Wigan Wallgate railway station
Wigan Wallgate railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town centre of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. The station serves two routes, the Manchester-Southport Line and the Manchester-Kirkby Line. It is 16 miles north-west of Manchester Victoria. The station is managed by Northern Trains, who operate all trains serving it.
Wigan's other main station is Wigan North Western, which is about away, on the opposite side of the street named Wallgate.
Description
There are three platforms, two through platforms and one bay platform for trains departing towards Southport or Kirkby. Platforms are below street level and reached via a flight of stairs from the street level concourse which contains a ticket office and a newsagent. However, a goods lift has been modified for passenger use to ensure step-free access to the platform.The ticket office is manned all week, from 06:00 to 21:00 Monday to Saturday and from 08:00 to 20:00 on Sundays. Automated ticket barriers are in operation. Train running information is provided via digital display screens, timetable posters and automated announcements. Toilets and a waiting room are available at platform level.
History
- 1848 The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway opened the line between Liverpool and Lostock Junction on 20 November 1848. The original L&YR station at Wigan was located east of the current station, closer to the London & North Western Railway station. The early train services on the line ran to Liverpool, Bolton, Bury and Manchester.
- 1855 The railway opened between Wigan and Southport on 9 April 1855. Wigan's L&YR station was then relocated to a position west of where Wallgate station is today.
- 1868 The L&YR introduced a passenger service on 14 September 1868 between Wigan L&YR station and Chorley, using a newly opened route from Hindley to Blackrod, near Horwich.
- 1888 On 1 October 1888, the L&YR opened a new line from Pendleton in Salford via Atherton to Hindley. This provided a faster, more direct route for trains from Manchester and avoided the busy bottleneck around Bolton station. The L&YR then introduced fast, regular trains between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Exchange, in direct competition with the L&NWR which used the more direct route between Manchester Exchange and Liverpool Lime Street.
- 1889 A bypass line opened on 1 June 1889 between Hindley and Pemberton, passing to the south of Wigan. This allowed a faster journey for the L&YR's Manchester – Liverpool expresses by avoiding Wigan station. Express trains from Liverpool continued to serve Wigan on the route to Bury, Rochdale and West Yorkshire.
- 1896 The L&YR opened its Wigan station on its current site on 2 February 1896. The railway company had received extensive criticism regarding the standard of its station and facilities since it opened the line through the town in 1848. In 1896 Wigan finally received a railway station in line with the town's size and importance.
- 1924 Renamed from "Wigan" to "Wigan Wallgate" on 2 June 1924.
- 1960 Passenger trains between Wigan Wallgate, Chorley and Blackburn via Hindley were withdrawn on 4 January 1960.
- 1968 The last steam trains ran on British Railways and by this time most services through Wigan Wallgate had been converted to diesel multiple unit operation. The steam loco depot just west of Wallgate was closed and the sidings converted for stabling of DMUs. The 1965 British Rail timetable still shows express trains using or bypassing Wigan Wallgate.
- 1969 The direct line from Hindley to Pemberton was closed on 14 July 1969 and all Manchester to Liverpool Exchange trains were routed through Wallgate.
- 1970 The line from Bolton to Rochdale via Bury was closed on 5 October 1970. Trains from Liverpool now generally terminated at Bolton. Southport trains provided the main service to and from Manchester Victoria.
- 1977 On 30 April 1977, the former L&YR terminus at Liverpool Exchange was closed. Trains were re-routed onto a new underground line beneath Liverpool city centre to Moorfields and Liverpool Central. Since diesel multiple units could not operate in the tunnels, trains from the Wigan line initially terminated at Sandhills, with passengers transferring to or from electric trains on the Southport or Ormskirk lines for the short trip into Liverpool city centre.
- 1977 During the early and mid-1970s, the frequency of British Rail's trains from Wigan Wallgate was reduced. Services operated at irregular intervals, those from the Liverpool line ran only as far as Wigan or Bolton and there were no off-peak trains on the Atherton line.
- 1978 The trains to Liverpool were cut back to Kirkby. This happened when Merseyrail completed electrification of the western section of line between Liverpool and Kirkby. The diesel train from Wigan was scheduled to meet an electric train from Liverpool at Kirkby and passengers transfer trains to complete their journeys. This arrangement continues at Kirkby today.
- 1978 The Victorian-era buildings on the station platform at Wallgate were demolished and new structures erected. The street level building remained largely unscathed.
- 1988 Prior to 1988, passengers travelling to Manchester were limited to arriving or departing at one station – the ex-L&YR terminus at Manchester Victoria. In May 1988 a new rail link was opened in Salford, which allowed trains from Wigan and Bolton to use the lines into either Salford Central and Victoria, or Deansgate, Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations.
In particular, the trains to or from Southport tend to be directed onto longer suburban routes south of Manchester. The exact destination varies with each timetable revision, but in recent years, Southport trains have run through to Buxton or Chester, via Stockport. Currently, the Southport trains run to Manchester Airport or .
- 2003–2004 A major refurbishment of infrastructure was completed in October 2004. The £12 million project involved a complete renewal of the track and signalling at Wallgate station and the adjacent carriage sidings. The LMS-era colour light signalling was replaced with a modern electronic control system.
Services
Passenger
All passenger train services are provided by Northern Trains and operated by, and DMUs. DMUs are unable to use this station because the body-side steps under the doors foul the platform coping stones here. During Monday to Saturday daytimes, this is the regular service pattern, however due to the Preston to Manchester electrification works during the 2015 summer timetable, there was an amended timetable throughout this period. There were no train services between Bolton and any Manchester station on Saturdays and Sundays between 2 May to 13 December, trains were routed via Walkden.Monday to Friday:
- 1 train per hour Manchester Airport to / from Southport
- 1 train per hour Blackburn to / from Wigan Wallgate
- 1 trains per hour Manchester Victoria to / from Southport
- 1 trains per hour to Bolton to / from Kirkby
- 1 tph Manchester Victoria to / from Southport
- 1 tph Manchester Airport to / from Southport
- 1 tph Manchester Victoria to / from Kirkby via Walkden
- 1 tph Manchester Oxford Road to / from Wigan Wallgate
- 1 tph Manchester Piccadilly to / from Southport
From 14 December 2015, the weekday & Saturday timetable reverted to that used prior to the Farnworth Tunnel blockade. There are 3tph via Bolton toward Manchester and 2tph via Walkden. One of the former continues to & and one of the latter to and Blackburn. Two per hour run westwards to Southport and one to Kirkby, whilst two others terminate here. In the evenings there are hourly services to the Airport via Bolton, to Southport and to Victoria via Atherton. The Sunday service pattern is broadly similar, but trains to Piccadilly run onward to Stockport, then either to or via .
Previously there was no Sunday service on the Atherton line, this changed in May 2010 when a 12-month trial of an hourly Sunday service began between Wallgate and Manchester Victoria via Atherton. Transport for Greater Manchester made the Sunday service a requirement of the Northern refranchising from April 2016.
Since the introduction of the summer 2018 timetable on 20 May, the timetable underwent a further major change. Trains via Bolton from here have been withdrawn - these now run to/from neighbouring . There are now 3tph to Manchester Victoria, all of which run via Atherton. These then continue to either, or . The westbound service continues to Southport and Kirkby as before. On Sundays, there are two trains to Manchester per hour and one to Southport.
The loss of Bolton service proved unpopular with many regular users of the line and so Northern agreed to modify the timetable so that the current service to Wigan N.W. from both Manchester stations will be diverted to run to Wallgate and onward to Southport from the December 2019 timetable update. Services from Leeds and Blackburn via Atherton will henceforth terminate/start here.