Manchester Oxford Road station will be closed for the next two years as remodelling work takes place.
The station building is a Grade II listed building, meaning that it is of “special interest” and has legal protections which prevents it’s demolition.
The first round of consultation ended on the February 28th, with further consultations planned before the end of 2025. Network Rail hopes to submit finalised plans by the spring of 2026.
Network Rail list the aims of the remodelling work to be:
- Increasing platform lengths, which would allow an extra 120 seats to be available for services calling at Oxford Road station.
- Improving track and signalling for train services on the track: aiming to improve reliability, allowing for an increase from 12 to 14 trains an hour at the station.
- Improving the platforms and the footbridge in order to create a more “accessible and inviting environment” for passengers.
- Longer platforms will allow wider national schemes such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade to introduce longer trains as pledged.
Bev Craig, the leader of Manchester City Council noted that the station was requiring work, with congestion, capacity, reliability and accessibility the main focuses.
She added: “Any future development will be a long-term project but infrastructure upgrades like these are essential if we are to continue growing Manchester as the leading city of the North”.
Manchester has seen a series of rail investment schemes since the start of the 2000s as part of city wide redevelopment.
The 2017 construction of the Ordsall Chord, a £85 million rail project that connected Victoria, Oxford Road, and Manchester Piccadilly, amplified the issues of congestion on the Oxford Road corridor.
The Ordsall Chord is not currently in full use due to the plans for the construction of platform 15 and 16 at Manchester Piccadilly being pulled. The new platforms would have increased rail capacity across the North.
Network Rail predicts that neighbouring stations will be busier as a result.
