Horwich Parkway railway station

Horwich Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Horwich and suburb of Middlebrook in Greater Manchester, England. The station is 16+14 miles (26.2 km) north west of Manchester Piccadilly on the Manchester to Preston line. The station is close to Junction 6 of the M61 motorway. It has digital information displays.

Horwich Parkway
National Rail
Horwich Parkway seen prior to electrification
General information
LocationHorwich, Bolton
England
Grid referenceSD643091
Managed byTransport for Greater Manchester
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeHWI
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Original companyRailtrack
Key dates
2 July 1999 (1999-07-02)Station opened
Passengers
2019/20Increase 0.673 million
2020/21Decrease 0.104 million
2021/22Increase 0.390 million
2022/23Increase 0.447 million
2023/24Increase 0.507 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Rail services are operated by Northern Trains. Horwich Parkway opened on 2 July 1999. It is the only railway station owned and managed by TfGM. A ticket office was built in 2007 and car parking provision has been expanded on several occasions. A wind turbine was built in 2012 and the station is powered by green energy. Horwich Parkway is the railway station for the Toughsheet Community Stadium, home of Bolton Wanderers F.C..

On 1 February 2021, management of the station was transferred from Northern Trains to Transport for Greater Manchester.

Passengers visiting Horwich should be aware that the town centre of Horwich is much closer (1¼ miles) to Blackrod, the next station on the line. Frequent direct bus services operate from Blackrod to Horwich town centre.[1]

Facilities

edit

The station has a ticket office on Platform 1, which is open Monday-Saturday 06:20-19:35. A ticket vending machine is in place for purchase of tickets or promise to pay coupons when the ticket office is closed and for the collection of pre-paid tickets. Digital station information boards are in operation on both platforms. Car parking is available adjacent to the ticket office.

Services

edit
 
The station in 2018, following completion of electrification works.

There are two trains per hour Monday to Saturdays, northbound to Blackpool North and southbound to Manchester Airport via Manchester Piccadilly. This is reduced to one train per hour on Sundays.[2]

Extra services operate from Horwich Parkway on Mondays to Saturdays in the rush hour, with two per day southbound to Manchester Airport in the morning and one in the evening northbound to Windermere.

The delayed electrification work on the Manchester to Preston line (running two years behind schedule) led to a temporary reduction in service frequency here from the start of the summer 2018 timetable, along with regular weekend engineering blockades and replacement buses in place of the scheduled train service.[3] Weekend services resumed on Sunday 11 November 2018 after the completion of the engineering work after more than three years of regular weekend possessions.

Electric service commenced on 11 February 2019 utilising Class 319 electric multiple units.[4]

Prior to December 2022, 1 train per hour southbound terminated at Hazel Grove.

See also

edit

Further reading

edit
  • "Bolton's Horwich Parkway station work starts". RAIL. No. 346. EMAP Apex Publications. 16–29 December 1998. p. 13. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Bee Network - 575 Blackrod - Horwich". Archived from the original on 20 August 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ^ Table 102 National Rail timetable, June 2023
  3. ^ Manchester - Bolton - Preston route improvement works Archived 30 July 2018 at the Wayback MachineNorthern website news article; Retrieved 2 August 2018
  4. ^ McDonnell, Seamus (14 February 2019). "First electric trains are a 'new dawn' for Bolton commuters | The Bolton News". The Bolton News. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
edit
Preceding station     National Rail   Following station
Northern

53°34′41″N 2°32′24″W / 53.578°N 2.540°W / 53.578; -2.540