Buckshaw Parkway is a British railway station[1] which opened on 3 October 2011[2][3] on the Manchester to Preston Line, near Euxton Junction with the West Coast Main Line. It is one of Euxton's two railway stations being in Buckshaw Village, formerly the Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF Chorley) between Chorley and Leyland. It is close to the site of the four-platform Chorley ROF Halt, which was closed in 1964, remained virtually intact until the 1970s, but was finally cleared in the early 2000s.
Buckshaw Parkway  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Buckshaw Parkway railway station in October 2011, prior to completion of electrification works | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Buckshaw Village, Euxton, Chorley England | ||||
| Coordinates | 53°40′23″N 2°39′32″W / 53.673°N 2.659°W | ||||
| Grid reference | SD566198 | ||||
| Managed by | Northern Trains | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | BSV | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Network Rail | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 3 October 2011 | Station opened | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.455 million | ||||
| 2020/21 |  74,406 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 0.268 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.340 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.341 million | ||||
| |||||
History
editThe station gained planning permission in 1999.[3] It was put on hold due to a funding shortfall,[4] but it was announced in 2009 that £3.3 million had been allocated by Lancashire County Council from the Community Investment Fund.[5] Construction was expected to begin in early 2010 and be completed in the same year,[2] but a further funding shortfall resulted in the designs for the ticket office being scaled down.[6] Contractors started work in October 2010 and the station was completed by autumn 2011.[7] The cost of the station now stands at £6.8 million.[7] The station opened on 3 October 2011.[8]
The first train arrived on time with journalists from a local paper, the Chorley Guardian, seeking interviews with waiting passengers.[9] IT worker Alex Howarth was the first passenger from the station, whilst a Mr Brown was the first person to buy a ticket from the station.[10]
Facilities
editThe station has a staffed ticket office,[11] Monday-Saturday 06:20-00:20 Sunday 08:15-23:50 .[12] There is a chargeable car park for around 200 cars.[7] Both platforms are fully accessible (via lifts), with train running information offered via digital CIS displays, automated announcements and timetable posters. The information screens at the station were replaced in March 2023.
Services
editAll services at the station are operated by Northern Trains. The station has a regular service of 2 trains per hour southbound to Manchester Airport via Manchester Piccadilly, and northbound to Blackpool North. [13] On Sundays, the service is hourly in each direction.
On 17 October 2011, First TransPennine Express services from Manchester Airport to Blackpool North started calling at the station. From the December 2013 timetable change, Windermere and Barrow-in-Furness services called at Buckshaw when they were attached to the rear of Blackpool North services. First TransPennine Express used to run the service from Manchester Airport to Blackpool North but this was passed on to the new Northern franchise on 1 April 2016.
Between May 2018 - May 2019, the current local stopping service from Manchester Victoria to Blackpool was temporarily curtailed here on weekdays (through running still applied during the evening) due to ongoing delays with the electrification work on the Manchester to Preston route (which was running two years behind schedule because of problems erecting electrification masts at several locations along the line). Saturday and Sunday services were replaced by buses most weekends from May 2015 until November 2018 due to the late-running electrification work on the route.[14] Weekend services resumed on Sunday 11 November 2018 after the completion of the electrification engineering work. Travellers from certain local stations needed to change trains here for Preston and Blackpool during this period.
Electric service commenced on 11 February 2019 utilising Class 319 electric multiple units.[15]
There were previously three trains per hour in each direction, with one train per hour to Hazel Grove (and all the way to Buxton before the line was electrified), one train per hour to Manchester Airport both via Manchester Piccadilly running semi-fast, then a local stopping service (as far as Bolton) to Manchester Victoria. Three trains per hour continued to Preston, with the two Piccadilly services continuing to Blackpool North. The December 2021 timetable change saw the removal of the Preston-Victoria service and in May 2022 the Airport services were changed to additionally call at Blackrod and Adlington due to the removal of the Victoria service resulting in a peak-only service at these stations. In December 2022, the Hazel Grove service was re-routed to terminate at Manchester Airport instead.
References
edit- ^ Buckshaw Parkway Train Station Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Buckshaw Village Community Association.
- ^ a b "Buckshaw railway station to be built next year". The Citizen. Chorley. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
- ^ a b Greaves, Andrew (17 August 2008). "Buckshaw Village station set to get green light". Lancashire Telegraph. Blackburn. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
- ^ "Buckshaw Station Back On Track". Chorley Council. November 2008. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
- ^ Gee, Chris (4 August 2009). "Buckshaw set for railway station after funding boost". Lancashire Telegraph. Blackburn. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
- ^ Banks, Natalie (19 July 2010). "Buckshaw Village railway station delayed AGAIN". Chorley Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
- ^ a b c "Work set to start on Buckshaw station". Chorley Citizen. 9 October 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
- ^ "Buckshaw Village railway station due to open on October 3rd 2011". BBC News. 7 September 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ "Buckshaw Village railway stations opens October 3rd 2011". BBC News. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- ^ Kelly, Robert (5 October 2011). "Hottest Ticket in Town". Chorley Guardian, p. 13.
- ^ "Chorley Buckshaw Village Station architectural plans" (PDF). Network Rail. 3 December 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
- ^ "Buckshaw Village Station". Buckshaw Village Community Association. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
- ^ Table 102 National Rail timetable, December 2022
- ^ Manchester - Bolton - Preston route improvement works Archived 30 July 2018 at the Wayback MachineNorthern website news article; Retrieved 2 August 2018
- ^ McDonnell, Seamus (14 February 2019). "First electric trains are a 'new dawn' for Bolton commuters | The Bolton News". The Bolton News. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
External links
edit
- Train times and station information for Buckshaw Parkway railway station from National Rail
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Trains |