Manchester Victoria railway station

Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was constructed on part of the former station site in the 1990s. Opened in 1844 and part of the Manchester station group, Victoria is Manchester's busiest railway station after Piccadilly and Oxford Road and the busiest station managed by Northern after Oxford Road.

The station hosts local and regional services to destinations in Northern England, such as Blackburn, Rochdale, Bradford, Leeds, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Halifax, Wigan, Chester, Southport, Blackpool and Liverpool using the original Liverpool to Manchester line. Most trains calling at Victoria are operated by Northern. TransPennine Express services call at the station from Liverpool to Newcastle /Scarborough and services towards Manchester Airport (via Ordsall Chord) from Middlesbrough/Newcastle.

Manchester Victoria is a major interchange for the Metrolink light rail system. Several former railway lines into the station have been converted to tram operation. The line to Bury was converted in the early 1990s in the first phase of Metrolink construction and the line through Oldham to Rochdale was converted during 2009–2014. Trams switch to on-street running when they emerge from Victoria Station and continue southwards through the city centre to Piccadilly or Deansgate-Castlefield.

In 2009, Victoria was voted the worst category B interchange station in the United Kingdom. The station underwent a two-year £44 million modernisation programme which was completed in August 2015. Renovation entailed electrification of lines through the station, renewed Metrolink stop with an additional platform, restoration of listed features, upgraded retail units, and a new roof. The Ordsall Chord directly linking Victoria to Oxford Road and Piccadilly was completed in December 2017. In the Northern Hub proposals, Victoria will become the rail hub for TransPennine Express and Northern Connect services by the end of 2020 with passenger numbers expected to rise to 12 million as a result.

Layout
Manchester Victoria has six railway platforms and the Metrolink stop has four (four platform faces on three tracks). Two railway platforms are bays numbered 1 & 2 for terminating trains arriving from the east, and four are through platforms numbered 3-6 at the northern side of the station. The Metrolink platforms are parallel to, and south of the bay platforms. Only the bay and Metrolink platforms are under the new roof, the through platforms 4, 5 and 6 are mostly covered by Manchester Arena.

Architecture and features
The original M&LR single-storey offices facing Hunt's Bank Approach were built in the Italianate style in sandstone ashlar with slate roofs in 1844. They were later enlarged and given a second storey. William Dawes built the station's larger extension for the L&YR in 1909. It is at right-angles to the north end of the old station giving the enlarged station an L-shaped plan. Facing Victoria Station Approach, its façade is in the Edwardian neo-Baroque style, four storeys high and 31 bays to the rounded corner at the south-east end. The ground floor windows have rounded heads and those on the floors above are square. The ornate glass and iron canopy along the façade displays the names of destinations that the station served in Art Nouveau lettering. The canopy was damaged by the Provisional IRA's 1996 bomb and was restored four years later.

Heritage features in the concourse were restored during the 2013-15 renovation, they include the café with its glass dome and mosaic lettering which was originally the first class dining room, the adjacent bookstall, and the original 1909 wood-panelled booking hall. In the entrance is a large, white glazed tiled map showing the former network of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

Underneath the map is a bronze World War I war memorial with effigies of Saint George and Saint Michael at each end which was installed in 1923. At the south end of the concourse is the 'soldier's gate' which opened to the former fish docks from where thousands of soldiers departed for World War I and where a bronze plaque was erected to commemorate them. The gateway was restored in 2015 and a steel screen inserted featuring a map of World War I Commonwealth grave cemeteries in Northern France and Belgium.

The station received Grade II listed building status in 1988.

National Rail services
Manchester Victoria is served by two train operating companies, Northern and TransPennine Express. It is occasionally used by CrossCountry services during engineering works. The Chat Moss route to Liverpool is operated by TransPennine Express Class 185s DMUs and Northern Class 319 EMUs (peak time & early morning only). The Ribble Valley Line to Blackburn and Clitheroe is operated by Class 156, Class 150 with Class 153 strengthening services at peak times. Leeds Calder Valley services are usually operated by Class 158 Sprinter DMUs.

Since the May 2018 timetable change, all express services on the North TransPennine route call at the station. These services are run by TransPennine Express. Westbound, two trains an hour run express to Liverpool Lime Street (one calling at Lea Green and the other calling at Newton-le-Willows). The other pair of services run westbound to Manchester Airport via the Ordsall Chord and Manchester Piccadilly. Eastbound, there are 4 trains per hour running via Huddersfield, Leeds and York. After York, two trains an hour run to Newcastle, one to Middlesbrough and the other to Scarborough.

Also since the May 2018 timetable change, services along the Calder Valley line have been significantly sped up. Stations between Rochdale and Manchester are now served by Blackburn services. This means that Calder Valley services now run non-stop between Rochdale and Manchester. As a result, there are now 6 trains an hour to Rochdale.

Westbound services

 * 1 train per hour (tph) to Wigan North Western (via Bolton)
 * 3tph to Wigan Wallgate via Atherton; two then continue to Southport
 * 1tph to Preston (extended to Blackpool North on Sundays)
 * 1tph to Chester
 * 2tph to Blackburn via Bolton, 1tph continues to Clitheroe
 * 2tph to Liverpool Lime Street
 * 2tph to Manchester Airport
 * 7tpd to Kirkby via Atherton
 * 1tpd to Edinburgh Waverley (Sundays only)

Eastbound services

 * 6tph to Rochdale, of which:
 * 2tph call at all stations and then terminate at Rochdale.
 * 4tph to Leeds (Calder Valley - 3 via Bradford Interchange & 1 via Brighouse)
 * 1tph to Blackburn via Todmorden
 * 2tph to Stalybridge (stopping)
 * 1tph to Scarborough via Leeds
 * 2tph to Newcastle via Leeds
 * 1tph to Middlesbrough via Leeds