Moses Gate railway station serves the
Moses Gate
Moses Gate is a small district of Farnworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies southeast of Bolton town centre and northwest of the city of Manchester. suburb of
Farnworth
Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester.
Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River Ir ...
in the
Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
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, image_skyline =Bolton Town Hall.jpg
, imagesize = 250px
, image_caption = Bolton Town Hall, the seat of Bolton Council
, image_blank_emblem = Coat of arms of Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council.png
, blank_emblem_type = Coat of Arms of ...
,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
,
North West England.
It lies on the
Manchester-Preston Line south of Bolton, though only local services run by
Northern call here.
Until the late 1970s, Moses Gate was one of the more important stations on the line between
Manchester Victoria
Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was co ...
and
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...
, with Sunday service and high patronage. But due to clearance of much housing in the area, use has declined (see
Strategic Rail Authority figures) although it retains an hourly service (see National Rail Timetable). Moses Gate is the nearest railway station to the village of
Little Lever
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
*The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
. The station was staffed until the early 1990s, but the station buildings were badly damaged in an arson attack and subsequently demolished. It is now unmanned and has no ticketing facilities (passengers intending to travel must buy tickets in advance or on the train). Shelters and timetable posters are located on both platforms; though there are ramps to each platform, the
National Rail Enquiries
National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the pa ...
entry for the station states that it is not currently (December 2016) DDA-compliant.
From early May 2015 until the December 2015 timetable change, services from the station were suspended and replaced by buses due to the ongoing modernisation work here (where the platforms have been rebuilt, ahead of planned electrification of the line) and on the route further south at
Farnworth Tunnel. The station reopened on 14 December 2015.
Service
![Moses Gate railway station in 1989](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Moses_Gate_railway_station_in_1989.jpg)
Since the May 2018 timetable change, the service from here has seen some improvements (notably with the introduction of evening weekday trains for the first time in more than twenty years). A basic hourly service operates each way all day (with a few peak extras), southbound to and and northbound to and via .
Saturday services were suspended and replaced by buses until November 2018 due to the (significantly delayed) ongoing work to electrify the route through Bolton.
Services at the station were also temporarily suspended between 28 August and 11 September 2017 due to a damaged road bridge near the station. A fractured water main caused part of the embankment and retaining wall supporting the bridge to collapse onto the track and damaged both the bridge supports and road surface. The line was not in use at the time due to a planned engineering blockade at Bolton - this was due to end on 28 August (and was completed on schedule), but following the incident the railway remained closed between Bolton and whilst repairs were carried out. Replacement buses were in operation, with through trains diverted via alternative routes. The line reopened on 6 September 2017, though trains were still unable to call at the station as repairs to the access road were still ongoing. Normal working resumed five days later once these were completed.
There is no Sunday service. The lack of Sunday service was raised in Parliament in July 2019.
Electrification
Following delays caused by geological problems and change of main contractor, electric services eventually commenced on Monday 11 February 2019, utilising
Class 319 electric multiple units
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...
.
None of these trains however stop here.
References
External links
{{coord, 53.5563, -2.4017, region:GB_type:railwaystation, display=title
Railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
DfT Category F2 stations
Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1838
Northern franchise railway stations
Farnworth