Styal Line
| Styal line | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| System | National Rail |
| Status | Operational |
| Locale |
Greater Manchester Cheshire North West England |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1909 |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
The Styal line is a railway line in south Manchester and north-east Cheshire. It runs from Slade Lane Junction, some 2 km south of Manchester Piccadilly, to Wilmslow. There also is a spur to Manchester Airport which was opened in 1993. The branch to the airport leaves the Styal line via a triangular junction between Heald Green and Styal.
The line is an early commuter line running through many suburban stations in south Manchester. In recent years, usage of the line has surged with growing commuter patronage along with non-stopping services which use the line between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.
It was electrified in 1959 as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification scheme. Despite this, the majority of trains using the line were diesel powered until 2014. The introduction of Class 350s by First TransPennine Express on the Edinburgh-Manchester Airport line in December 2013 and introduction of Class 319s by Northern Rail in early 2015 has curtailed the use of diesel trains on the line allowing for a 100 mph service compared with 75 mph limit for many diesel trains.
In early twentieth century the line between Manchester Piccadilly and became unable to cope with the increasing traffic. To solve the problem, a new route avoiding Stockport was constructed by the London and North Western Railway. It ran from Slade Lane Junction (located in Longsight, Manchester) to Wilmslow through what was then mainly a rural area. The primary purpose was to provide a bypass for express trains, but a few wooden stations were built on the line to encourage suburban development. In practice, very few expresses latterly used the line, as it was necessary for most trains to serve the important station at Stockport. The line opened in 1909, and from 1923 was operated by the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The Manchester Airport spur was added in 1993, initially towards Heald Green only (the link towards Styal was added a few years later).
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