Styal line

Styal line Airport line
ANorthern RailClass 323 atMauldeth Roadin 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 185 Class 195 Class 197 Class 323 Class 331 Class 397
Ridership	7.4 million per year
History
Opened	1909
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm(4 ft8+1⁄2in)standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV AC overhead
Operating speed	70 mph speed restriction
Route map (Click to expand)

Styal Line
toOxford Road&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

TheStyal lineis a suburbancommuter railway linewhich runs through southManchester,England; it commences at Slade Lane Junction, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) south ofManchester Piccadilly,and ends 12 miles (19 km) south atWilmslow.

Opened in 1909, by theLondon and North Western Railwaycompany,it takes its name from the Cheshire station ofStyal,the last stop before the junction at Wilmslow. A branch line toManchester Airportwas built in 1993, accessed via atriangular junctionbetweenHeald Greenand Styal; it is also referred to as theAirport line.

Journeys into Manchester on the line have risen sharply since the 1990s and the opening of Manchester Airport station in 1993 fuelled an increase in express services fromNorthern Englandand beyond. As a result, it is now one of the most congested lines on theNational Railnetwork, with services frequently susceptible to delays and cancellations.

Between May 2018 and December 2022, the line operated on askip-stopbasis, with each station having a dedicated express service toLiverpool Lime Street,Preston,Blackpool NorthandWindermere.This was to maximise the number of train slots between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport; however, due to poor performance and falling passenger numbers, the service reverted to half-hourly calling at all stations in December 2022, with one service running betweenCreweand Manchester Piccadilly and the other running between Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street.The three busiest stations (Heald Green,GatleyandEast Didsbury) retain a third hourly express service in addition to the stopping services. As only one train per hour runs between Manchester Airport and Wilmslow, Styal station is served hourly.

History

When operated byBritish Rail,the line was served byClass 304electric multiple units

In the early twentieth century, the line between Manchester London Road (now calledPiccadillystation) andStockportbecame unable to cope with the increasing traffic. To solve the problem, a new route avoiding Stockport was constructed by theLondon and North Western Railway;it ran from Slade Lane Junction, located inLongsight,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 theLondon Midland and Scottish Railway.

In the 1950s, as part ofBritish Rail'sModernisation Plan,theBritish Transport Commissionidentified the Styal line as a suitable test track to prove its newelectrification 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 the25 kVsystem across the electrified Great Britain rail network, outside theSouthern Region.There was a half-hourly electric service (Monday - Saturday) betweenManchester Oxford RoadandAlderley Edge,operated by Class 304 EMUs.Services were extended toAltrinchamwhen theMSJARwas re-electrified at 25 kV AC in 1971 and operated in this way until the line between Altrincham and Manchester was transferred toManchester Metrolinkin 1990.

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

In 1993, a shortspur lineto 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 ofClass 350sbyFirst TransPennine Expresson the Edinburgh-Manchester Airport line in December 2013 andClass 319sbyNorthern Railin 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 theClass 156and the now-retiredClass 142Pacertrains.

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 theClass 195andClass 331units, that this platform capacity was fully utilised on Northern routes to Liverpool (Mauldeth Road) and Blackpool North (Burnage, East Didsbury and Gatley) 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 train crew 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	87,054	82,723	118,566	239,796	321,878	305,762
Burnage		Burnage	Northern Trains	71,774	70,803	92,908	158,674	186,778	213,780
East Didsbury		Didsbury	Northern Trains 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

All stations on the line are served by two stopping services per hour operated byNorthern Trains:one runs between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Airport and the other runs between Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe. On Sundays, this is reduced to one train per hour which runs between Liverpool Lime Street and Wilmslow. These services are usually operated by aClass 323electric multiple unit(EMU).

The busier stations (East Didsbury, Gatley and Heald Green) are served by an additional third express train every hour. Early morning, late evening and peak services sometimes make additional stops to provide additional services; for example, Gatley is served by a Blackpool North train at 07:43 on Sunday mornings.

Mauldeth Road, Burnage and Heald Green are served exclusively by Northern Trains.

East Didsbury is also served byTransport for Wales Railand Gatley is also served by TransPennine Express services.

Styal line off-peak services (as of December 2021)
Station	tph	Stopping service	Express service		Additional express service
Mauldeth Road	2	Half hourly'stopping' service CrewetoManchester Piccadilly Manchester AirporttoLiverpool Lime Street calling at all stations on the Styal line
Burnage	2
East Didsbury	3			Manchester AirporttoLlandudno (Transport for Wales)		Manchester AirporttoBarrow-in-Furness/Windermere
Gatley	3			Manchester AirporttoBarrow-in-Furness/Windermere		Manchester AirporttoSaltburn (TransPennine Express)
Heald Green	3			Manchester AirporttoBlackpool North		Manchester AirporttoBarrow-in-Furness/Windermere
Manchester Airport	7			toBarrow-in-Furness,Blackpool NorthandLlandudno		toRedcar Central,EdinburghandGlasgow Central
Styal	1

Express services

TransPennine Expressrun through services, via Manchester Piccadilly, from across the north of England; these include toSaltburn,viaYorkandLeeds.Their trains also operate fromGlasgow Central/Edinburgh Waverley(both two-hourly) via Preston and Manchester Piccadilly.These were operated byClass 185diesel multiple unitsuntil December 2013, when they were replaced withClass 350EMUs.which were transferred toLondon Northwestern Railwayin 2020, following replacement byClass 397EMUs.

Transport for Wales Rail run a limited weekday service from the Airport toChester,as an extension of their route between North Wales and Manchester Piccadilly, usingClass 175units.

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.ISBN9780754673927.Retrieved19 June2018.

External links

• Greater Manchester Strategic Rail Study Final Report June 2001