Rochdale railway station
Encyclopedia
Rochdale railway station serves the town of Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...

 in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The Manchester and Leeds Railway
Manchester and Leeds Railway
The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1839, connecting Manchester with Leeds via the North Midland Railway which it joined at Normanton....

 opened a station serving the town in the 19th century. The station was built, for reasons of economy of building and operation, some distance to the South (and up a steep hill) from the town centre.

The station is on the Caldervale Line
Caldervale Line
The Caldervale Line is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool...

, which is managed by Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...

. The station also had a bay platform which was the terminus for Oldham Loop Line services until the line's closure in October 2009, in preparation for conversion to Manchester Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink
Metrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...

. Metrolink trams are due to commence operation from Rochdale railway station in spring 2012.

History

The original station opened in 1839 adjacent to Moss Lane, to the east of the current station which was opened in 1889.

The current station previously served lines to Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

 (via Bury) and Bacup
Bacup
Bacup is a town within the Rossendale borough of Lancashire, England. It is located amongst the South Pennines, along Lancashire's eastern boundary with West Yorkshire. The town sits within a rural setting in the Forest of Rossendale, amongst the steep-sided upper-Irwell Valley, through which the...

 as well as the lines still in existence. It had eight platforms (four through platforms & four bays) and two entrances, one on Maclure Road and another on Miall Street. In 1979 the station was reduced to three platforms (with the closure & abandonment of the eastern island platform and its bays) and the Miall Street entrance was closed. Passengers now walk through a subway from the Maclure Road entrance and climb stairs to the main concourse which includes a ticket office and snack bar.

Caldervale Line

Since the December 2008 timetable change, the service on this route has been revamped - there are now four trains per hour to Manchester Victoria and three to Leeds during the daytime (Monday to Saturday). Two of the four Manchester trains run non-stop, whilst the other two serve all intermediate stations. One of the latter (which starts from Rochdale) continues to Bolton
Bolton railway station
Bolton Interchange is a transport interchange combining the railway station and a four stand bus station in the town of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. The station is located on the Manchester spur of the West Coast Main Line and is managed by Northern Rail...

 and Wigan Wallgate
Wigan Wallgate railway station
Wigan Wallgate railway station is one of two main railway stations serving the town of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. The station is on 2 lines, the Manchester-Southport Line and the Manchester-Kirkby Line. It is north west of Manchester Victoria...

. Eastbound there are two trains that run via Bradford Interchange (one calling only at Todmorden
Todmorden railway station
Todmorden railway station is in West Yorkshire, England, originally in Lancashire. It was built by the Manchester and Leeds Railway and is on the Caldervale Line west of Leeds and north-east of Manchester Victoria....

, Hebden Bridge
Hebden Bridge railway station
Hebden Bridge railway station serves the town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, England. The station is on the Caldervale Line, currently operated by Northern Rail from York and Leeds towards Manchester Victoria and Blackpool North...

 and Halifax
Halifax railway station
Halifax railway station serves the town of Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Caldervale Line and is west from .The station at Halifax is an example of a single island platform acting as two platforms. Platform 2 heads eastbound, towards Bradford while Platform 1 heads westbound...

, the other calling at all stations) to Leeds and one via Brighouse
Brighouse railway station
Brighouse railway station serves the town of Brighouse in West Yorkshire, England. The station lies on the Caldervale Line and the Huddersfield Line running west from Leeds. The station reopened in 2000 and is served by local Northern Rail trains.- History :...

 and Dewsbury
Dewsbury railway station
Dewsbury railway station serves the town of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, England. The station is south west of Leeds on the Huddersfield Line.The station is managed by TransPennine Express trains and it is the stop between Leeds and Huddersfield.-History:...

.


In the evenings and on Sundays there is an hourly service stopping at all stations to Manchester Victoria and Leeds via Bradford.

Future plans

Plans to extend Manchester Metrolink
Manchester Metrolink
Metrolink is a light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. It consists of four lines which converge in Manchester city centre and terminate in Bury, Altrincham, Eccles and Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The system is owned by Transport for Greater Manchester and operated under contract by RATP Group...

 light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

 network to Rochdale, as part of the "Big Bang" Metrolink expansion project (Phase 3A). began in 2009. Under these plans, most of the Oldham Loop Line will be converted to light rail operation. Northern Rail services via Oldham ceased in October 2009, when the line closed to allow this conversion work to start.

A further phase of the project (Phase 3B) proposes the addition of a Metrolink branch via the old branch line via Oldham Central
Oldham Central Metrolink station
Oldham Central Metrolink Station is a future station proposed in Phase 3b of the Manchester Metrolink and will be located in Oldham Town Centre, to the west of Clegg Street. The station will take its name from the closed Oldham Central railway station, the site of which is now on the other side of...

 and the extension of the northern end of the line via a tram line into Rochdale Town Centre.

Proposals to link Rochdale to a light rail system have been put forward since the 1980s, but remained unfunded until recently. Following the rejection of the Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund in a public referendum in 2008, Phase 3B of the project seemed in doubt until new funding from national and local government enabled the project to go ahead.

In addition to the Metrolink plans, £300,000 has been jointly invested by Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...

, Northern and the GMITA
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Transport for Greater Manchester is the public body responsible for co-ordinating public transport services throughout Greater Manchester, in North West England. The organisation traces its origins to the Transport Act 1968, when the SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was established to...

 to renovate the station, as part of the Department for Transport's
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...

 Nationals Station Improvement Programme. The CCTV system will be extended, and the station will have upgraded toilets, improved flooring and work on the subway.

External links

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