Manchester International Depot is a train maintenance depot in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. It was constructed next to Longsight depot in the early 1990s as part of a plan to operate

Regional Eurostar Regional Eurostar was a planned Eurostar train service from Paris and Brussels to locations in the United Kingdom beyond London. The services would have been run using a fleet of seven ''North of London'', 14-coach British Rail Class 373/3 trai ...

international train services from

to Europe via the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

History

By the time that Eurostar services became operational through the Channel Tunnel in 1994, it was decided that regional Eurostar services from Manchester (via the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

) and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

(via the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...

) to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

were not economic to run, due to their long journey times compared to air travel: Manchester-Paris and Glasgow-Paris. However, the depots and trains had all but been completed, by this time, and trial runs operated on both main lines. The Manchester International Depot, with signs saying ''"Le Eurostar habite ici"'' and other Eurostar branding, stood empty and unused for almost ten years. Unlike the majority of the British railway network, it does not belong to

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

but to London & Continental Stations & Property (LCSP), a subsidiary of

London & Continental Railways London and Continental Railways (LCR) is a property development company owned by the Government of the United Kingdom for developing former railway land. The company was originally established in 1994 as a private consortium to own European Pas ...

. Regional Eurostar operations never came to pass. In 2005,

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

began using the depot, rented from LCSP, as a testing base for its new Class 185 DMUs for

First TransPennine Express First TransPennine Express was a British train operating company jointly owned by FirstGroup and Keolis which operated the TransPennine Express franchise. First TransPennine Express ran regular Express regional railway services between the major ...

, until its own Ardwick traincare facility dedicated depot had been completed. In 2011, it was reported that London & Continental Railways still owned the Manchester site. In January 2013, it was announced that an extended Manchester Piccadilly on the north side of the station would be the new terminus for

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

- as opposed to the south side where the disused Manchester Mayfield station is located. A tunnel would be built under the dense districts of south Manchester to minimise disruption. This tunnel will surface south of the A57 Hyde Road on the current site of the International Depot. In May 2018, rolling stock manufacturer CAF sub-let the depot from LCSP in conjunction with

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

for use in testing

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major c ...

rolling stock in conjunction with Freightliner. Mark 5A coaching stock along with Class 68 locomotives on hire from

Direct Rail Services Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain. As of 2022, it is one of seven publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom, the others being NI Railways (the passenger rail operator in Northern Ireland), LNER, ...

were based at the depot, with further testing and commissioning activities for the

Class 397 The British Rail Class 397 '' Civity'' is a class of electric multiple unit built by Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF for lease to TransPennine Express by Eversholt Rail Group. A total of twelve five-car units were built to operate serv ...

EMUs also being undertaken at the site from early 2019. CAF operations on the site ceased in early 2021. In January 2023 work was completed to reopen the depot for use as servicing and stabling facility, the depot will be used by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

to accommodate its

Class 323 The British Rail Class 323 are electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger trains built by Hunslet Transportation Projects and Holec. All 43 units were built from 1992 through to 1995, although mock-ups and prototypes were built and tested in 1990 ...

fleet.

References

{{Reflist Eurostar Transport in Manchester Buildings and structures in Manchester Rail transport in Greater Manchester Railway depots in England

History

See also

References