Manchester Piccadilly station

Manchester Piccadilly
National Rail Manchester Metrolink
Aerial view of Piccadilly station in 2007
General information
LocationManchester, Greater Manchester
England
Coordinates53°28′37″N 2°13′48″W / 53.477°N 2.230°W / 53.477; -2.230
Grid referenceSJ847978
Managed byNetwork Rail
Transit authorityGreater Manchester
Platforms14 (National Rail)
2 (Manchester Metrolink)
Other information
Station codeMAN
Fare zoneCity (D)
ClassificationDfT category A
Key dates
1842Opened as Store Street
1847Renamed Manchester London Road
1861Rebuilt
1881Expanded
1960Renovated and renamed Manchester Piccadilly
2002Renovated
Passengers
2018/19Increase 30.133 million
2019/20Increase 32.199 million
2020/21Decrease 5.188 million
2021/22Increase 19.581 million
 Interchange  1.236 million
2022/23Increase 23.558 million
 Interchange Increase 2.046 million
Listed Building – Grade II
FeatureTrain shed at Piccadilly Station
Designated6 June 1994
Reference no.1283014[1]
Location
Map
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Manchester Piccadilly is the main railway station of the city of Manchester, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. Opened originally as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of the city centre, it hosts long-distance intercity and cross-country services to national destinations including London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Reading, Southampton and Bournemouth; regional services to destinations in Northern England including Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and York; and local commuter services around Greater Manchester. It is one of 19 major stations managed by Network Rail. The station has 14 platforms: 12 terminal and two through platforms (numbers 13 and 14). Piccadilly is also a major interchange with the Metrolink light rail system with two tram platforms in its undercroft.

Piccadilly is the busiest station in the Manchester station group with over 30 million passenger entries and exits between April 2019 and March 2020 (the other major stations in Manchester are Oxford Road and Victoria). As of December 2023, it is the third-busiest station in the United Kingdom outside of London (after Birmingham New Street and Leeds),[2] and is also one of the busiest interchange stations outside London, with over 2 million passengers changing trains annually.[3] The station hosts services from six train operating companies.

Between the late 1990s and early 2000s, Piccadilly station was refurbished, taking five years and costing £100 million (in 2002); it was the most expensive improvement on the UK rail network at the time.[4] Further improvements and expansion plans have been proposed. In December 2014, a Transport and Works Act application was submitted for the construction of two through platforms as part of the Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Oxford Road Capacity Scheme.[5][6] As of 2023, this application has not been approved by the incumbent government although Network Rail declared the Castlefield corridor through Manchester 'congested' in September 2019.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference NHLE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "ORR Statistics 2022-23" (PDF).
  3. ^ "Office of Rail and Road".
  4. ^ "£100m station revamp opens". BBC News. 9 December 2002. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
  5. ^ "Network Rail - Enhancements Delivery Plan". Network Rail. September 2016. p. 11. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  6. ^ "Watch: How Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations could look after £1bn redevelopment". Manchester Evening News. 8 October 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  7. ^ "Piccadilly Station should get two new platforms – but does 'crass stupidity' mean it might never happen?". Manchester Evening News. 8 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Castlefield Corridor - Congested Infrastructure Report: Capacity Analysis – System Operator" (PDF). Network Rail. 6 September 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  9. ^ "Twenty Fourth Supplemental Agreement to the Track Access Contract" (PDF). ORR. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019. It noted that Network Rail had highlighted that the Corridor has congestion issues between 0700 and 2000 and would be more than happy to contractually agree to the additional rights being confined to the proposed hours of operation.