The Manchester–Preston line runs from the city ofManchester to Preston, Lancashire. It is largely used by commuters entering Manchester from surrounding suburbs and cities, but is also one of the main railway lines in the North West and is utilised by TransPennine Express regional services and to Scotland. It was announced in December 2009 that the line would be electrified, following an announcement in July 2009 that the Chat Moss line between Manchester and Liverpool was to be electrified first. The electrification work for this line commenced in May 2015 and was due for completion in May 2018, but was delayed until December 2018. Electric service commenced on 11 February 2019. The line is one of the busiest in the North West, with seven trains per hour in each direction during the off-peak daytime timetable. The line speed is currently 100 mph.
Manchester Victoria was the original starting point before the Windsor Link was created. It goes through Salford Central, after which it then joins the line from the Windsor Link and enters Salford Crescent.
The route then continues to Clifton, and then passes through Kearsley, Farnworth and Moses Gate following the Irwell Valley for much of the route. The first major town is Bolton. Just after Bolton station there is a junction to the right where the Ribble Valley line, a single track line, heads off to Blackburn and Clitheroe. The line cuts through the western suburbs of Bolton including Lostock, where trains to Wigan Wallgate via Westhoughton, branch off. Next is Horwich Parkway opened in 1999 and Blackrod. It then proceeds through the town of Adlington and on to Chorley, passing through, which opened in 2011 and finally joins the West Coast Main Line at Euxton Junction before continuing via Leyland to Preston.
Operators
operate all timetabled services over the full length of the line since the start of the new Northern and Trans-Pennine Express franchises in April 2016. These include limited stop workings from and via Manchester Piccadilly to, a limited number of Manchester Airport to and trains and stopping trains from Manchester Victoria to Blackpool North. Some of the latter run to or from. Other workings use part of the line only - e.g. Manchester Victoria to and via , Manchester Airport to Southport/Manchester Victoria to Wigan Wallgate via and Manchester Victoria to and . TransPennine Express used to operate the semi-fast Blackpool & Barrow/Windermere prior to the aforementioned 2016 changes - they now only operate the through trains to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh, which currently run via and Chat Moss rather than via this route. Virgin Pendolino trains will be using the line as the Bolton Corridor route in 2019. This will connect the Bolton Interchange to the main Scotland to London route via Manchester Piccadilly. Other TOCs operate along the southern section of the route to Ordsall Lane Jn and go on to Warrington:
The line is an important diversionary route at weekends, used in conjunction with the Crewe–Manchester line to divert away from a large section of the West Coast Main Line if required. The convenience is that this only adds 35–40 minutes to a journey and negates the need for costly bus replacement services. Some freight still uses this line, especially during the peak periods during the day. It is, however, a primary passenger route in the North West of England.
Trains
trains were the most frequent units on the line: working for First TransPennine Express to, and. In the other direction, they all worked to although engineering works resulted in some services working to instead. Prior to 2007, Class 175 trains worked the majority of these services before the 185s took over. Between May 2001 and December 2006, they worked all and services and the majority of the services. However, they never worked to Scotland due to this being a Virgin CrossCountry service until December 2007. TransPennine Express use mainly newer Class 397 Civityson the line having replaced the older Class 350 units. Class 185 still appear occasionally when the Class 397 Civity units are unavailable. Northern Trains operate a variety of rolling stock for their services, with Class 331s, Class 323s and Class 319. Northern also use Class 195s, Class 158s, Class 156s, Class 153s, Class 150s and Class 142s on the line. Most of the diesel services only use the line south of as these diverge onto the unelectrified lines, notably the Ribble Valley line to and and the Manchester–Southport line to. Since December 2019, services between / and have been run using Class 331 units. Some Sunday services between and also use Class 331 units.
Electrification
Work on 25 kV OHL electrification of the line began in May 2015 and has included numerous bridgeworks plus the major undertaking of the re-boring of Farnworth Tunnel. Its high profile resulted in a visit from Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, shortly after work started, and from Transport SecretaryPatrick McLoughlin in August 2015 during the reboring work. Breakthrough was achieved in late, rather than early October, due to loose sand delaying the work in August; the first trains running through the new twin track bore on Monday 14 December 2015. Electrification of the line was due for completion by December 2016, then delayed until December 2017 and then further delayed until May 2018. In January 2018 yet another delay was announced. This was attributed to difficult ground conditions including hard rock and running sand resulting from old mine workings. Test trains finally ran between Preston and Manchester in December 2018. The first scheduled passenger-carrying electric services began on 11 February 2019, running to Blackpool North, Buckshaw Parkway, Manchester Victoria and Manchester Airport using Class 319 EMUs.
