Manchester Oxford Road railway station

Manchester Oxford Road Railway Station is a railway station in the city of Manchester, England. The station is located at the junction of Whitworth Street West and Oxford Street. It is Manchester's third busiest train station after Piccadilly and Victoria.

It serves the southern part of Manchester city centre, including the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, and is on the most-served bus route in Europe.^[2] The station has a ticket office, waiting rooms, automatic ticket gates, toilets, a buffet and a newsagent.

It stands on a line from Manchester Piccadilly westwards towards Liverpool, Preston and Blackpool. Trains in the eastbound direction go beyond Piccadilly to Crewe, Leeds, Sheffield and other towns across Northern England. Notable buildings within close vicinity to the station include the Palace Theatre, the Cornerhouse, Palace Hotel and the 106m 17 New Wakefield Street which overlooks the station.

History

The station opened as Oxford Road on 20 July 1849 by the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJAR).^[3] The station was the headquarters of the MSJAR from opening until 1904. Initially it had two platforms and two sidings, with temporary wooden buildings. To allow for 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 1903-04. From 1931 it was served by the MSJAR's 1500V 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, still with 1500V DC electrification. The remaining three platforms were electrified at 25 kV AC from Manchester Piccadilly, one of these being a terminus platform. The whole station was reopened on 12 September 1960.

Due to the closure of Manchester Central railway 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. In 1971 the whole station became electrified at 25 kV AC with the re-electrification of the line to Altrincham. From this point, local trains from Altrincham started running through to Piccadilly and on to Crewe, and Oxford Road became predominantly a through station, with many fewer trains terminating there.

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 and other metalwork (partially to hold the structure up and also to prevent material falling on the platforms and passengers) and the whole station was in a sorry state: eventually refurbishment was completed in 2004.

In 1992 the station's original raison d'etre as the terminus for Altrincham disappeared with the conversion of the Altrincham line stopping service to light rail operation as part of Manchester Metrolink. Oxford Road, once served almost entirely by suburban stopping trains, now has many more longer-distance services as well.

Service pattern

Northern Rail

• 1tph to Hazel Grove
• 1tph to Preston
• 1tph to Southport
• 1tph to Liverpool Lime Street via Newton-le-Willows
• 2tph to Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Central
• 2tph to Manchester Airport

First TransPennine Express

• 1tph to Liverpool Lime Street
• 1tph to Scarborough
• 1tph to Blackpool North
• 1tph to Lancaster, continuing alternately to Barrow-in-Furness and either Glasgow Central or Edinburgh
• 2tph to Manchester Airport

Arriva Trains Wales

• 1tph to Llandudno or Holyhead
• 1tph to Manchester Piccadilly

East Midlands Trains

• 1tph to Liverpool Lime Street
• 1tph to Norwich

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

All eastbound trains (those to Hazel Grove, Scarborough, Nottingham, Norwich and Manchester Airport) also call at Manchester Piccadilly.

References

External links

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