page_title: Westhoughton railway station
section_title: Services
hierarchical_section_title: Westhoughton railway station / Services
caption_attribution_description: English: Northern Rail Class 150, 150220, Westhoughton railway station
context_page_description: 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 miles north west of Manchester Piccadilly.
context_section_description: For many years Westhoughton had an hourly service. Since the 1980s services have dramatically improved:
  Since the May 2018 timetable change, the service pattern has been altered significantly.  All westbound trains now run to and from Wigan North Western, where connections are available for Preston and points north and also for Crewe, London Euston and stations to Liverpool Lime Street via St Helens.  Eastbound, there are two trains per hour to Bolton and Salford Crescent - one continues to Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport and Alderley Edge, whilst the other runs to Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge.  There are no longer regular trains to Wigan Wallgate and onward to Southport (save for a small number of peak hour services) - passengers must change at Hindley if travelling to these destinations.  In the evening, the service drops to hourly.  From the December 2019 timetable change however, the timetable is being revamped once again - though the service frequency remains unchanged, trains will now run through to Southport via Wallgate once again westbound and alternately to Stalybridge via Victoria and Alderley Edge via Piccadilly on weekdays and Saturdays.  On Sundays, there'll be an hourly service to Manchester Victoria and Wigan N.W.
  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, or at Manchester Piccadilly.
  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.
caption: A Northern rail Class 150, with a service to Bolton in 2015
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