Manchester Piccadilly Station

Manchester Piccadilly Station

Manchester Piccadilly station was transformed into a safer, brighter & drier place for passengers in the £27 million modernisation programme between 1998 & 2000.

A brand new roof with over 10,000 individual panes of glass was installed over the platforms. We also invested in new lighting, platform surfaces & signage, as well as cleaning & repairing the decorative brickwork.

At the same time, many of the facilities at the station were upgraded, including:

  • A second station entrance for easy access to the south of the city
  • New customer information system
  • Bigger ticket office & travel centre
  • Larger concourse to cope with the forecast growth in passenger numbers
  • New dedicated lounge for passengers on platforms 13 & 14
  • Extra seating for customers on the upper concourse level
  • New ladies’ and gentlemen’s toilets
  • State-of–the-art management suite for station information and security
  • New shops & restaurants.

Modernisation scheme

Network Rail is planning an ambitious multi-billion pound, ten-year modernisation scheme for its stations. The programme will enhance capacity, improve facilities and provide opportunities for commercial development.

Stations Run by Network Rail

Network Rail owns and operates 18 of the biggest & busiest railway stations in the UK

The stations run by Network Rail are the hub of the rail network. More than half of all passenger journeys start or finish at one of these stations and over 650 million people pass through them every year.

Planning your journey

We can help you to plan your journey with information about location, layout, train lines, underground lines, buses, taxis, shops, restaurants, facilities, services, disability access, local attractions & contact details for each station:

Passenger access at stations

You can find detailed information about the disability access arrangements, procedures & services for each station operated by Network Rail. If you are travelling by train and need additional help, please contact the Train Operating Company that you are travelling with.

Disabled People's Protection Policy (DPPP) at stations run by Network Rail

Network Rail willingly recognises its obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). We are constantly working to improve access for our disabled passengers at the stations that we run:

  • For wheelchair users & people with impaired mobility - we have installed lifts & ramps, improved car-parking spaces & disabled toilets and introduced mobility assistance buggies (at some of our stations).
  • For people with impaired hearing - we have installed induction loops at information offices & text phones at station receptions.
  • For people with impaired vision - we have installed Wayfinder signage which is colour contrasted at all our stations. We also introduce tactile paving when we are making other changes to our stations.

Whenever we re-build or refurbish a station, we always comply with the latest DDA requirements. During the recent modernisation programmes at Manchester Piccadilly & Leeds stations, we installed lifts so that all platforms are accessible for wheelchair users & others with impaired mobility.

King’s Cross, Edinburgh Waverley, Birmingham New Street & Paddington are the stations which we will be modernising next. We have a number of plans to improve disability access as part of these programmes. For example, the Scottish Executive & Network Rail project at Edinburgh Waverley will include changes to the stairs from the concourse to Princes Street so that they are covered and include escalators & lifts.

The ticket offices and travel centres at stations are run by the train operating companies and you will need to contact them if you are concerned about disability access there.

If you would like to find out more about our Disabled People’s Protection Policy, we have published a generic statement of policy both in PDF and in Rich Text Format (RTF) which is applicable to all stations managed by Network Rail.  A matrix (Appendix B1) summarising the accessibility of all 18 Network Rail Managed Stations is also available to view.  The DPPP documentation contained herein, will be substantially re-written following the receipt of revised guidance from the Department for Transport.