Chorley railway station

Chorley
Location
Place	Chorley
Local authority	Chorley
Operations
Station code	CRL
Managed by	Northern Rail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	0.637 million
2005/06 *	0.671 million
2006/07 *	0.704 million
2007/08 *	0.730 million
2008/09 *	0.689 million
History
Opened 1841 (1841)
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Chorley from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Chorley railway station serves Chorley in Lancashire, England. Since 2004 it has been linked with its "interchange" bus and coach station.

The railway station is a modern 1980s built on top of the original station, the level of which can be seen under the existing station's two platforms connected by underpass. The initial station was opened on 22 December 1841 by the Bolton and Preston Railway (which later became part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway). A level crossing, no longer in use, is still in place at the station entrance as well as a pedestrian subway which emerges at the foot of the Railway Pub. There are no toilets on the station and the nearest ones are in the bus station across the road. Chorley's rail services provide a link for the commuters of Lancashire to Preston, Manchester and Bolton.

The small villages which form part of the borough of Chorley, such as Buckshaw, Adlington and Euxton all have railway stations.

It was announced by the Department for Transport in December 2009, the line between Preston and Manchester, on which Chorley is situated, will be electrified ^[1] which should reduce journey tmes to Manchester by up to ten minutes.

Services

Chorley is well served by both First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail services between Manchester Piccadilly and Preston and beyond. Most TPX trains start back from Manchester Airport and run through to either Blackpool (hourly) or one of Barrow (two-hourly), Windermere (three trains per day), or Glasgow Central/Edinburgh (seven trains per day). Northern services meanwhile run hourly to Blackpool and Manchester Victoria and also to Preston and Hazel Grove via Manchester Piccadilly (trains no longer run through to Buxton since the December 2008 timetable change ^[2]).

On Sundays there are two trains an hour to Blackpool and a limited service to Barrow and Glasgow/Edinburgh northbound whilst southbound there are hourly services to Manchester Victoria and Manchester Airport (with a few additional Airport trains).

From 26 July to 7 September 2008 however, the service provision to and from the station was limited due to major engineering work taking place to the north (to improve drainage in a cutting and remove a long-standing speed restriction). A rail replacement bus service operated to and from Preston, whilst many trains were diverted via Wigan. This period of disruption has been blamed for the recent decline in passenger usage.

The direct Scottish service will end in 2013 when the service is diverted via Wigan using newly electrified lines.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ Northern Rail timetable slots ORR website Retrieved 2008-11-11
3. ^ http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/rus%20documents/route%20utilisation%20strategies/west%20coast%20main%20line/westcoastmainlinerus.pdf

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Buckshaw Parkway		Northern Rail Manchester-Preston Line		Adlington
Preston		TransPennine Express TransPennine North West		Bolton
Preston or Leyland		TransPennine Express TransPennine North West		Horwich Parkway or Adlington
	Disused railways
Heapey		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Lancashire Union Railway		Adlington
		London and North Western Railway Lancashire Union Railway		White Bear

Coordinates: 53°39′11″N 2°37′37″W / 53.653°N 2.627°W / 53.653; -2.627