Wigan North Western railway station


Wigan North Western is one of two railway stations that serve the town centre of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England; the other is, away. It lies on the West Coast Main Line, with services operated by Avanti West Coast, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express.
The station is suffixed North Western because it formerly belonged to the London and North Western Railway. In 2009, it was identified as one of the ten worst category B interchange stations for mystery shopper assessment of fabric and environment and was set to receive a share of £50m funding for improvements.

History

The Wigan Branch Railway opened on 3 September 1832 between the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Parkside Junction, in Newton-le-Willows, and Wigan. The original station in the town was located close to Chapel Lane, with three trains per day connecting with the Liverpool and Manchester trains at Parkside.
The North Union Railway opened between Wigan and Preston; it connected with the line from Parkside on 31 October 1838. Wigan station was relocated to its present position. The LNWR was formed as a result of the progressive amalgamation of various earlier lines, including the Grand Junction Railway in 1846. In collaboration with the Caledonian Railway, through trains were introduced between and.
The Wigan rail crash occurred on 2 August 1873. An overnight express from London to Scotland derailed while passing through the station at high speed; 13 people died and 30 were badly injured. The subsequent inquiry into the accident resulted in the introduction of facing point locks to passenger-carrying lines throughout the UK.
The station was substantially enlarged between 1888 and 1894. The LNWR's Manchester and Wigan Railway connected with the North Union Railway at Springs Branch; services to via which began in September 1864, terminated at the enlarged station. This line closed in 1969.
During 1971 and 1972, the run-down Victorian-era station buildings were demolished and the track layout remodelled as a prelude to electrification. The rebuilt station was opened officially in July 1972. On 1 October, all signalling through Wigan North Western and adjacent sections of the West Coast Main Line came under the control of the new Warrington Power Signal Box. Two large signal boxes were closed: Wigan No.1 and Wigan No.2, which had controlled train movements at the south and north ends of station respectively.
Electric train services began on 23 July 1973 between London Euston and. Express trains, formerly hauled by one or two diesel locomotives, were now powered by or new electric locomotives. The West Coast Electrification project was completed on 6 May 1974 and electric trains through to Glasgow began.

Withdrawn passenger services

Wigan North Western has retained regular trains to a wide range of destinations, given that it lies on the West Coast Main Line. However, there were several local passenger services from the station which fell under the Beeching Axe and earlier; these lines have since been closed:Blackburn via Chorley: Lancashire Union Railway; the passenger service was withdrawn in January 1960:Manchester Exchange via Tyldesley: a local stopping passenger service withdrawn in 1962, with some remaining non-stopping local services withdrawn in January 1968; some expresses continued until May 1969.Local trains along the main line:
There are proposals to reopen some of the closed local stations. For example, Golborne Stations will be rebuilt after a proposal from TfGM and Bee Network from mayor Andy Burnham
The town also had a third station: Wigan Central. It was closed to passengers in November 1964 and subsequently demolished.

Layout

The station platforms are generally used for the following purposes:
  1. is used for some services to Stalybridge via Bolton and Manchester Victoria on Sundays.
  2. was a bay platform but is no longer in use after platform 3 was extended at the end of 2020. The track serving it has been lifted and the face fenced off.
  3. is a bay platform, used by early morning and late evening Northern services to and, via and the Calder Valley ; Sunday services to Manchester Victoria, via ; and as a reversing siding allowing trains and locomotives for Springs Branch depot to approach from and leave south of the depot as it can only be entered from the north.
  4. is used for Avanti West Coast services to London Euston and and Northern Trains services to.
  5. is for northbound services to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley. It is also used for services to Blackpool North
  6. is used to terminate Merseyrail's City Line services arriving from the Liverpool–Wigan line, which is operated by Northern Trains, and also used rarely for Avanti services if no other platforms are available.
The platforms have heated waiting rooms. The British Transport Police have an office on platform 4, near to the station's cafe.

Services

Wigan North Western is served by three train operating companies; they run the following off-peak services in trains per hour/day:

Avanti West Coast

  • 1tph to
  • 1tp2h to
  • 1tp2h to
  • 1tph to, via
  • 1tph to London Euston, via, and
  • 2tpd to London Euston
  • 2tpd to Blackpool North.

Northern Trains

  • 2tph to, via ; 1tp2h on Sunday
  • 1tph to Blackpool North.

TransPennine Express