User:Hammersfan/Railway Adjustment and Intervention Bureau/Manchester Central station

Manchester Central
Manchester Central station
General information
Location	Manchester United Kingdom
Coordinates	53°28′34″N 2°14′51″W
Owned by	TfGM
Managed by	TfGM
Transit authority	Transport for Greater Manchester
Platforms	2 National Rail 6 Metrolink
Other information
Station code	MCT
Fare zone	D (City)
History
Original company	Cheshire Lines Committee
Pre-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee
Post-grouping	Cheshire Lines Committee London Midland Region of British Railways
Key dates
1 July 1880	Opened
5 May 1969	Closed
27 April 1992	Metrolink opened as G-Mex
18 July 2000	New Metrolink terminus opened
20 September 2010	Deansgate and G-Mex amalgamated and renamed Manchester Central

Manchester Central is a combined National Rail/Metrolink station in the centre of Manchester, that serves as the primary hub for the majority of Metrolink's services throughout Greater Manchester, as well as being a station on rail routes from Manchester to Preston and Liverpool.

History

Original station

The station was built between 1875 and 1880 by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC), and was officially opened on 1 July 1880. The architect was Sir John Fowler and the engineers were Richard Johnson, Andrew Johnston and Charles Sacré for the three companies which formed the CLC.

While the main station was being built a temporary facility called Manchester Free Trade Hall Station (after a landmark building nearby) was in use from 9 September 1877. This consisted of two wooden platforms serving four tracks. When Central opened the temporary station was converted to become Manchester Central Goods.

On 6 October 1965, The final victim of the Moors Murders, 17-year-old apprentice engineer Edward Evans was met at the station by Ian Brady before he was brutally killed with an axe.

Construction details

The overall roof is single span wrought iron truss structure, glass covered the middle half, timber (inside) and slate (outside) covered the outer quarters. The two end screens were glazed with timber boarding surrounding the outer edges. It was 550 feet (168 m) long with a span of 210 feet (64 m), and was 90 feet (27 m) high at its apex above the railtracks. It was constructed by Andrew Handyside and Co.. The substructure and masonry partition were provided by Robert Neill and Sons of Manchester. Underneath the train shed there is a large brick undercroft with intersecting tunnel vaults. This was used for storage and was connected to the adjacent goods sidings by a carriage lift.

Manchester Central Station on a winter's day in 1961

A wooden building was erected at the front of the station, housing ticket offices, waiting rooms and so on. This was planned to be a temporary structure, to be replaced by a grander edifice, for example a hotel and railway offices as at London St Pancras, but the provisional construction remained in use until the station closed. The Midland Hotel was built by the Midland Railway in 1898-1903 on an adjacent site.

Railway usage

Manchester railways 1910

Midland lines

The Midland Railway (MR), one of the CLC's partners, at last had a secure Manchester terminus for its services, including its expresses to London St Pancras. Beginning in 1938, the London Midland and Scottish Railway (successor to the MR) ran two prestige expresses, The Palatine and the Peaks, the former stopping en route at Chinley, Millers Dale, Matlock, Derby and Leicester.

Between 1960 and 15 April 1966, during the electrification of the West Coast Main Line, Central Station was the terminus for the Midland Pullman, a streamlined blue six-coach diesel multiple unit. This stopped only at Cheadle Heath (now closed), before running fast to St Pancras.

Services through Millers Dale finished in July 1968 when the line was closed as a through route. The station continued to provide local services for a while (to Chester and Liverpool) but finally closed to passengers on 5 May 1969, when remaining services were switched to Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly stations.

Post-railway era

Dereliction and redevelopment

Central Station car park (1980)

For over a decade, Central Station fell into a dilapidated state and was used as a car park. The property was eventually acquired by Greater Manchester Council and in 1982 work began on converting the abandoned building into an exhibition centre, which opened in 1986 as the Greater Manchester Exhibition and Conference Centre ("G-Mex") (later renamed Manchester Central in honour of its railway history). The undercroft was converted into a car park, serving also Bridgewater Hall nearby.

The advent of light rail

A Metrolink tram (1992)

In 1992, the new Metrolink light rail system opened. This saw the conversion of suburban heavy rail lines such as the former Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway to Altrincham. With the introduction of Metrolink, rail services from south Manchester ran once more to Central Station. However, instead of trains running into the Central Station arch, light rail vehicles cross the railway viaduct and stopped at a newly built station on the viaduct itself, which was called G-Mex after the name given to the new conference centre. They then run down a ramp which runs parallel to Lower Mosley Street, alongside the south-eastern side of the former train shed, before reaching street level where they operate as trams and head towards St Peter's Square.

Prior to the opening of the Metrolink service, a footbridge connecting the G-Mex centre with Deansgate railway station was opened, which provided a direct interchange with the Metrolink station upon its opening.

