Manchester station group
The Manchester station group is a station group of four railway stations in Manchester city centre, England; this consists of Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Victoria and Deansgate. The station group is printed on national railway tickets as MANCHESTER STNS. For commuters travelling from one of the 91 National Rail stations in Greater Manchester, the four stations are printed as MANCHESTER CTLZ which additionally permits the use of Metrolink tram services in Zone 1.
The Manchester station group does not include Manchester Airport station, nor Salford Central railway station. Since the opening of the Ordsall Chord in 2017, there has been an increase of through as opposed to terminating services – for example, the TransPennine Express from Newcastle to Manchester Airport now calls at Victoria, Oxford Road and Piccadilly.
Rail passengers may board or disembark at any one of these four stations. National visitors from outside Greater Manchester with MANCHESTER STNS as the destination are not permitted to use Metrolink in Zone 1, as it is a locally funded transport scheme and receives no national government subsidy.
When using the National Routeing Guide, Salford Central railway station is shown as part of the Manchester Group. This means that tickets to or from Salford with 'Route: Any Permitted' have the same validity as those to or from MANCHESTER STNS, but cannot be used interchangeably.
Use in Metrolink Zone 1
Greater Manchester passengers
Passengers who travel on rail services from the Greater Manchester area into one of the four Manchester stations will be issued with a ticket stating the destination as Manchester CTLZ as opposed to Manchester Picc or Manchester Vic. This allows visitors to use Metrolink trams between stops in Zone 1 for free on the presentation of a Manchester CTLZ rail ticket. The Freedom of the City scheme was introduced in 2005 by GMPTE, now Transport for Greater Manchester. Zone 1 includes ten Metrolink tram stops:- Cornbrook
- Deansgate-Castlefield
- Exchange Square
- Market Street
- New Islington
- Piccadilly
- Piccadilly Gardens
- Shudehill
- St Peter's Square
- Victoria
National Rail passengers
Future
Many journeys which call at Manchester stations slow down due to the populated nature of Greater Manchester and congested routes; Network Rail have described it as a 'bottleneck'. In 2010 the Manchester hub study was released with a series of proposals to decreasing journey times.The Ordsall Chord was opened in 2017, which now links all four of Manchester's main stations. Other proposals are yet to start construction. Two new through platforms will be built at Piccadilly and Victoria will be upgraded. The implementation of the Northern Hub proposals would reduce journey times to and from Liverpool by 15 minutes, Leeds by 15 minutes and Sheffield by 5.
Stations
In use
Closed
One of the first inter-city railway stations in the world was Manchester Liverpool Road station on Liverpool Street. On 15 September 1830, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened and services terminated at the station. Part of the station frontage remains, as does the goods warehouse. Both of these structures are Grade I protected and are part of the Museum of Science and Industry.All four of Manchester's termini were not recommended for closure in the first Beeching Report, but the reduced rail traffic caused by the closure of other railway lines meant services were transferred to Piccadilly and Victoria. Consequently, trains to Exchange and Central stations were withdrawn; the latter was granted Grade II* and later converted into an arena and exhibition centre.
| Station | Image | Location | Managed by | Open date | Closed date | Terminal platforms | Through platforms | Notes |
| Central | Castlefield | London Midland Region of British Railways | 1886 | 1969 | 9 | 0 | Closed as part of the Beeching cuts in 1969. Now used as a conference and exhibition centre. Was shortlisted for High Speed 2 terminus. | |
| Exchange | Salford | London, Midland and Scottish Railway | 1884 | 1969 | 0 | 5 | Had the longest platform in the world. | |
| Liverpool Road | Liverpool Street | Liverpool and Manchester Railway | 1830 | 1844 | 2 | 0 | The first urban train station in the world | |
| Mayfield | Piccadilly | London and North Western Railway | 1910 | 1960 1986 | 5 | 0 | Located adjacent to Piccadilly. Station remains today and can be seen on approaching Piccadilly. |