Styal line

Styal line Airport line
A Northern Rail Class 323 at Mauldeth Road in 2013
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Greater Manchester Cheshire North West England
Termini	Manchester Piccadilly Wilmslow
Stations	9
Service
System	National Rail
Rolling stock	Primarily: Class 319 Class 323
Ridership	7.4 million per year
History
Opened	1909
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV AC overhead
Operating speed	70 mph speed restriction
Route map to Oxford Road and Victoria Manchester Piccadilly Hope Valley line Buxton line Stafford–Manchester line Crewe–Manchester line Mauldeth Road Burnage East Didsbury Gatley Heald Green Manchester Airport Manchester Airport Styal Crewe–Manchester line Wilmslow Crewe–Manchester line

The Styal line is a suburban commuter railway line which runs through south Manchester, England; it commences at Slade Lane Junction, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south of Manchester Piccadilly, and ends 12 miles (19 km) south at Wilmslow.

Opened in 1909, by the London and North Western Railway company, it takes its name from the Cheshire station of Styal, the last stop before the junction at Wilmslow. A branch line to Manchester Airport was built in 1993, accessed via a triangular junction between Heald Green and Styal; it is also referred to as the Airport line.

Journeys into Manchester on the line have risen sharply since the 1990s and the opening of Manchester Airport railway station in 1993 fuelled an increase in express services from Northern England and beyond. As a result, it is now one of the most congested lines on the National Rail network, with services frequently susceptible to delays and cancellations.

Since May 2018, the line has operated on a skip-stop basis, with each station having a dedicated express service to Liverpool Lime Street, Preston, Blackpool North and Windermere. This was to maximise the number of train slots between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport but, due to poor performance and falling passenger numbers, it is proposed that the line will revert to half-hourly service calling at all stations, with one service terminating at Manchester Piccadilly and the other continuing on to Liverpool Lime Street.

History

When operated by British Rail, the line was served by Class 304 EMUs

In the early twentieth century, the line between Manchester London Road (now called Piccadilly station) and Stockport became unable to cope with the increasing traffic. To solve the problem, a new route avoiding Stockport was constructed by the London and North Western Railway. It ran from Slade Lane Junction, located in Longsight, to Wilmslow through what was then mainly a rural area. The primary purpose was to provide a bypass for express trains, but a few wooden stations were built on the line to encourage suburban development. In practice, very few expresses latterly used the line, as it was necessary for most trains to serve the important station at Stockport. The line opened in 1909 and, from 1923, was operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway.

In the 1950s, as part of British Rail's Modernisation Plan, the British Transport Commission identified the Styal line as a suitable test track to prove its new electrification scheme; the line was electrified in 1959. Some of the stations were rebuilt using the Mod-X system at this time. Following the Styal line tests, it was decided to adopt the 25 kV system across the electrified Great Britain rail network, outside the Southern Region. There was half-hourly electric service (Monday - Saturday) between Manchester Oxford Road and Alderley Edge operated by Class 304 EMUs. Services were extended to Altrincham when the MSJAR was re-electrified at 25 kV AC in 1971 and operated in this way until the line between Altrincham and Manchester was transferred to Manchester Metrolink in 1990.

In the 1970s, the Styal line was included in a proposal to create an underground railway across Manchester City Centre. The Picc-Vic tunnel was planned to connect the two major mainline railway termini, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria; it would have enabled Styal line trains to run directly across the city to Bolton and Bury. The Picc-Vic scheme was abandoned in 1977, due to funding difficulties.

In 1993, a short spur line to Manchester Airport was opened, branching away the Styal line between Heald Green and Styal. Initially, services ran via Heald Green only, until a triangular junction was added a few years later which provided a link towards Styal. Many services were then diesel powered until 2014. The introduction of Class 350s, by First TransPennine Express on the Edinburgh-Manchester Airport line, in December 2013 and Class 319s by Northern Rail in early 2015 curtailed the use of diesel trains on the line; this allowed for a 100 mph service compared with 75 mph limit for many diesel trains, such as the Class 156 and the now-retired Class 142 Pacer trains.

In 2006, the platforms at Mauldeth Road, Burnage, East Didsbury and Gatley stations were all reconstructed, as well as access improvements at Heald Green. Patronage on the line increased after this investment. At the time, most platforms were future-proofed and extended to allow six carriage operation; however, it was not until 2019, with the arrival of the Class 195 and Class 331 units, that this platform capacity was fully utilised on Northern routes to Liverpool (Mauldeth Road) and Blackpool North (Burnage and East Didsbury) which operate with six coaches.

