System National Rail Opened 1855/1888 Line length 57,534 m | Status Operational Operator(s) Northern Rail Owner Network Rail | |
 | ||
Locale Greater Manchester
Lancashire
Merseyside
North West England Track gauge 1,435 mm
(4 ft 8 ⁄2 in)
standard gauge | ||
The Manchester–Southport line is a railway line in the north-west of England, operated by Northern. It was originally built as the Manchester and Southport Railway.
Starting at the city centre stations of Manchester Victoria (also serving Salford Central on the fringe of the city centre) and Manchester Piccadilly (also serving Manchester Oxford Road and Deansgate), it runs in a north-westerly direction through the suburbs and centres of Salford and Wigan. It then proceeds in the same direction through the small rural villages of West Lancashire, before ending on the Irish Sea coast at the resort town of Southport.
Services on the line use Class 142, Class 150 and Class 156 DMUs. Class 153 DMUs are banned from operating on this route because the steps below the doors on these units foul the platform coping stones at Wigan Wallgate station.
Stations
There is ongoing feasibility into the conversion of parts of this line (Wigan–Atherton–Manchester) to operate as a Manchester Metrolink service with a higher frequency metro service for the Greater Manchester Boroughs of Wigan and Salford into the city centre. In November 2013, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority approved a recommended strategy for reconfiguring existing commuter services into tram-train operation, identifying the Atherton line as providing an opportunity for extending potential tram-train services from the south-east (Marple, Glossop) across the city centre and outwards to the north west. Southport and Kirkby services on this line would be diverted to operate via Bolton. Additionally, Network Rail has identified electrification of Wigan to Southport, together with the Ormskirk–Preston line and the Burscough Curves as a possible source of new services.