Westhoughton railway station

Westhoughton railway station is one of the two stations which serve the town of Westhoughton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, north-western England. The station is 15+1/2 mi north west of Manchester Piccadilly.

History
It is the only station on a line connecting the Manchester-Preston Line at Bolton and the Manchester-Southport Line at Hindley near Wigan. It was opened in 1848, along with the line, by the Liverpool and Bury Railway, when the route between the two via Wigan and Bolton was completed. It subsequently became part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

The station is in Church Street, about ten minutes walk from the town centre. Westhoughton is also served by Daisy Hill railway station, around 15 minutes on foot from the town centre, on the Manchester-Southport Line, via Atherton.

Unlike the town's other station at Daisy Hill, Westhoughton station has been unstaffed since 1974, when all the trackside and roadside buildings were demolished. This is despite the fact that Westhoughton enjoyed similar levels of patronage. From 2004 to 2012, passenger usage increased by 231%. The station's passenger usage seems set to grow further, as there has been considerable housing development on brownfield land, which was the site of a mine, within a few hundred yards of the station, as the town continues to grow as a commuter suburb.

In the late 1980s, Westhoughton very nearly had a new third station at Dobb Brow, and planning went as far as allowing the proposed station to appear on railway maps as "may open during the course of this timetable". At the last moment, however, plans were shelved. In 2000, these plans were revived, but did not come to fruition.

In 2008, unspecified development was planned for the station as part of GMPTE's plans to impose a congestion charge on drivers entering Manchester city centre at peak times, and use the funds raised to upgrade public transport provision. The scheme was dropped after the proposal was substantially rejected in a referendum.

Location and facilities
There are neither toilets nor refreshment facilities, nor a payphone since 2011. A card-only ticket machine and "remote travel information" are provided by information screens and automated announcements on each platform.

Until 2013, The Commercial pub stood next door to the station, when it was closed and put up for sale.

There are bus stops for services to many parts of the town, and to the town's other station, Daisy Hill.

Access to the Bolton platform is by a long steep multi-stepped ramp and to the Wigan platform via a steep unstepped ramp. Access to both platforms has not been improved for those with prams, pushchairs or wheelchairs.

There is a large free car park with unsignposted access to the station.

The station is partly maintained by the Friends of Westhoughton Station, a voluntary group set up in 2012 with the aim of brightening up the station and providing floral displays.

Services


For many years Westhoughton had an hourly service. Since the 1980s services have dramatically improved:

Since the December 2022 timetable change, the service pattern has been altered significantly. All westbound trains run to and from Southport, at a frequency of 2 trains per hour. Eastbound, there is one train per hour that runs semi-fast to Manchester Oxford Road and one per hour that calls at all stations to Stalybridge via Manchester Victoria - this includes the daily parliamentary service to and from Clifton. All services run via Bolton and Salford Crescent. There are no longer regular trains to Wigan North Western on weekdays - passengers must change at Wigan Wallgate if travelling to these destinations, although there is one train to North Western later at night. On Sundays an hourly service runs from this station to Wigan North Western westbound and Stalybridge eastbound. The service to Southport operates via Walkden on a Sunday. On some weekends this service will be curtailed at Manchester Victoria due to ongoing works as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade. All services are operated by Classes and  diesel multiple units and  bi-mode units, although no 769s currently operate on Sundays.

On weekends, trains were replaced by buses until the end of 2018 due to ongoing electrification work on the Preston - Bolton - Salford Crescent route (which ran significantly behind schedule).

Regular through services to Liverpool via Wallgate and Kirkby once operated via Bolton/Westhoughton, which originally formed part of the Liverpool and Bury Railway and also the L&Y main line between Liverpool Exchange and Manchester, prior to the opening of the direct route through Swinton. However, since the western end of the route was electrified in 1978, Kirkby trains have either terminated at Wigan or been re-routed via Atherton.

Trains continuing to Bolton pass by, but cannot stop at, Lostock (Junction) station, as there are no platforms for the Wigan line. Passengers wishing to travel from Westhoughton to Preston and Blackpool must either change at Wigan Wallgate, usually crossing the road to Wigan North Western, a 100 yards walk, or via Bolton. Connections to London Euston can be made at Wigan, which is recommended as there is always only one change.

Between May and December 2015, the service pattern was altered temporarily due to the work being carried out to widen Farnworth Tunnel as part of the plans to electrify the Manchester to Preston Line. With only limited capacity south of Bolton, Manchester services were reduced to an hourly frequency, and curtailed at Bolton on Monday to Fridays, whilst weekend services were replaced by buses as Bolton station was also undergoing upgrade work for electrification. A peak hour bus shuttle to and from Daisy Hill was introduced to connect with those trains that had been diverted via Walkden, whilst westbound trains ran to Kirkby once again rather than Southport. This timetable ended in December 2015, when the line through Farnworth Tunnel was reopened.

Upgrade and electrification
An upgrade and electrification to the railway line through the station was first announced in December 2013. It was officially announced as definitely going ahead on 1 September 2021. As of January 2022 electrification and associated work is in progress. This includes bridge renewals and modifications as well as platform lengthening and station modification. The Bolton to Wigan electrification including Westhoughton station upgrade is scheduled for completion in 2024. Scaffolds have been installed on the bridge over the station on Church Street in preparation for these works. The platforms at Westhoughton, Hindley and Ince will also be extended to fit 6-car trains, they can currently only fit 4 despite announcements at other stations saying that passengers for Westhoughton must board the front 3 coaches (of a 4-car train) to disembark.