Railway improvement work: Reduced service to / from Manchester Victoria from Monday 10 to Friday 14 August 

Route(s) affected

Northern between Southport and Stalybridge, and between Headbolt Lane and Blackburn, and between Clitheroe / Blackburn and Rochdale, and also between Wigan Wallgate / Chester / Manchester Victoria and Leeds

TransPennine Express between Liverpool Lime Street and Hull / Newcastle, and also between Manchester Airport and York / Scarborough / Redcar Central

Description

Engineering work is taking place between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge, closing some lines. Background information on the work can be found below.

Due to the above work, there will be no route in or out of Manchester Victoria from the east (Huddersfield / Leeds / York direction). Trains will be diverted to start / terminate at Manchester Piccadilly.

Northern:

Trains between the following stations will be amended as follows:

• Chester / Manchester Victoria and Leeds: Trains will run between Rochdale and Leeds. Train services are available between Chester and Manchester Piccadilly via Earlestown. You may also use your ticket at no extra cost on Transport for Wales services between Chester and Manchester Piccadilly

• Wigan Wallgate and Leeds: Trains will run between Wigan Wallgate and Manchester Victoria, and between Hebden Bridge and Leeds

• Blackburn and Headbolt Lane: Trains will run between Headbolt Lane and Manchester Victoria, and between Rochdale and Blackburn

• Clitheroe / Blackburn and Manchester Victoria: Trains will run between Clitheroe / Blackburn and Manchester Victoria

• Southport / Wigan Wallgate and Stalybridge: Trains will run between Southport / Wigan Wallgate and Manchester Victoria. Train services are available between Manchester Piccadilly and Stalybridge. You can use your ticket at no extra cost on local Bee Buses between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge

Rail replacement buses will be provided between Rochdale and Manchester Victoria.

A map infographic is available for this engineering work, showing you bus routes and ticket acceptance routes.

Due to the above works and to alleviate congestion in / out of Manchester Piccadilly there will also be some minor timetable and station call changes:

• On Manchester to Rose Hill services, some trains will not call at Gorton and/or Fairfield

• On Manchester to Hadfield services, some trains will make additional calls at Gorton and/or Fairfield

• The 17:00 Manchester Piccadilly to Hazel Grove service will start from Stockport. Customers should instead travel on the 16:51 Manchester Piccadilly to Buxton service
  
  

TransPennine Express:

The following TransPennine Express train service will operate between:

• Manchester Piccadilly and Redcar Central

• Manchester Piccadilly and Newcastle

• Manchester Piccadilly and Hull

• Manchester Piccadilly and York

• York and Scarborough

• Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Victoria

Background information:

Closing the railway outside Manchester Victoria will allow Network Rail engineers to continue creating a new 'turnback' (a section of track designed to allow trains to terminate and reverse direction safely and efficiently). Once finished, this improvement work will free up space in Manchester Victoria station so trains can stop and pass through more quickly. The station’s flexibility and reliability will be improved. More comment is available on the Network Rail website.

Check before you travel:

You can plan your journey using the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner.

You can plan your journey on Bee network buses by using 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 drop-off 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.