Congleton railway station
Congleton | |
---|---|
Congleton railway station in 2014 | |
Location | |
Place | Congleton |
Local authority | Cheshire East |
Grid reference | SJ872623 |
Operations | |
Station code | CNG |
Managed by | Northern |
Number of platforms | 2 |
DfT category | E |
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
Annual rail passenger usage* | |
2012/13 |
|
2013/14 |
|
2014/15 |
|
2015/16 |
|
2016/17 |
|
History | |
Key dates | Opened 9 October 1848 |
National Rail – UK railway stations | |
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Congleton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
|
Congleton railway station is a mainline station serving the Cheshire town of Congleton. It lies on the Manchester to Stoke-on-Trent branch of the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom.
The line from Stoke to Congleton was opened on 9 October 1848, with Congleton station opening on the same day and owned by the North Staffordshire Railway.
Previous service
In early privatisation, Virgin trains served the station every two hours during the day, Monday to Saturday, as was agreed by Virgin Trains to prevent increased use of the line by stopping services.
Until 2003, Congleton was served Monday to Friday by around 19 local stopping services, which consisted of approximately 11 southbound services (one starting from Macclesfield) and nine trains northbound (some semi-fast). The number of local services operating on Saturday varied but remained similar that on weekdays; three trains each way operated on Sunday.
All those local services were operated by North Western trains, latterly known as First North Western.
From 2003 to 2008, there were seven trains a day Monday to Friday, three southbound (one from Macclesfield only) and four northbound (one semi-fast). On Saturdays, there were two trains southbound (one from Macclesfield only) and 2 trains northbound. On Sundays, there were three trains in each direction, operated by Northern from 2004.
Additionally Virgin Trains (CrossCountry from 2007) operated increased services Monday to Saturday to Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham New Street. Brighton, Reading, Guildford, Gatwick Airport and London (Euston).
Today
Today the station is managed by Northern, which now operate an hourly service pattern to Stoke-on-Trent and Manchester Piccadilly Monday to Saturday.[2]
Also, CrossCountry operate a limited service at peak times to Manchester Piccadilly and Bournemouth.
The station is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week however the ticket office is only open Monday to Saturday: 06:30-13:40. The next station northbound is Macclesfield and southbound is Kidsgrove. The two train companies that operate at Congleton are Northern and CrossCountry. It has two platforms, one for Manchester and the North, the other for Stoke-on-Trent and the South.
Just outside the station are two bus stops with services to Congleton and Biddulph. The station also has car parking spaces and timetable boards with a help point.
Sundays see a reduced service of five trains in each direction throughout the day. One of the services was added on 1 April 2012 and was funded 61%/39% by Transport for Greater Manchester and Cheshire East Council until this service and an additional fifth service which originally terminated at Macclesfield were funded by the Department For Transport as part of a Direct Award franchise to Northern Rail.
Due to the delay of the Manchester to Preston electrification, Congleton's Sunday service will remain at 5 services each way after the May 2018 timetable change.
Congleton lost 1 peak service on Monday-Friday in each direction to/from Manchester in May 2018.
References
- ↑ "When the Railway Came to North Rode" (PDF).
- ↑ Table 84 National Rail timetable, May 2016
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Congleton railway station. |
- Train times and station information for Congleton railway station from National Rail
- North Staffordshire Railway
Preceding station | Following station | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
CrossCountry | ||||
Northern Stoke-Manchester |