Ardwick railway station

Ardwick
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Location
Place	Ardwick
Local authority	Manchester
Coordinates
Grid reference	SJ858972
Operations
Station code	ADK
Managed by	Northern Rail
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	285
2005/06	358
2006/07	456
2007/08	479
2008/09	576
2009/10	754
2010/11	668
2011/12	584
2012/13	616
2013/14	568
2014/15	542
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Greater Manchester
History
Original company	Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
November 1842 (1842-11)	Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ardwick from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Ardwick railway station in Manchester, England is about one mile (1.5 km) south of Manchester Piccadilly. Situated in an industrial area of east Manchester, it is the least-used railway station in Manchester. Plans to close the station permanently were quashed in 2006 due to increasing activity in the area. The station has just two trains in each direction calling on Monday to Friday only in the 2015-16 timetable.

History

It was opened by the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway in 1842 and became part of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway during mergers in 1847. That company changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897. The station became a junction between the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway under the Grouping of 1923, and passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways under arrangement with the Greater Manchester PTE until the privatisation of British Rail.

Ardwick rail depot, opened 2006 for the Class 185 DMU fleet is a short distance to the east.

Non-closure

File:Ardwick Station, Manchester MH2.jpg

Station entrance

In its draft Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) for the North West, Network Rail proposed the closure of Ardwick, but the closure proposals were dropped from the final report published on 1 May 2007. Proposals to close Ardwick and two other stations in Greater Manchester were shelved after residents and passenger groups persuaded Network Rail that long-term development could improve the business case for keeping the stations open.

Ardwick is unstaffed and has a single island platform on the electrified line to Glossop and Hadfield. Access is from a footbridge, so wheelchair access is impossible. It is immediately adjacent to the main Manchester branch of the WCML, and the two routes join just north of the station. It has a peak-hour-only service of two trains in each direction (Monday - Friday only). The lines passing through the station are all intensively used by non-stop trains and this, coupled with its location in a largely non-residential area, accounts for its infrequent service.

In 2004-2005 financial year only 285 passengers used the station, or fewer than one per day, increasing to 358 in 2005-2006. As a result, it was proposed to close the station, but it was given a reprieve as a consequence of the increased commercial activity in the new East Manchester regeneration area.

Services

The station is located on the Hope Valley Line with a very limited service to/from Rose Hill Marple and Glossop calling at Ardwick. All these services are operated by Northern Rail.

External links

• Train times and station information for Ardwick railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Ashburys		Northern Rail Hope Valley Line Limited Services		Manchester Piccadilly

Manchester Lines
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