Expansion

The construction of the Metrolink line to Eccles, which opened in 1999, was seen as the first stage of a significant expansion of the network, and a view was taken that creating a hub for Metrolink services in the centre of Manchester was required. Both Piccadilly and Victoria were ruled out, as the plan envisaged a major terminus being built that would potentially have caused massive disruption to the city's two main railway stations. As a consequence, it was decided to build an extension to the rear of the convention centre that would serve as a new terminus for Metrolink services. This also inviolved construction a new triangular junction off the viaduct that would allow trams to access the new station from both directions, as well as by-passing it as necessary. The new 4-platform complex, named "G-Mex" to match the existing through station, opened on the 18th July 2000 as part of the full opening of the Eccles line.

Return to the past

In 2007, the G-Mex centre was renamed Manchester Central in homage to the former railway station. This led to contemplation of renaming the associated Metrolink station. However, nothing was done until 2009, when funding was approved for the massive "Phase 3" expansion of Metrolink that will almost double the number of lines and triple the total length of the network. The decision was taken to make the station at Manchester Central the showpiece by renaming it alongside the convention centre. At the same time however, a decision was further taken to integrate more fully the National Rail station at Deansgate into the complex; ownership and mangement of Deansgate station was taken over by the newly formed Transport for Greater Manchester and it was also renamed as "Manchester Central", the change taking place on the 20th September 2010.

Layout

National Rail entrance

Manchester Central is in effect three separate stations in one - the National Rail platforms, the original Metrolink platforms and the newer Metrolink terminus. All three are linked by footpaths and bridges, allowing a continuous foot route all the way from the National Rail platforms to the convention centre. The two National Rail platforms are numbered 1 and 2 and are located on a viaduct that runs on one side of Deansgate. This side of the complex also contains one of the station's two staffed ticket offices, located in the old Deansgate station entrance. The original Metrolink platforms (3 and 4) are to be found on the viaduct on the other side of Deansgate. The width of this viaduct has meant that the platforms are staggered, with one on each side of a pedestrian crossing across the line. It is here that the footbridge connecting the Metrolink and National Rail stations is located, via a walkway that runs down the Deansgate side of the viaduct. The terminal station consists of four platforms (2 islands numbered 5-8) built on a large central viaduct next to the rear of the conference centre. This station has been built to resemble almost a mini-version of the original railway station, with an arched roof forming a train shed, not dissimilar to Canary Wharf; this covers a drainage resovoir that sits in the actual ceiling of the train shed, which collects water that is then recycled for use by the convention centre. The two island platforms tend to exclusively serve trams from each direction - one side is used by services from Altrincham and Eccles, while the other is used by Bury and Oldham/Rochdale; however, the station throat has a crossover allowing services to continue on in either direction. Space has been included for an additional platform intended for the Second City Crossing (2CC) through the centre of the city that is intended to connect Central and Victoria, easing potential congestion on the existing route via St Peter's Square.

Services

A Metrolink tram stands at Platform 8, waiting to depart on a service into Central Manchester

National Rail

Manchester Central is on the Preston and Liverpool lines into Manchester, and is primarily a commuter station for services to and from these destinations, most of which are operated by Northern Rail. In addition, First TransPennine Express originates its TransPennine North-West services to Blackpool, Cumbria and Scotland from Manchester Airport, which pass through the city centre and serve Manchester Central.

Metrolink

As the major station for Metrolink, Manchester Central sees services from all destinations pass through or terminate. The through platforms are used primarily by services running between Altrincham and Bury and services between St Werburgh's Road and Victoria.

All other Metrolink services except Bury-Piccadilly use the terminal platforms. The terminal platforms will see greatly enhanced use upon the start of the services from Oldham and Rochdale, and from Ashton-Under-Lyne. Additionally to the light rail services, Metrolink has taken on the provision of the heavy rail service between Chester and Manchester via the Mid-Cheshire Line, which was originally one of the CLC lines from the old Manchester Central. The construction of the terminus also brought about improvements to the Altrincham route to potentially allow heavy rail trains to use it, which eventually led to Metrolink taking over the service from Northern Rail and diverting it from the route via Stockport into Piccadilly, taking it instead onto the Metrolink route at Altrincham and terminating once again at Manchester Central.

Preceding station	Manchester Metrolink			Following station
Cornbrook towards Chester		Mid-Cheshire line		Terminus
Cornbrook towards Altrincham		Altrincham - Bury		St Peter's Square towards Bury
		Altrincham - Central		Terminus
Cornbrook towards Eccles or MediaCityUK		Eccles/MediaCity UK - Central		Terminus
Cornbrook towards St Werburgh's Road		St Werburgh's Road - Victoria		St Peter's Square towards Victoria
Terminus		Piccadilly - Central		St Peter's Square towards Piccadilly
National Rail
Manchester Oxford Road		TransPennine Express TransPennine North West		Salford Crescent
Manchester Oxford Road		Northern Rail Liverpool to Manchester Line		Trafford Park Urmston on Sundays
Manchester Oxford Road		Northern Rail Manchester to Preston Line		Salford Crescent