Ardwick
A Northern Rail Class 142 passing Ardwick station in 2015
General information
Location	Ardwick, Manchester England
Coordinates	53°28′16″N 2°12′47″W / 53.47111°N 2.21306°W / 53.47111; -2.21306
Grid reference	SJ858972
Managed by	Northern Trains
Transit authority	Transport for Greater Manchester
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	ADK
Classification	DfT category F2
History
Original company	Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	London & North Eastern Railway
Key dates
November 1842 (1842-11)	Station opened
Passengers
2018/19	1,238
2019/20	1,520
2020/21	238
2021/22	404
2022/23	324
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Ardwick railway station in Ardwick, Manchester, England, is about one mile (1.5 km) south-east of Manchester Piccadilly, in an industrial area of east Manchester. Plans to close the station permanently were scrapped in 2006 due to increasing activity in the area. The station has just one train in each direction calling on Monday to Friday in the winter 2019–20 timetable. These trains have additionally called at the station on Saturdays from May 2018.

History

It was opened by the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway in 1842 and became part of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway during mergers in 1847. That company changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897. The station became a junction between the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and the London & North Eastern Railway under the Grouping of 1923, and passed to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by Regional Railways under arrangement with the Greater Manchester PTE until the privatisation of British Rail.

Ardwick rail depot, opened 2006 for the Class 185 DMU fleet is a short distance to the east.

From 1878 to 1902 there was also an Ardwick stop shown on Crewe–Manchester line timetables for collection of Manchester tickets on down trains.^[1]

Non-closure

In its draft Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) for the North West, Network Rail proposed the closure of Ardwick, but the closure proposals were dropped from the final report published on 1 May 2007. Proposals to close Ardwick and two other stations in Greater Manchester were shelved after residents and passenger groups persuaded Network Rail that long-term development could improve the business case for keeping the stations open.

Ardwick is unstaffed and has a single island platform on the electrified line to Glossop and Hadfield. Access is from a footbridge, with no wheelchair access. It is immediately adjacent to the main Manchester branch of the West Coast Main Line, and the two routes join just north of the station. It has a peak-hour-only service of one train inbound from New Mills Central to Manchester in the morning, and one train outbound to Rose Hill Marple in the evening (Monday – Saturday only). The only station, other than Piccadilly, from which a direct daily return to Ardwick is possible (without changing) is therefore Romiley, which is called at by both services. The lines passing through the station are all intensively used by non-stop trains and this, coupled with its location in a largely non-residential area, accounts for its infrequent service.

In 2004–2005 financial year only 285 passengers used the station, or fewer than one per day, increasing to 358 in 2005–2006. More recently, passenger numbers have increased to a little under 1000 per year, even with the skeleton service provided.

Services

Northern Trains operate 2 trains on Mondays to Fridays (one train in each direction), the 16:57 Manchester Piccadilly to New Mills Central and the 07:15 Hadfield to Manchester Piccadilly. On Saturdays, only the 07:15 service to Manchester Piccadilly runs. There is no service on a Sunday.^[2]

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Ashburys		Northern Trains Hope Valley line Limited Services		Manchester Piccadilly