Starting this weekend, Saturday/Sunday 6/7 January and for the next five the weekends until Saturday/Sunday 3/4 February, train services from all railway stations between Bolton, Salford Crescent, Salford Central, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria will be replaced by buses.
The disruption to train services is because of the recent storms, as Network Rail will be carrying out £2.7m of essential drainage work to reduce flooding and improve the reliability of the line between Bolton and Manchester.
During the work, Network Rail teams will be laying 1,404 metres of new drainage pipes and digging six-foot trenches so that water levels can be controlled better in order to maintain services and keep passengers and freight on the move.
As a result of the line closure between Bolton and Manchester:
- services from Blackpool North and Preston will divert via Wigan;
- services from Windermere and Barrow will start and terminate at Bolton;
- TransPennine Express services between Scotland and Manchester Airport will start and terminate at Preston.
Anyone intending to travel in this area over the next five weekends should plan check with their train operator's website or at www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Network Rail has provided further information about what it is doing to combat adverse weather, and that can be found here.
Tom Carrington, project manager at Network Rail, said: “We are very sorry to weekend passengers travelling between Bolton and Manchester for the inconvenience to their journeys while we put in a better drainage system to future proof the railway from heavy rainfall experienced during recent storm events.
“While journeys can still take place between Bolton and Manchester via bus replacement services, and from Preston and Blackpool with train services diverting through Wigan, it's important passengers know their travel options first by checking before they travel at nationalrail.co.uk.”
Craig Harrop, regional director for Northern, said: “I'd like to thank our customers for their co-operation and patience while these important works take place. It is important to allow more time for your journey during this period and if in doubt, ‘check before you travel' on the Northern website.”
Network Rail, working for the convenience of Network Rail. They spent millions on the delayed electrification between Manchester and Blackpool, made Northern look like the bad boys, and now they are inconveniencing passengers again! Government bodies should not be allowed to run anything, ever!
And they are all cancelled from Wigan tonight too leaving me stranded on a 400 mile journey. Wonderful!
As at 7th January 2024 this is the first indication of why there are no trains running between Bolton and Manchester. The greatly reduced service out of Bolton towards Preston and Blackburn is very poor- little consideration for Football fans wishing to get to Horwich Parkway for the Wanderers.