Kearsley railway station serves the town of

Kearsley Kearsley ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 14,212. Historically part of Lancashire, it lies northwest of Manchester, southwest of Bury and south of ...

and the outlying villages of Stoneclough, Prestolee and Ringley in

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 ...

, England. It was originally named Stoneclough. It lies on the Manchester-Preston Line north of , though only local services run by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...

stop here. The station was staffed until the early 1990s, however the arson attacking of the station building just below platform level saw an end to this arrangement. In the spring of 2015, the station's pedestrian rail crossing was replaced by a footbridge and the platforms rebuilt as part of modernisation work to electrify the line and raise line speeds to 100 mph.

Facilities

The station is unmanned, however, there is a ticket machine on the Bolton-bound platform that allows passengers to pay for a ticket by card. Passengers wishing to pay by cash can use these machines to obtain a ‘Promise to Pay’ ticket. There are simple waiting shelters on each platform, with train running information provided by telephone and timetable posters. Step free access is available to both platforms via Station Road. However, passengers coming from Stoneclough village would have to walk further to access these facilities.

Services

There is an hourly service northbound to Bolton and and southbound to

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 throughout the day Mondays to Saturdays. Evening trains began stopping here at the May 2018 timetable change, but ongoing electrification work on the Manchester to Preston route saw all weekend trains replaced by buses for most of 2017–18; electric service eventually starting on Monday 11 February 2019 initially 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 ...

(though the Wigan to Manchester trains serving the station are still diesel operated). There is no Sunday service.

21st century upgrade and electrification

In 2009,

Andrew Adonis Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, (born Andreas Adonis; 22 February 1963) is a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Third Blair ministry, Blair ministry and the Brown mi ...

in a government paper, proposed infill electrification schemes in the North West of England. After a spending review, in July 2012 the Coalition government announced

25 kV AC railway electrification Railway electrification systems using alternating current (AC) at are used worldwide, especially for high-speed rail. It is usually supplied at the standard utility frequency (typically 50 or 60Hz), which simplifies traction substations. The dev ...

reconfirming the scheme previously announced by Adonis. Amongst schemes announced for electrification were Manchester - Euxton Junction through Kearsley railway station and thence to Euxton Junction. The project also called for a major civil engineering project to rebore the Farnworth tunnel on the line in advance of electrification.

References

Bibliography

External links

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 {{GreaterManchester-railstation-stub