-on-Trent.

Replacement bus services will run between:

• Stockport and Stoke-on-Trent calling at Macclesfield

• Macclesfield and Stafford calling at Stoke-on-Trent

Ticket acceptance:

You can use other operators buses for connections to / from Manchester Piccadilly.

East Midlands Railway

An amended timetable will run on the Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich route, trains will run between Sheffield and Norwich only.

On Saturdays and Sundays, replacement bus service will operate between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield only.

Ticket acceptance:

You can use alternative train operators services between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly / Sheffield.

London Northwestern Railway

From Sunday to Friday, buses will replace trains between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford.

Services between Liverpool Lime Street and Crewe / Birmingham New Street will run to an amended timetable.

Northern

Buses will replace trains between:

• Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport

• Manchester Piccadilly and Hazel Grove

• Manchester Piccadilly and Chester (Sunday only)

• Stockport and Stoke-on-Trent

Trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Alderley Edge / Crewe via Stockport will not run.

Trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe will run to a reduced timetable and will call additionally at Chelford and Goostrey.

Trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Chester will run to a reduced timetable between Altrincham and Chester only.

Trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Buxton will run to a reduced timetable between Hazel Grove and Buxton only.

Ticket acceptance:

You can use your ticket at no extra cost with Transport for Greater Manchester on:

• Bus route 192 between Manchester city centre and Stockport

• Tram services between Stockport and Altrincham

TransPennine Express

Buses will replace trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport.

Trains between Liverpool Lime Street and Cleethorpes will run to an amended timetable, and will divert via Romiley.

An hourly train service will run between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Oxford Road.

Transport for Wales:

Transport for Wales services will not serve Stockport station.

Services between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe will divert between Manchester Piccadilly and Wilmslow, running to an amended timetable.

To / from Manchester Piccadilly / Stockport, a joint bus operation will be in place with other train operating companies.

Additionally, some Transport for Wales services between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly / Chester / North Wales will run at amended times between Manchester Airport, East Didsbury and Manchester Piccadilly.

Replacement bus stop advice:

Please be aware that road access at some stations is limited, and replacement buses will run to / from alternative nearby locations in some cases. To check the locations of these services, you can look up your station via the National Rail Station pages.

Background Information:

Network Rail are replacing the bridge that takes the Greek Street roundabout, in Stockport, over the West Coast main line. The original bridge, constructed in 1958, has reached the end of its life and needs to be replaced. The bridge sees about 400 passenger and 50 freight trains passing under it each day.

From 2 to 22 August 2025, the railway will be closed through Stockport. During this time, Network Rail will demolish the current structure, which consists of about 200 concrete beams, and install a new bridge.

Full details of the project, and the work which then will continue in phases until Spring 2026, can be found on the Network Rail website.

Check before you travel:

Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern, Northern and Transport for Wales, you can plan your journey using the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner

If you are travelling with TransPennine Express, these changes are not currently shown in the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner, please check back nearer to the time of travel.

You can plan your journey on buses by using use the Transport for Greater Manchester website

Replacement Bus Travel Advice:

For helpful advice if you need to travel on a rail replacement service, including accessibility and bicycle information, please use our Rail Replacement Services page.

You can find the pick-up and set-down location of rail replacement services by checking station signage or by searching for your station on our Find a Station page.

Please be advised that replacement vehicles may be busier than usual, and you should allow extra time for your journey.