The Styal Line is a suburban commuter railway line in the United Kingdom which runs through south Manchester and north-east Cheshire. It commences at Slade Lane Junction, about south of, and runs south to. It was opened in 1909 by the London and North Western Railway company and takes its name from the Cheshire station of, which is the last stop before the junction at Wilmslow. A branch line to Manchester Airport was built in 1993, accessed via a triangular junction between Heald Green and Styal. Consequently, it is also referred to as the Airport Line. Patronage into Manchester on the eight commuter stations has risen sharply since the 1990s and the opening of the Manchester Airport railway station in 1993 fuelled an increase in express services from around Northern England and beyond. As a result, it is now one of the most congested lines on the National Rail network with services frequently susceptible to delays and cancellations. Although the line is perceived as a suburban commuter line, since May 2018 it now operates on a skip-stop basis with many commuter shuttle services doubling up as Northern Connect express services to Warrington, Liverpool, Preston, Blackpool North and Windermere.
History
In the early twentieth century the line between Manchester London Road and Stockport 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 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. In the 1950s, as part of British Rail's Modernisation Plan, the British Transport Commission identified the Styal Line as a suitable test track to prove its new electrification scheme, and in 1959 the line was electrified. Following the Styal Line tests, it was decided to adopt the 25 kV system across the whole Great Britain rail network outside the Southern Region. There was half-hourly electric service between Manchester Oxford Road and Alderley Edge operated by Class 304 EMUs. Services were extended to when the M&SJR was re-electrified at 25 kV AC in 1971, and operated in this way until the line between Altrincham and Manchester was transferred to Manchester Metrolink in 1990. In the 1970s, the Styal Line was included in a proposal to create an underground railway across Manchester City Centre. The Picc-Vic tunnel was planned to connect the two major mainline railway termini, Manchester Piccadilly and and would have enabled Styal Line trains to run directly across the city to and. The Picc-Vic scheme was abandoned in 1977 due to funding difficulties. In 1993, a short spur line to was opened, leaving the Styal line between and. Initially, services ran via Heald Green only, until a triangular junction was added a few years later, providing a link towards Styal. Many services were then 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 2006, the platforms at Mauldeth Road, Burnage and East Didsbury stations were all reconstructed, as well as access improvements at Gatley and Heald Green. Patronage on the line increased after this investment. 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. Nowadays most services on the line operate via the airport, however there are a couple of services each day which take the direct route from Styal to Heald Green, that is to say from Heald Green South Junction to Heald Green North Junction, for traincrew route knowledge retention purposes northbound. However, the only services on the junction southbound are either freight or a Transport for Wales service which doesn't stop at either stations and only operates on Sundays. This route can also be used for diversions if the Stockport route is closed for engineering work or is blocked due to an operational incident.
Stations
Services
Stopping services
As the line is shared between commuter stopping services and express trains the Styal Line operates on a skip-stopping basis to maximise capacity on the line. All stations have an hourly 'stopping service' which forms part of the Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street service and is usually operated by a or. Each station is allocated an hourly semi-fast Northern Connect service to maximise capacity on the line. Peak time trains in the morning and evening do operate making additional calls at certain station which they would not otherwise do during off-peak services - for instance Northern Connect service to Liverpool calls at East Didsbury at 07:56, the TransPennine Express service to Newcastle calls at Gatley at 08:23 and the Northern service to Blackpool North calls at Mauldeth Road at 08:50.
Express services
, which run trains on this line through Manchester Piccadilly. Their services are through services from across the north of England including Newcastle upon Tyne or via York and and from Cleethorpes via Sheffield. Their trains also operate from /Edinburgh Waverley via Preston and Manchester Piccadilly. These were operated by Class 185 DMUs until December 2013 when they were replaced with electric Class 350 EMUs. These are currently being transferred to London Northwestern Railway following replacement by Class 397 EMUs. Transport for Wales run a limited weekday service from the Airport to as an extension of their route between North Wales and Manchester Piccadilly, using Class 175 units.
