Manchester Piccadilly station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Manchester Piccadilly
Location
Place	Manchester City Centre
Local authority	City of Manchester
Operations
Station code	MAN
Managed by	Network Rail
Platforms in use	14
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Passenger Usage
2004/05 **	18.958 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Greater Manchester
Zone	City (D)
History
Key dates	Opened 1842
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Manchester Piccadilly (source)   * 2002/03 Disclaimer  ** 2004/05 Disclaimer
UK Rail Portal

Interior shot of the station with the Victorian trainshed.

The station concourse; platforms at this terminus station are behind a glass screen.

The station side-wall showing the elevation of the platforms, which are on a level with the brown brickwork

A Virgin Trains Pendolino awaiting departure to London

Manchester Piccadilly station is the principal railway station of Manchester in England, and lies on the Manchester loop of the West Coast Main Line. It serves intercity routes to London Euston, Birmingham New Street, Cardiff Central and the south, Glasgow Central, and routes throughout the north of England. It is the larger and busier of the two major railway stations in Central Manchester, the other being Manchester Victoria. It is currently operated by Network Rail.

[edit] History

The station was originally opened on 8 May 1842 and was initially known as Store Street station and as Bank Top station. It was the terminus of the Manchester and Birmingham Railway, who shared it from August 1844 with the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway. It was renamed London Road station in 1847, around the time the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was formed (later to become the Great Central Railway). During the first two decades of the 20th century, London Road station was served by the London & North Western Railway, the Great Central Railway and through running powers, the North Staffordshire Railway. Following the 1923 railway grouping, the station was served by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway. Even after nationalisation in 1948, London Road station was operated as two independent sides, separated by formidable iron railings. On one side was the London Midland Region of British Railways; on the other was the Eastern Region.

In 1910 a second nearby terminus, Mayfield station, was opened to cope with the huge volume of passengers. It was closed generally to passenger trains by 1952 but remained in use until 1960 chiefly for one specific passenger train, the Pines Express from Bournemouth to Manchester. It reopened as a parcels depot in 1970 but closed again. The long-disused building is still intact and visible across Fairfield Street from platforms 13 and 14.

London Road station was renamed to its present name of Manchester Piccadilly when it was rebuilt in 1960 for the new London Midland Region electric train services to London. The glass roof over the terminal platforms was completely replaced in the late 1990s. In 2001-2002, as part of preparations for the 2002 Commonwealth Games the remainder of the station was rebuilt, to designs by BDP, greatly increasing the size of the station concourse and improving access for road traffic.

The station undercroft (two levels below the main rail platforms) has been converted to provide two platforms for the Manchester Metrolink tram system, which opened in 1992.

[edit] Description

[edit] National Rail station

The terminal part of the station comprises twelve platforms, while the busiest part of the station comprises platforms 13 and 14, which formerly served the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway, (opened in 1849), and are now used by through services via Manchester Oxford Road to Llandudno, Liverpool, north-western England, Glasgow and Edinburgh, including through services from Manchester Airport.

At basement level is the Fairfield Street entrance, serving the car park and taxi rank, and the Manchester Metrolink station. Above this, at track level, is a large modern concourse with ticket office and food outlets. Above this is a second level of shops. Glass doors lead to platforms 1 to 12 in the main trainshed. A travelator leads to the "island lounge" linked by footbridge, steps and lift to platforms 13 and 14. This island lounge contains a newsagent and coffee bar. A further food outlet is on platform 13/14.

Piccadilly station handles approximately 1,000 train movements daily.

[edit] Manchester Metrolink station

Piccadilly station is currently the terminus for Manchester Metrolink services to Bury, Altrincham, and Eccles. The Metrolink station, situated underneath the mainline station, is one of eight serving Manchester city centre, within the system's City Zone. As currently (2007) structured, one platform is used to handle all arrivals before the tram travels empty into the tunnel below the mainline station and then reverses direction to arrive at the departure platform; in earlier years one platform was used to handle all arrivals from and departures to Bury, and the other platform was used for arrivals from and departures to Altrincham and Eccles, with a crossover built just outside the station to allow access to and from either platform.

[edit] Services

[edit] External links

• Station information on Manchester Piccadilly station from Network Rail
• Train times and station information for Manchester Piccadilly station from National Rail
• Street map and aerial photo of Manchester Piccadilly station from Multimap.com

Coordinates: 53°28′37″N, 2°13′46″W