Hale railway station

Not to be confused with Hayle railway station.

Hale
Hale railway station undergoing maintenance in April 2023
General information
Location	Hale, Trafford England
Grid reference	SJ769869
Managed by	Northern Trains
Transit authority	Greater Manchester
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	HAL
Classification	DfT category E
History
Opened	1862
Passengers
2018/19	0.144 million
2019/20	0.141 million
2020/21	29,880
2021/22	85,142
2022/23	95,054
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Hale railway station serves the area of Hale in the south of Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England; it is also used by people living in the surrounding areas of Bowdon and Hale Barns. It is a stop on the Mid-Cheshire line between Chester and Manchester Piccadilly. The station is located on Ashley Road.

History

Hale railway station in 1988, looking north from the level crossing; the signal box is on the left

The station was opened as Peel Causeway by the Cheshire Midland Railway (CMR) on 12 May 1862, when the railway opened from Altrincham to Knutsford. The CMR was amalgamated into the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) on 15 August 1867. The station became Peel Causeway for Hale on 1 January 1899 and it was renamed Hale on 1 January 1902.

The station was served by passenger trains from Manchester Central to Northwich and Chester Northgate. The CLC remained an independent entity, as a joint London, Midland & Scottish Railway and London & North Eastern Railway operation after the Grouping of 1923, until the creation of British Railways (BR). The station then passed on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation on 1 January 1948. When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was managed by Regional Railways under arrangement with the Greater Manchester PTE until the privatisation of British Rail.

Facilities

The station has a ticket office on platform 1, which is open on weekday mornings. A ticket vending machine is in place for purchase of tickets outside of these hours and for the collection of pre-paid tickets. Digital station information boards are in operation on both platforms, along with station announcements. Car parking is available on either side of the level crossing.

A veterinary surgery now occupies most of the station building on platform 1, while there is a health clinic in the platform 2 building. The signal box is no longer in use.

Services

A Northern Rail diesel multiple unit at Hale railway station in 2010

There is generally an hourly service in each direction on the Mid-Cheshire line on Mondays to Saturdays, with two peak extras to/from Stockport.

On Sundays, services are two-hourly in each direction.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Altrincham		Northern Trains Mid-Cheshire line		Ashley

References and sources

Griffiths, R.Prys (1978). The Cheshire Lines Railway. The Oakwood Press.

Further reading

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2013). Chester Northgate to Manchester. Middleton Press. figs. 69–73. ISBN 9781908174512. OCLC 892704846.

External links

• Train times and station information for Hale railway station from National Rail
• Mid-Cheshire Community Rail Partnership

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Ashley		Northern Trains (Mid-Cheshire Line)		Altrincham