Mills Hill railway station

Mills Hill railway station is in the Mills Hill area of Middleton in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale,[1] in Greater Manchester, England. The station is 5¾ miles (9 km) north of Manchester Victoria on the Caldervale Line. Mills Hill lies on Middleton's common boundary with Chadderton,[1] and thus serves both communities.

This article is about the railway station in Greater Manchester. For the similar-named station in Lancashire, see Mill Hill railway station (Lancashire).

Mills Hill
Location
Place	Middleton
Local authority	Rochdale
Coordinates	53.5511°N 2.1717°W / 53.5511; -2.1717
Grid reference	SD887060
Operations
Station code	MIH
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.314 million
2015/16	0.310 million
2016/17	0.331 million
2017/18	0.293 million
2018/19	0.329 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Greater Manchester
History
Original company	Manchester and Leeds Railway
4 July 1839	Original station opened
11 August 1842	Closed
25 March 1985	Current station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Mills Hill from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

During the temporary closure of the Oldham Loop line for its conversion to Metrolink light rail (2009–12) the station acted as an informal railhead for much of the borough of Oldham.

With an annual patronage of 314,000 entries and exits per year Mills Hill station is the second busiest unstaffed railway station within Transport for Greater Manchester's area. It is due to this fact that TfGM are pushing for funding to be made available to improve accessibility at the station for disabled passengers. The station is second only to Greenfield Railway Station on the prioritized list for this funding.

History

The original station opened on 4 July 1839[2] before the completion of the branches to Middleton and Oldham, and closed on 11 August 1842[2] when these were opened. The current station opened on 25 March 1985[2] by British Rail at the same point as the original.

Services

Since the May 2018 timetable change, the service pattern here has been completely revamped (though the half-hourly basic frequency remains unaltered). All trains (apart from a small number of weekday peak and late evening workings) run to/from Rochdale only, with passengers for destinations further north having to change there. Southbound trains still run to Manchester Victoria, with most continuing on to Bolton and Blackburn/Clitheroe via Darwen.[3]

On Sundays, an hourly service operates with trains running to Southport via Wigan Wallgate southbound and to Blackburn via Todmorden and Burnley Manchester Road northbound.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Moston		Northern Caldervale Line or Todmorden/Rochdale-Kirkby-Wigan Wallgate		Castleton
	Historical railways
Middleton Junction Line open, station closed		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway		Castleton Line and station open
	Disused railways
Middleton Junction Line open, station closed		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway		Heywood Line closed, station open

As part of the Great North Rail Project by Network Rail a ramp and lift will be installed for disabled access to the station.[4]

Notes

1. Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (30 April 2008), Network Maps: Oldham (PDF), gmpte.com, archived from the original (PDF) on 14 April 2008, retrieved 28 July 2008
2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 160. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
3. Table 41 National Rail timetable, May 2018
4. https://www.networkrail.co.uk/feeds/ramps-and-lift-to-improve-access-at-greater-manchester-station/

References

• The Manchester and Leeds Railway by Martin Bairstow

External links

• Train times and station information for Mills Hill railway station from National Rail

Railways in Rochdale
Past, present and future  Rossendale Lines to Bacup Calderdale Lines to Calderdale Broadley Littleborough Shawclough and Healey Smithy Bridge Wardleworth Rochdale Newbold Rochdale Town Centre Kingsway Business Park Milnrow East Lancs Rly to Bury Newhey Broadfield Oldham Lines to Oldham Heywood Castleton Mills Hill Middleton Manchester Lines North to Manchester