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Tuesday 1 Nov 2022

Manchester Piccadilly’s busiest platforms to get £5.1m festive upgrade

Region & Route:

North West & Central

| North West & Central: North West

Passengers are being advised of essential upgrades to platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly station this Christmas and New Year.

The £5.1m investment will give the station’s busiest platforms an even surface, clearer line markings, raised platform edges to make them safer for visually impaired people, and a new drainage system will be installed.

Platforms 13 and 14 allow up to 14 trains per hour to briefly stop and then run straight through to Manchester Airport, Liverpool, North Wales, Wigan, Southport, Bolton, Blackpool, the Lake District, North East and Scotland.

People using the platforms will start to see preparation work during November.

This includes a hoarding area being constructed so building equipment and materials can be safely stored.

The scale of the essential upgrades will see changes to train services using the through platforms over Christmas and New Year.

Trains will not call at platforms 13 and 14:

• For ten days between Sunday 25 December and Tuesday 3 January. 
• On Sunday 22 January until Monday 23 January.

Passengers are being given advanced warning to plan their journeys in advance by checking www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Scott Green, station manager at Manchester Piccadilly said: “This much-needed platform upgrade will be a great way to welcome in the New Year, and an important investment to keep these very busy platforms safe for passengers. We've tried to plan the work so it causes as little disruption to people's journeys as possible, but unfortunately resurfacing work like this is impossible to do without having to shut the platforms completely. I'd urge people to please be aware when the work is taking place and to check National Rail Enquiries to plan their journeys and find out which stations will be available to them instead."

Train operators are advising passengers to check before they travel as there will be changes to their journeys during this time. 

Chris Jackson, regional director for Northern, said: “We welcome the commencement of these works and the improvement to the customer experience they will bring for passengers on our services in the North West. It is always important to invest in rail infrastructure to ensure we can keep the region moving, getting people from where they are to where they want to be.”

Chris Nutton, major projects director for TransPennine Express, said: “The investment being made into improving journeys for our customers who use platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly station is fantastic news, with the end result being a more accessible station and overall a better experience for our customers.

“However, these major works will mean significant changes to our services just after Christmas and into the New Year, and changes for those using our trains.

“We strongly advise customers planning travel on our services over the festive period to plan ahead and allow extra time, as journeys may take longer than usual.  Anyone travelling during this period should check their journey very carefully before travelling as other engineering work is planned to take place across the TPE network.”

Neil Grabham, customer services director from EMR said: “We would like to thank our customers for their patience over the Christmas period as Network Rail carry out the platform upgrade work. 

“Although we are unable to run trains to Manchester Piccadilly, customers will be able to alight at Manchester Oxford Road or change at Stockport for Manchester Airport”.

Network Rail is also carrying out important work to Piccadilly’s roof over the Christmas period.

The station will be closed from Sunday 25 December (Christmas Day) until Tuesday 27 December, and Sunday 15 January until Monday 16 January.

This £1.5m investment means Network Rail engineers can get all the work they need done at once, rather than disrupting passengers over many consecutive weekends in 2023.