Romiley railway station

History

It was built by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway on its extension to New Mills, opening in 1862 from Manchester London Road. A second route (the Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple Railway to Macclesfield, (which joined the older line at Marple Wharf Junction) was opened in 1869, giving the town links to Macclesfield and Stoke-on-Trent.

Facilities

Built above street level, its platforms extending over the B6104 road, it has a spiral staircase which once had a glass-roofed dome. The booking hall (manned 06:20-20:45 weekdays and 07:10-21:35 Saturdays) and offices are on the first floor, with a subway and stairs to the platforms (ramps are also available for wheelchair users). Trains arrive from both Marple on the Sheffield line, and Marple Rose Hill.

Immediately beyond Romiley, the line splits three ways. Initially it ran through to Woodley to join the original MS&L line at Hyde Junction. In 1875 a more direct route was opened through Reddish. A further branch (opened in 1869) led to Stockport Tiviot Dale, which at one time carried through trains from Derby to Manchester Central but this was closed in January 1967 and subsequently lifted. The MB&MR also closed south of Rose Hill in January 1970 (both lines having been included in the 1963 Beeching Report) though the short branch to Rose Hill itself was reprieved by the then Minister of Transport Richard Marsh in 1969 when granting permission to close the rest of the route.

The station has a long line P.A system providing automated announcements and digital information displays to offer train running details (these can also be obtained by phone or from timetable posters).

Service

On Mondays to Fridays four trains per hour go northbound to Manchester Piccadilly (two via Guide Bridge and two via Brinnington) and two per hour go towards Marple (most continuing to New Mills Central and one every two hours through to Sheffield) and two per hour to Rose Hill Marple southbound.

On Saturdays there is a similar level of service to Manchester and Marple/Rose Hill, but an hourly service to New Mills and Sheffield.

On Sundays there is a two hourly service towards Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield.

Future

As part of Manchester's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) bid, which would have seen a weekday peak time congestion charge introduced on roads into the city centre in order for a £3bn injection into the region's public transport, it had been announced that Marple railway station would have seen an increase to four services per hour in both directions throughout the day to Manchester Piccadilly.

This would therefore have meant an increase to five services per hour at Romiley, with possibility for more, should services from Rose Hill have been increased as discussed. The line would have effectively been run as a "tram-train" operation, offering users of stations along the route the ease of showing up without generally needing to know exact departure times.

Romiley railway station was also planned to become an official "TIF Park & Ride" interchange under the proposals, which faced a public referendum in December 2008. These were rejected by a substantial margin, and the plans were eventually dropped in the spring of 2010.