| Wigan North Western | |
| Symbol Location: | gb |
| Symbol: | rail |
| Borough: | Wigan, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan |
| Country: | England |
| Coordinates: | 53.543°N -2.632°W |
| Grid Name: | Grid reference |
| Manager: | Avanti West Coast |
| Platforms: | 6 (5 in use) |
| Code: | WGN |
| Zone: | Greater Manchester Rail Zone 3 |
| Classification: | DfT category B |
| Transit Authority: | Greater Manchester |
| Original: | North Union Railway |
| Pregroup: | London and North Western Railway |
| Postgroup: | London, Midland and Scottish Railway |
| Events: | Opened as Wigan |
| Years1: | 2 June 1924 |
| Events1: | Renamed Wigan North Western |
| Footnotes: | Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
| Mapframe: | yes |
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 14 |
Wigan North Western railway station is one of two railway stations serving the town centre of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is a moderately-sized station on the West Coast Main Line. It is operated by Avanti West Coast, and is also served by Northern Trains.
Wigan's other station is Wigan Wallgate, which is about 110yd away, on the opposite side of the street named Wallgate, for services to Manchester (Victoria, Deansgate, Oxford Road & Piccadilly), Southport and Kirkby. Both stations are centrally located on the southern fringe of Wigan town centre. The station is named North Western, not because of its location but because it formerly belonged to the London and North Western Railway. The drop in usage figures for Wigan North Western in 2006/07 was due to the adjustment of the allocation between the town's two stations. In 2009 North Western station was identified as one of the ten worst category B interchange stations for mystery shopper assessment of fabric and environment[1] and was set to receive a share of £50m funding for improvements.[2]
The Wigan Branch Railway opened between the Liverpool and Manchester Railway on 3 September 1832 at Parkside Junction (in Newton-le-Willows) and Wigan. The original station in Wigan was located close to Chapel Lane, and three trains per day were provided, connecting with the Liverpool and Manchester trains at Parkside.[3]
The North Union Railway opened between Wigan and Preston and connected with the line from Parkside on 31 October 1838. Wigan station was relocated to its present position.
The London and North Western Railway was formed as a result of the progressive amalgamation of various earlier lines, including the Grand Junction Railway in 1846. In collaboration with the Caledonian Railway, through trains were introduced between London Euston and Glasgow.
On 2 August 1873, a major accident occurred at the station. An overnight express from London to Scotland derailed while passing through the station at high speed. 13 people died and 30 were badly injured. The subsequent inquiry into the accident resulted in the introduction of facing point locks to passenger-carrying lines throughout the UK.[4]
1888–1894: The station was substantially enlarged. The London and North Western Railway's Manchester and Wigan Railway connected with the North Union Railway at Springs Branch, and services to Manchester Exchange via Tyldesley which began in September 1864, terminated at the enlarged station. This line closed in 1969.
It was renamed from "Wigan" to "Wigan North Western" on 2 June 1924.
During 1971 and 1972, the run-down Victorian-era station buildings were demolished and the track layout re-modelled as a prelude to electrification. The re-built station was officially opened in July 1972.
On 1 October 1972, all signalling through Wigan North Western and adjacent sections of the West Coast main line came under the control of the new Warrington Power Signal Box. Two large signal boxes were closed - Wigan No.1 and Wigan No.2, which had controlled train movements at the south and north ends of station respectively.
23 July 1973, Electric train services began between London Euston and Preston, via Wigan North Western. Express trains, formerly hauled by one or two Class 50 diesels, were now powered by Class 86 or new Class 87 electrics.
On 6 May 1974, the West Coast electrification project was complete and electric trains operated through to Glasgow by British Rail.
Being located on the West Coast Main Line, Wigan North Western has retained regular trains to a wide range of destinations. However, there were several local passenger services from the station which fell under the Beeching Axe and earlier, and the lines have since been closed:
Trains departed northwards before diverging from the main line at Boar's Head Junction, NaNmiles north of Wigan. From Boar's Head, a line ran to Adlington where it joined the Manchester to Preston Line as far as Chorley. From Chorley another branch line ran to Cherry Tree station and joined the existing line from Preston to Blackburn. In addition to the local service, this route was also occasionally used by long distance trains when these were diverted over the Settle and Carlisle line. Until at least 1963 a "private" non-advertised return passenger service was operated for workers at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Euxton.[5]
The line from Wigan to Manchester Exchange via Tyldesley and Eccles was the L&NWR's route from Manchester to the north and Scotland. Before closure, this route was used both by local trains and by long-distance expresses between Manchester and destinations such as Windermere and Glasgow. Trains from Wigan North Western to Manchester Exchange travelled south for NaNmiles along the main line before diverging onto the Tyldesley line at Springs Branch Junction. In fact the timings of the non-stop express trains were such that trains between Manchester Exchange and Wigan could (and did) take the (longer) route via Lowton.
