Manchester station group

Use in Metrolink Zone 1

Main article: Zone 1 (Manchester Metrolink)

Greater Manchester passengers

Passengers who travel on rail services from the Greater Manchester area into one of the four Manchester stations will be issued with a ticket stating the destination as Manchester CTLZ as opposed to Manchester Picc or Manchester Vic. This allows visitors to use Metrolink trams between stops in Zone 1 for free on the presentation of a Manchester CTLZ rail ticket. The Freedom of the City scheme was introduced in 2005 by GMPTE, now Transport for Greater Manchester. Zone 1 includes ten Metrolink tram stops:

• Cornbrook (also in Zone 2)
• Deansgate-Castlefield (railway station)
• Exchange Square
• Market Street
• New Islington
• Piccadilly (railway station)
• Piccadilly Gardens
• Shudehill
• St Peter's Square
• Victoria (railway station)

National Rail passengers

Passengers travelling into Manchester from outside the Greater Manchester county are not permitted to use rail tickets to travel around the city centre on the Metrolink. As a consequence the destination on the orange rail tickets is stated as Manchester STNS. The Manchester Metrolink is a locally funded transport system which receives no national subsidy from central government. National Rail passengers can use the free buses outside stations to travel around the city centre.

Future

Many journeys which call at Manchester stations slow down due to the populated nature of Greater Manchester and congested routes; Network Rail have described it as a 'bottleneck'. In 2010 the Manchester hub study was released with a series of proposals to decreasing journey times.

The Ordsall Chord (also known as the Castlefield Curve) was opened in 2017, which now links all four of Manchester's main stations. Other proposals are yet to start construction. Two new through platforms were to be built at Piccadilly and Victoria be upgraded. In May 2023 the Department for Transport confirmed that the proposals for two new platforms at Piccadilly were to be withdrawn. The implementation of the Northern Hub proposals would reduce journey times to and from Liverpool by 15minutes, Leeds by 15minutes and Sheffield by 5minutes.

Stations

In use

Closed

One of the first inter-city railway stations in the world was Manchester Liverpool Road station on Liverpool Street. On 15 September 1830, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened and services terminated at the station. Part of the station frontage remains, as does the goods warehouse. Both of these structures are Grade I protected and are part of the Museum of Science and Industry.

All four of Manchester's termini (Piccadilly, Mayfield, Exchange and Victoria) were not recommended for closure in the first Beeching Report, but the reduced rail traffic caused by the closure of other railway lines meant services were transferred to Piccadilly and Victoria. Consequently, trains to Exchange and Central stations were withdrawn; the latter was granted Grade II* and later converted into an arena and exhibition centre.

References

References

1. "Estimates of Station Usage 2015–16 -Methodological Report". Office of Rail and Road.
2. "FAQs – I have bought a train ticket that states Manchester Stations as the destination. Can I use this on the Metrolink in the city centre?". Metrolink.
3. (31 May 2012). "Freedom of Information – Subsidies and passenger numbers for National Rail, Manchester Metrolink and London Underground". gov.uk.
4. "National Rail Station Groups".
5. (January 2018). "Free Travel on the Metrolink". TfGM.
6. "Freedom of the City". TfGM.
7. (28 October 2005). "Free tram rides for train riders". BBC News.
8. Timan, Joseph. (2023-05-25). "Plans for new Piccadilly platforms to solve Manchester rail chaos pulled".
9. "Northern Hub". Network Rail.
10. "Station usage". [[Office of Rail Regulation]].
11. "Manchester Exchange".