Manchester Oxford Road railway station

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Manchester Oxford Road
Location
Place	Manchester
Local authority	Greater Manchester
Coordinates	53°28′26″N 2°14′32″W / 53.4739, -2.2422Coordinates: 53°28′26″N 2°14′32″W / 53.4739, -2.2422
Operations
Station code	MCO
Managed by	Northern Rail
Platforms in use	5
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Rail Passenger Usage
2004/05 *	0.562 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1849 Rebuilt 1960
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 Oxford Road from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Railways in Manchester

Legend Lines to Southport and Preston and Clitheroe Manchester to Liverpool Line Salford Crescent Salford Central Manchester to Liverpool Line Liverpool Road Mid-Cheshire Line Manchester Central Deansgate ( G-Mex) Exchange Oxford Road Metrolink Metrolink Piccadilly Victoria Proposed Metrolink to Ashton Metrolink to Bury Mayfield Oldham Road Miles Platting Ardwick WCML and lines to Crewe and Stafford Newton Heath Dean Lane Ashburys Moston Caldervale Line Hope Valley Line and Oldham Loop Huddersfield and Glossop Lines Huddersfield Line

Manchester Oxford Road Station is a railway station in the city of Manchester, England, UK.

The station is at the junction of Whitworth Street West and Oxford Street, on an elevated track between Deansgate and Piccadilly stations.

It serves the southern part of Manchester City Centre, including the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, and is on one of the busiest bus routes in Europe to the southern suburbs of the city. It also serves the BBC's offices in Manchester and is within walking distance of Manchester's main shopping district.

The station has a ticket office, waiting rooms, automatic ticket gates, toilets, a buffet and a newsagent.

This station lies on lines from Liverpool to Manchester and Manchester to Preston. Trains from this station go to Liverpool, Blackpool, Leeds, Sheffield and other towns across the North of England.

[edit] History

The station opened as Oxford Road on 20 July 1849 by the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJAR). The station was the Headquarters of the MSJAR from opening until 1904. On opening it had 2 platforms and 2 sidings and temporary wooden buildings. To allow the operation of extra trains in connection with the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition in Trafford in 1857 extra platforms and sidings were built. In 1874 the station was completely rebuilt. The station then had two bay platforms and three through platforms. Further reconstruction took place during 1903/4. From 1931 it was served by the MSJAR's 1500 V dc electric trains to Altrincham.

As the station had become dilapidated by the 1950s, and as part of the electrification and modernisation of the Manchester to London line, it was replaced by the current building in 1960 (architects W. R. Headley, Max Glendinning). This was designed in a distinctive style in concrete and wood with curves bringing to mind the Sydney Opera House. It is a grade II listed building. From July 1959 the Altrincham electric trains began terminating at Oxford Road in two new bay platforms. The remaining three platforms were electrified at 25 kV ac from Manchester Piccadilly with one being a terminus platform. The whole station was reopened on 12 September 1960.

Due to the closure of Manchester Central station in 1969 further rebuilding of Oxford Road station took place with one of the bay platforms being taken out of use and a new through platform being built (platform 1) and the others being renumbered accordingly. The track layout was also changed so that there were now four through platforms and one bay platform. The whole station became electrified at 25 kV ac with the re-electrification of the line to Altrincham in 1971.

Use of the station increased from May 1988 with the construction of the Windsor Link between Deansgate and Salford Crescent, linking the lines to the North and South of Manchester. This led to further investment in the station, including the installation of computer screens. For years the station's platform buildings were encased in scaffolding (to hold the structure up) and the whole station was in a sorry state: eventually refurbishment was completed in 2004: http://cube.kioskdev.co.uk/news/news-article.asp?id=100

[edit] Service Pattern

Off Peak service is 21 trains per hour (tph), in the following pattern:

• 5tph to Liverpool Lime Street operated by Northern Rail, First Transpennine Express or East Midlands Trains
  
• 1tph to Scarborough operated by First Transpennine Express
  
• 1tph to Cumbria or Scotland operated by First Transpennine Express
  
• 5tph to Manchester Airport operated by Northern Rail or First Transpennine Express
  
• 2tph to Blackpool North operated by First Transpennine Express or Northern Rail
  
• 1tph to Preston and beyond operated by First Transpennine Express
  
• 1tph to Nottingham extending every two hours to Norwich operated by East Midlands Trains
  
• 1tph to Manchester Piccadilly only operated by Arriva Trains Wales
  
• 1tph to Llandudno operated by Arriva Trains Wales
  
• 1tph to Buxton operated by Northern Rail
  
• 2tph terminate from Liverpool Lime Street operated by Northern Rail

This is reduced on a Sunday, most services operating hourly. There are various other peak services.

[edit] References

• Frank Dixon   The Manchester South Junction & Altrincham Railway   The Oakwood Press (1994) ISBN 0-85361-454-7

[edit] External links

• Images of England - photograph and details from listed building text