Passenger services were provided to a number of smaller stations located along the main line. Except for Leyland and Balshaw Lane (which was reopened in 1998 as Euxton Balshaw Lane) these stations are now closed. Closure of some of these smaller stations started before the Beeching report (for example Boar's Head and Bamfurlong in 1949 and Golborne in 1962) and was completed in the late 1960s.
Local trains called at:
| Northwards | Southwards | |
| Boar's Head | Bamfurlong | |
| Standish Junction | Golborne | |
| Coppull | Lowton | |
| Balshaw Lane & Euxton | Newton-le-Willows | |
| Leyland | Earlestown | |
| Farington | ||
| Preston | Warrington Bank Quay |
See main article: Wigan Central railway station.
Wigan had a third station: Wigan Central which has been demolished.
Wigan Central was located in Station Road, still in the town centre but some way away from the two main stations (at North Western and Wallgate). It was a terminal station on the branch line to Glazebrook and on to Manchester Central.
Wigan Central was opened by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later to become the Great Central) in October 1892 and was closed to passengers in November 1964.
The platforms have heated waiting rooms. The British Transport Police have an office on platform 4 near the station's cafe.
Avanti West Coast, who manage the station, operate services on the West Coast Main Line. An hourly service runs fast to calling at and London Euston off-peak. An hourly service also runs northbound to, with some additional peak services terminating at, and . The journey time from London is less than two hours (1 hour and 55 minutes).[9]
It is also served by Avanti West Coast's hourly services to/from London Euston via, and that use the Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford line rather than the direct route to London which uses the Trent Valley line.In the northbound direction, 2 trains per day (tpd) run northbound to, 6 tpd to and 7 tpd run to (alternating hours).
Avanti West Coast services southbound towards London Euston and northbound to and Scotland are operated by electric Pendolino trains.
Northern Trains operates a half-hourly local stopping service from, along the Liverpool-Wigan Line via with a handful of services running to Liverpool via the Lowton Chord and . There is also an hourly service from Liverpool which continues north along the West Coast Main Line to . On Sundays, the Liverpool – Wigan services do not run with the hourly – services calling at the smaller intermediate stations on the route to Liverpool.
Northern also operated one electric hourly service per hour each way between Blackpool North and Manchester Airport between May 2018 & May 2019. Between May 2019 and December 2022, this was replaced by an hourly diesel service between and, with most trains continuing on to either or . In December 2022, the to services reverted to their previous route via thus ceasing to serve Wigan. These services were replaced by limited weekday peak-only fast services to calling only at . These were mainly operated by new Civity units, whilst the electric variants (s) have started to appear on Liverpool services since Summer 2019.
In the May 2018 timetable change, two trains per hour were introduced to/from Bolton - one to and Stalybridge, the other to and thence via Stockport. These ran on weekdays only - weekend trains were replaced by buses until November 2018 due to ongoing electrification work on the Manchester–Preston line through Bolton and Salford Crescent. From the December 2019 timetable change, most weekday services to/from Manchester via Hindley reverted to their previous route via Wallgate, with just a few trains starting or finishing here in the morning and both peak periods. From December 2020 until December 2022 however, the hourly service from Leeds started & terminated here once more throughout the day (save for a few peak period services). Most services via towards Manchester now run from station. An hourly service operates on Sundays to via .
With completion of the first stage of the North West electrification programme, most TransPennine Express services between Manchester and Scotland were re-routed via Wigan instead of Bolton by connecting with the West Coast Main Line near Newton-le-Willows. TransPennine Express now operates services between Manchester Airport and Scotland. These services no longer call at Wigan North Western and have been re-routed via Bolton now that the line is electrified (work finally being completed in early 2019 ahead of the spring timetable update).
The single London Midland service from Birmingham New Street to Preston that used to call in the evening was withdrawn at the end of the 2007–08 timetable.
Under HS2 and government proposals' high-speed trains would stop at the station from Glasgow before joining the new HS2 line south of Wigan to Birmingham and London.[10]