Crewe railway station

Crewe railway station is a railway station in Crewe, Cheshire, England. It opened in 1837 and is one of the most historically significant railway stations in the world.

Crewe station is a major junction on the West Coast Main Line and serves as a rail gateway for North West England. It is 158 miles north of London Euston and 243 miles south of Glasgow Central. It is located at the point where the lines to Manchester Piccadilly and North Wales diverge from this route, and is the last major station before the branch to Liverpool Lime Street diverges. It is also served by lines to Stoke-on-Trent and Shrewsbury.

Crewe railway station has twelve platforms and a modern passenger entrance containing a bookshop and ticket office. Passengers access the platforms via a footbridge, stairs and lifts. The platforms buildings dating from the 19th century contain two bookshops, bars, buffets and waiting rooms. The last major expenditure on the station was in 1985 when the track layout was remodelled and station facilities updated.

Future
In January 2013, it was announced that the existing Crewe station would be a stop on the western branch of the planned HS2 high-speed rail route.

A new platform will be built on the Manchester independent lines to the west of the station, meaning services will not have to cross the West Coast Main Line from Manchester Piccadilly or the Marches Line to South Wales.

Following the Crewe Hub consultation which ran from July to October 2017, it is planned that up to 5 to 7 trains per hour will stop at Crewe as well as plans for a new service to Manchester via Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent and Macclesfield. This will be made possible by extending the existing platform 5 to 400 metres allowing services to split and serve these additional destinations. It is also planned that a new transfer deck will be built to allow passengers to change between the proposed new Manchester independent lines platform and the existing Crewe station.

Current services
During the day, there are 23 trains passing through every hour (with additional less frequent services). As a summary:

Southbound services

 * 5tph to London Euston, of which:
 * 4tph are fast services operated by Virgin Trains:
 * 1tph is non-stop
 * 1tph calls at Stafford
 * 1tph calls at Milton Keynes Central
 * 1tph takes a more indirect route via Birmingham New Street
 * 1tph is a semi-fast service via Stafford, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes Central, operated by West Midlands Trains
 * 3tph to Birmingham New Street, of which:
 * 1tph is operated by Virgin Trains and continues to London Euston, as noted above.
 * 2tph are operated by West Midlands Trains
 * 2tph to Stoke-on-Trent
 * 1tph is a West Midlands Trains service to London Euston via Birmingham New Street, as noted above
 * 1tph to Derby, operated by East Midlands Railway
 * 3tp2h to Shrewsbury, operated by Transport for Wales, of which:
 * 1tph continues to Carmarthen via Cardiff Central alternate services extending to Milford Haven. One train each day runs to Fishguard Harbour.
 * 1tp2h is a stopping service (two of these are through trains to Swansea via the Heart of Wales Line on weekdays only)
 * Transport for Wales operate 3 trains per day to Birmingham: 1 via Stafford and 2 indirectly via Shrewsbury.
 * CrossCountry operate 3 trains per day to Norwich
 * Caledonian Sleeper operate 1 train per day to London Euston, but this service is for set-down only and not for boarding passengers.

Northbound services

 * 4tph to Manchester Piccadilly, of which:
 * 2tph are fast, calling only at Wilmslow and Stockport
 * 1tph is operated by Virgin Trains
 * 1tph is operated by Transport for Wales
 * 1tph is a stopping service via Stockport, operated by Northern
 * 1tph is a stopping service to Liverpool Lime Street via Manchester Airport, operated by Northern
 * 4tph to Liverpool Lime Street, of which:
 * 1tph is fast, calling only at Runcorn, and is operated by Virgin Trains.
 * 2tph are slower and are operated by West Midlands Trains
 * 1tph is a Northern service running via Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly, taking considerably longer.
 * 1tph to Scotland, heading alternately to either Glasgow Central or Edinburgh Waverley, operated by Virgin Trains
 * 2tph to Chester, of which
 * 1tph is operated by Virgin Trains, with certain services continuing to Bangor (Gwynedd) and Holyhead and one evening peak service continuing to Wrexham General
 * 1tph is operated by Transport for Wales
 * CrossCountry operate 3 trains per day to Birkenhead Central
 * Caledonian Sleeper operate 1 train a day to Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William. Operates as one train, divides at Edinburgh. (Pick-Up Only)

Platform Use
 * Platform 1 - Northern Rail stopping services to and from Manchester Piccadilly and occasionally Virgin Trains northbound services to Manchester Piccadilly and Virgin Trains southbound services to London Euston.
 * Platform 2 - Extra capacity.
 * Platform 3 - West Midlands Trains services to and from London Euston.
 * Platform 4 - East Midlands Railway services to and from Derby.
 * Platform 5 - Virgin Trains northbound services to Manchester Piccadilly and southbound to Birmingham New Street and London Euston, West Midlands Trains services to Birmingham New Street, Transport for Wales services to Cardiff, CrossCountry services to Bournemouth and Bristol Temple Meads.
 * Platform 6 - Transport for Wales services northbound to Manchester Piccadilly and southbound to Cardiff and beyond. Some Virgin Trains northbound services to Preston and Glasgow Central and southbound to London Euston also use this platform along with a CrossCountry service to Manchester Piccadilly.
 * Platform 7 - Transport for Wales stopping services to and from Shrewsbury.
 * Platform 8 - Extra capacity.
 * Platform 9 - Transport for Wales services to Chester and Holyhead.
 * Platform 10 - Extra capacity.
 * Platform 11 - Virgin Trains northbound services to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Chester and North Wales. West Midlands Trains northbound services to Liverpool Lime Street.
 * Platform 12 - Extra capacity.