Mauldeth Road railway station (known as Mauldeth Road for Withington until 1974) is a suburban railway station serving the
Ladybarn
Ladybarn is a small suburban area in Manchester, England, around Ladybarn Lane. It is now part of Manchester's urban sprawl but some of the village's original cobbled streets remain. The oldest properties are probably Rose Cottages, dating from th ...
area of
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
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is the last station before
Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...
on the
Styal Line and was electrified in 1959. The station sits on the Styal Line to
Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...
, one of the most congested lines on the national rail network.
It has been served by a half-hourly stopping service from Manchester Airport/
Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
to
Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...
. Between May 2018 and December 2022, services operated on a
skip-stop
Skip-stop is a public transit service pattern which reduces travel times and increases capacity by having vehicles ''skip'' certain ''stops'' along a route. Originating in rapid transit systems, skip-stop may be also used in light rail and bus s ...
basis at irregular intervals to increase capacity on the line with a semi-fast service to Liverpool. From December 2022 the timetable reverted similar to pre-May 2018 with half-hourly stopping services; one terminating at Manchester Piccadilly and the other continuing onto Liverpool Lime Street.
History
![Mauldeth Road station entrance - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Mauldeth_Road_station_entrance_-_geograph.org.uk_-_827053.jpg)
The station opened in 1909, south of
Longsight
Longsight is an inner city suburb of Manchester, England, located south of the city centre. It is bounded by Ardwick and West Gorton to the north; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park and Fallowfield to the west. ...
(Slade Lane Junction), as Mauldeth Road for
Withington
Withington is a suburb of Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies from Manchester city centre, about south of Fallowfield, north-east of Didsbury and east of Chorlton-cum-Hardy. Withington has a population of just ...
. It was renamed Mauldeth Road on 6 May 1974 and now serves the
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 ...
-
Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
(via
Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...
) rail route, used by
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North, a point in direction
* Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe
* Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States
* Northern Province, Sri Lanka
* Northern Range, a ra ...
for stopping services to
Manchester Airport
Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...
. Its coal sidings closed in the 1960s, along with its original platform buildings on the up (southbound) side.
The remaining wooden ticket office, on the down platform, burned down on
Bonfire Night
Bonfire Night is a name given to various annual celebrations characterised by bonfires and fireworks. The event celebrates different traditions on different dates, depending on the country. Some of the most popular instances include Guy Fawkes ...
in 1986; thereafter the ticket office was a small
prefabricated unit at the bottom of the station approach.
It caters mainly for commuter traffic, being electrified at 25 kV AC overhead, and is used by
EMU
The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...
traffic. Some evening services are operated by
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 ...
with
DMUs.
2006 redevelopment
As part of a £12 million station modernisation programme on the Manchester Airport Line, re-building work on Mauldeth Road railway station commenced in autumn 2006.
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 ...
were able to keep the station operational for most of the time by demolishing the existing platforms in small parts and using temporary platforms. There was a temporary footbridge spanning the platforms while the pedestrians' access ramp to the northbound platform was out of use during renovation; the footbridge offered a vantage point for views over Manchester. As part of the re-building work new steel platforms, modern waiting shelters, new lighting and access ramps were constructed with work completed by June 2007.
Recent developments
Following extensive redevelopment of the station in 2006, passenger numbers doubled from approximately 148,000 to 323,000 in the five years between 2007 and 2012.
The portakabin ticket office, used since the late 1980s, was closed and removed in April 2013. A new purpose-built ticket office, funded by Network Rail, was constructed in summer 2013 and opened in October 2013.
In March 2017, the old rail bridge over Mauldeth Road, originally from when the line opened in 1909, had come to end of its life and was replaced with a new bridge.
Service patterns
Historically, the station has been served by a half-hourly service each way to Manchester Piccadilly and Crewe. In 1993, following the opening of the railway station at Manchester Airport, every other service terminated and commenced at Manchester Airport while another continued onto either
Wilmslow
Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census.
History
Toponymy
Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...
,
Alderley Edge
Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. In 2011, it had a population of 4,780.
Alderley Edge is northwest of Macclesfield and south of Manchester, at the base of a steep and thickly wooded sandstone escarpment, Alder ...
or Crewe.
The new 2018 timetable was the most radical in decades and notable for its poor introduction, which was marked by many delays and cancellations. As part of the May 2018 timetable change, the Styal Line to the Airport operated on a
skip-stop basis to free up additional capacity for express trains. Consequently, Mauldeth Road station was still served by two services per hour but at more irregular intervals and not all services stop at the four other commuter stations on the Styal Line (, , and ), as has been the case historically. Additionally, services were extended to which allowed for the service to utilise the two through platforms (13 and 14) at Piccadilly rather than terminating into a bay platform - which prevents the services from cutting across the 'throat' of the approach into Piccadilly and reducing capacity for Transpennine services.
Due to train crew shortages, between January and December 2022, the service was reduced to an hourly service with the semi-fast service between and via being withdrawn. Following a sustained fall in patronage between 2017 and 2021 attributed to the introduction of irregular calling patterns and increased unreliability following the 2018 timetable recast, in December 2022 Mauldeth Road reverted to a service similar to pre-2018 timetable with a half-hourly service at 30 minute intervals.
The southbound platform was upgraded in early 2023. Six-car Class 195 and 331 can call through Mauldeth Road due to automatic selective door operation (ASDO), however the southbound platform extension will allow two Class 323 units (which do not possess ASDO) to call at Mauldeth Road and double seating capacity on the service.
Facilities
The station has a staffed ticket office on the ramp to Platform 1 (for trains to towards Manchester Piccadilly). There is also a ticket machine at the station situated adjacent to the ticket office. There is step-free access to both platforms. Next to Platform 2, there is a station car park.
Services
Historical
Since the opening of Manchester Airport railway station in 1993, the Monday to Saturday service pattern was 2 trains per hour to
Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...
. 2 trains per hour operated in the opposite direction - one to Manchester Airport and the other continued onto
Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
until 17:53, then terminated at Wilmslow in the evening. Sunday services consisted of 1 train per hour to Manchester Airport, with one service every 2 hours continuing to Alderley Edge and 1 train an hour to Manchester Piccadilly.
Between May 2018 and December 2021, the service pattern was amended to increase capacity on the line with several services not stopping at the other intermediate stations towards . The Monday to Saturday service pattern consisted of
* 1 train per hour to via stopping at most local stations- operated by a or ;
* 1 train per hour to running semi-fast- operated by a ;
* 1 train per hour to via and stopping at all local stations - operated by a or ;
* 1 train per hour to via and running semi-fast- operated by a ;
* 3 trains in the morning to via - operated by a ;
* 1 train per day to - operated by
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 ...
with a .
Sunday services consisted of:
* 1 train per hour to - operated by a or ;
* 1 train an hour to - operated by a or .
Present
The current Monday - Saturday service pattern consists of:
* 1 train per hour to via (stopping service, terminates at on Sundays)
* 1 train per hour to (stopping service, Monday to Saturday)
* 1 train per hour to (Monday to Saturday)
* 1 train per hour to via
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{coord, 53, 26, 02, N, 2, 12, 31.50, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title
Withington
Railway stations in Manchester
DfT Category D stations
Former London and North Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1909
Northern franchise railway stations
1909 establishments in England