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Reddish South railway station

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Reddish South
National Rail
The station in 2020
General information
LocationReddish, Metropolitan Borough of Stockport,
England
Coordinates53°26′10″N 2°09′29″W / 53.4361°N 2.1580°W / 53.4361; -2.1580
Grid referenceSJ895932
ManagerNorthern Trains
Transit authority
Transport for Greater Manchester
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeRDS[1]
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Opened1849 or 1852
Passengers
2020/21Decrease 18
2021/22Increase 108
2022/23Decrease 100
2023/24Increase 128
2024/25Decrease 102
Location
Map
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Reddish South railway station is a stop on the Stockport–Stalybridge line. It is one of two serving the town of Reddish, in Greater Manchester, England; the other is Reddish North. It is between Stockport and Denton, 1 mile 50 chains (2.6 km) from Heaton Norris Junction, near Stockport.[2]

The station is one of the quietest on the British railway network; it was used by only 26 passengers in 2013/14. It has been served by parliamentary services since May 1992, in order to avoid a formal proceeding to close the line.

History

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Reddish South was opened by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in either 1845[3] or 1849.[4] It first appeared in the public timetable in 1852.[5] It originally opened as Reddish, but was renamed to Reddish South in September 1952.[5] The station once had two island platforms, although has now been reduced to using a single side of one of the islands.[3] Services were gradually reduced over time, with express services terminating in Manchester rather than continuing from Reddish South towards Leeds.[6]

Although the Stockport–Stalybridge line escaped the 1960s Beeching cuts, when large numbers of branch lines across the country were closed for being uneconomical, the station and line were gradually run down by British Rail over the next couple of decades.[3]

In May 2007, Network Rail proposed in its North West Route Utilisation Strategy that both Reddish South and Denton stations should be closed, while the line remain open for freight and diverted passenger workings. This prompted a campaign to start asking for a regular service from Stockport to Manchester Victoria, via Reddish South and Denton.[7]

Passenger volume

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Between April 2013 and March 2014, Reddish South was the third-least-used station in Great Britain, after Teesside Airport and Shippea Hill, with only 26 recorded passengers.[8] In 2015, passenger figures from the Office of Rail and Road showed that Reddish South had become Britain's fourth-quietest railway station.[9] In January 2020, the station was named as the Britain's third quietest, with just 60 entries and exits between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019.[10] In 2022‐2023, the station had become the fifth least used, with 100 entries and exits.[11] In 2023–24, the station was again the fifth least used, with 128 entries and exits.[12]

In comparison, the neighbouring stations of Reddish North, Heaton Chapel and Brinnington all have regular services.[13]

Passenger volume at Reddish South[14]
2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Entries and exits 120 47 274 76 68 56 122 26 54 38 94 104 60 158 18 108 100 128 102

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

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The station is notable for being served by a weekly parliamentary train. For many years from 1992, the only service was the 09:22 Fridays-only parliamentary train from Stockport to Stalybridge; it stopped at Reddish South at 09:26.[15]

On 20 May 2018, Arriva Rail North replaced the Friday service with one return service on Saturday mornings. Northern Trains now operates the service, which departs Reddish South at 08:46 to Stockport, returning at 09:10 for Stalybridge.[13]

Preceding station   National Rail National Rail   Following station
Northern Trains
(Saturdays only)
  Historical railways  
Heaton Norris   London & North Western Railway
Manchester and Birmingham Railway		   Denton

Community rail

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The station has an active station friends' group, who campaign for regular services to be reinstated to the station and look after the station.[16] It is also part of the South East Manchester Community Rail Partnership.[17]

References

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  1. ↑ "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  2. ↑ Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (2022). Railway Track Diagrams; 4: Midlands & North West (5th ed.). Frome: TRACKmaps. p. 43. ISBN 978 1999627157.
  3. 1 2 3 Roberts, Stephen (January–February 2022). "Top of the stops: our least used stations". Rail (magazine). No. 949. pp. 56–61.
  4. ↑ "Artwork celebrates 175 years of local railway station". Northern News. 19 December 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 Quick 2023, p. 385.
  6. ↑ Perry, Alasdair (11 June 2025). "Reddish South revealed as the third quietest railway station in the UK". Stockport Nub News. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  7. ↑ MacEinri, N. (13 July 2014). "Stockport to Victoria via Reddish South and Denton". YouTube. Archived from the original on 19 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  8. ↑ "Estimates of station usage". Office of Rail and Road. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  9. ↑ "Revealed: Britain's busiest and quietest stations". BBC News. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "The quietest and busiest train stations in Britain". The Independent. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "All change for most used stations as Elizabeth line shakes up top 10". Office of Rail and Road. 14 December 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  12. ↑ "Estimates station usage" (PDF). Office of Rail and Road. 21 November 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  13. 1 2 "Train Timetables". Northernrailway.co.uk. 18 May 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  14. ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  15. ↑ Table 78A (Network Rail). GB eNRT. May 2016.
  16. ↑ "HOME". www.friendsofreddishsouthstation.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 November 2025. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  17. ↑ "South East Manchester Community Rail Partnership". 12 March 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2026.

Bibliography

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