East Didsbury  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) View across to the southern platform in 2015 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | East Didsbury,Manchester England | ||||
| Grid reference | SJ853903 | ||||
| Managed by | Northern Trains | ||||
| Transit authority | Transport for Greater Manchester | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | EDY | ||||
| Classification | DfT category E | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 1909 | Opened | ||||
| 2023 | Platforms extended[1] | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.296 million | ||||
| 2020/21 |  46,424 | ||||
| 2021/22 | 0.185 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.208 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.260 million | ||||
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East Didsbury is a suburban railway station in southManchester, England. It is sited on theStyal Line betweenLongsight (Slade Lane Junction) andWilmslow, providing direct access betweenManchester Piccadilly andManchester Airport.East Didsbury tram stop, on theManchester Metrolink system, is located close by.
East Didsbury station was opened in 1909 by theLondon and North Western Railway and, until 6 May 1974, was calledEast Didsbury and Parrs Wood.[2][3] From 1923, the line was operated by theLondon Midland and Scottish Railway. Following the formation in 1948 ofBritish Rail, services were operated by theLondon Midland Region of British Railways, then North-WesternRegional Railways. The station was rebuilt in the 1959[4] by the architect to the London Midland section of British Rail,William Robert Headley.
Services to Manchester Airport began in 1993 upon the opening of the Manchester Airport spur. With the privatisation of rail services in 1996/7, East Didsbury was served by theNorth Western Trains franchise.
Work to extend the platforms was completed by March 2023.[5]
Before theBeeching Axe of the 1960s, the Didsbury area was served by three railway stations: East Didsbury, Didsbury, and Withington and West Didsbury.
Didsbury railway station opened in 1880 in the centre of Didsbury Village on theMidland Railway'sManchester South District Line, which connected with theCheshire Lines Committee line intoManchester Central. This connected to theSheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee line fromChinley and theMidland Railway used it for its express services fromLondon St Pancras. It closed in 1967 and, though the building was used for a while by a hardware dealer, it has now disappeared, apart from the platforms, a clock tower and a drinking fountain dedicated to the memory of a local philanthropist,Dr. D.J. Wilson Rhodes (1847–1900).[6]
There was alsoWithington and West Didsbury, the next station on the line towards Manchester; the two being so similar in appearance that passengers sometimes alighted at the wrong one. Originally it was called "Withington", then from 1884 "Withington and Albert Park", receiving its final name in 1915. All that remains is a boundary wall; a block of flats (Brankgate Court) has been built on the site.
The former Midland line was partially re-opened to passengers in 2013 when it was converted into alight rail track for theManchester Metrolink tram system.[7]
The station is served by twotrain operating companies:
| Preceding station |  National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Trains | ||||
| Northern Trains Monday to Saturday | ||||
| Northern Trains Sunday only | ||||
| Transport for Wales Rail (Styal Line)Manchester Airport to North Wales |
53°24′33″N2°13′18.50″W / 53.40917°N 2.2218056°W /53.40917; -2.2218056
| Bolton | |
|---|---|
| Bury | |
| Manchester (Manchester station group in italics) | |
| Oldham | |
| Rochdale | |
| Salford | |
| Stockport | |
| Tameside | |
| Trafford | |
| Wigan | |
† stations on theEast Lancashire Railway (heritage) | |