In recent years, usage of the line has surged with growing commuter patronage, along with non-stopping services which use the line between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport. Nowadays, most services on the line operate via the airport. There are a couple of services each day (mainly long-distance trains) which take the direct route from Styal to Heald Green; that is to say, from Heald Green South Junction to Heald Green North Junction, for traincrew route knowledge retention purposes northbound. However, the only services on the junction southbound are either freight or a Transport for Wales service which doesn't stop at either station and only operates on Sundays. This route can also be used for diversions if the Stockport route is closed for engineering work or is blocked due to an operational incident.

Stations

Styal line stations (with 5 year patronage statistics)
Station	Image	Location	National services	Annual entry/exit (millions) 1997/98	Annual entry/exit 1999/00	Annual entry/exit 2004/05	Annual entry/exit 2009/10	Annual entry/exit 2014/15	Annual entry/exit 2019/20
Mauldeth Road		Ladybarn	Northern Trains TransPennine Express	87,054	82,723	118,566	239,796	321,878	305,762
Burnage		Burnage	Northern Trains TransPennine Express	71,774	70,803	92,908	158,674	186,778	213,780
East Didsbury		Didsbury	Northern Trains TransPennine Express Transport for Wales	87,893	86,832	124,511	272,656	254,256	296,966
Gatley		Gatley	Northern Trains TransPennine Express	121,459	130,086	151,681	238,096	309,926	338,506
Heald Green		Heald Green	Northern Trains	191,537	204,190	245,950	379,956	497,988	482,318
Manchester Airport		Ringway	Northern Trains TransPennine Express Transport for Wales	1,132,740	1,259,513	1,576,260	2,620,252	3,460,854	5,747,000
Styal		Styal	Northern Trains	679	1,332	3,719	2,206	5,668	21,670
Total				1,693,136	1,835,479	2,313,595	3,911,609	5,037,348	7,406,002

Services

Stopping services

As the line is shared between commuter stopping services and express trains, each station is allocated an hourly semi-fast or fast service on a skip-stopping basis; this is to maximise capacity. All stations have an hourly stopping service, which forms part of the Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street service and is usually operated by a Class 319 or Class 323. Peak-time trains in the morning and evening oftem make additional calls at certain stations which they would not otherwise do during off-peak services; for instance, the Northern service to Blackpool North calls at Gatley at 05:49, 06:48, 22:40 and 23:54.

Styal line off-peak services (as of December 2021)
Station	tph	Stopping service	Northern service(s) (northbound)		Additional service (third train per hour)
Mauldeth Road	2	Hourly 'stopping' service from Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street calling at all stations on the Styal line		Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Central
Burnage	2			Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness/Windermere
East Didsbury	3			Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Central		Manchester Airport to Llandudno (Transport for Wales)
Gatley	3			Manchester Airport to Blackpool North		Manchester Airport to Redcar Central (TransPennine Express)
Heald Green	3			Manchester Airport to Blackpool North		Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness/Windermere
Manchester Airport	7			to Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool North and Liverpool Lime Street		to Redcar Central, Edinburgh, Glasgow Central and Llandudno
Styal	1

Express services

TransPennine Express run through services, via Manchester Piccadilly, from across the north of England; these include Newcastle upon Tyne or Redcar, via York and Leeds (2 per hour), and from Cleethorpes, via Sheffield (hourly). Their trains also operate from Glasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley (both 2-hourly) via Preston and Manchester Piccadilly. These were operated by Class 185 DMUs until December 2013, when they were replaced with electric Class 350 EMUs. These are currently being transferred to London Northwestern Railway, following replacement by Class 397 EMUs. Transport for Wales run a limited weekday service from the Airport to Chester, as an extension of their route between North Wales and Manchester Piccadilly, using Class 175 units.

See also

• Airport Line (Manchester Metrolink); Metrolink tram line also serving Manchester Airport.

References

• Haywood, Russ (2009). Railways, Urban Development and Town Planning in Britain: 1948-2008. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9780754673927. Retrieved 19 June 2018.

External links

• Greater Manchester Strategic Rail Study Final Report June 2001