Windsor Link

For the proposed rail line in the Thames Valley, see Windsor Link Railway.

Salford Lines (Past, present and future)

Legend To Wigan To Bolton Little Hulton To Wigan Ellenbrook;Walkden Low Level Walkden High Level To Warrington Moorside; To Bolton Barton Moss;Worsley Swinton;Dixon Fold Patricroft;Monton Green Pendlebury;To Bury Irlams-o'-th'-Height Eccles;Eccles Clifton Junction Ladywell Agecroft Bridge Weaste;Weaste Brindle Heath Jct; Agecroft Jct Langworthy;Seedley Pendleton Bridge MediaCityUK;Broadway Cross Lane; Pendleton Harbour City Salford Crescent Anchorage Salford Docks Salford Quays Windsor Link Exchange Quay Ordsall Lane; Oldfield Road To Manchester (Metrolink) Ordsall Chord(proposed) To Manchester (Deansgate) Salford Central To Manchester (Victoria)

The Windsor Link is a short but key railway line in central Manchester that connects Salford Crescent and Deansgate stations, opened in 1988. The new link allows services from north west of Manchester (such as from Southport via Wigan and Bolton; also from Blackpool via Preston) to be diverted from Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly, emphasising the latter's status as Manchester's main station. Services then continue south east from Piccadilly to destinations such as Manchester Airport, Buxton, Hazel Grove, Chester and Stockport.

The link starts just south of Salford Crescent station, diverging southwards from the route to Manchester Victoria at Windsor Bridge Junction (hence the name) and ends half a mile later at a junction with the route of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Ordsall Lane Junction, just to the west of the former Ordsall Lane station. Trains using the link then run along that route for a very short distance before turning off onto the route of the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway to reach Deansgate, Oxford Road and Piccadilly.