Atherton train station

You can reach 48 stations directly from Atherton on a weekday, without changing. The most frequent is Daisy Hill, with 70 trains a day.

See Atherton on the map

• 48 direct destinations
• 1,342nd busiest in Britain
• Staffed full time
• Step-free throughout
• 64 parking spaces
• 7 bus stops nearby

Direct trains from Atherton

Trains a day to each station you can reach without changing, by day of the week.

and 8 more stations, each served less often.

See these routes on the map

Lines serving Atherton

Atherton is on the Manchester to Southport Line. That page has the whole route, every station on it and how busy each one is.

Freight through Atherton station, hour by hour

Freight is booked through or alongside Atherton station on 12 paths in the week beginning 12 October 2026: 2 paths on the Wednesday, 1 path on the Saturday and no paths on the Sunday. 1 of them runs whatever the traffic; the rest are held in the timetable and used only when there is something to move.

The grid counts the goods trains booked to pass in each hour of the week beginning 12 October 2026: the darker the hour, the more paths, and a dot marks an hour with at least one path that runs regardless. Engineering trains, empty stock and light engines are not counted. Across Britain only about a fifth of booked freight paths run on a given day, so a booked path is a possibility rather than a promise; the freight statistics page explains how that is measured.

Paths booked in the hournone12 to 34 to 78 to 1516 or moreone runs regardless

How busy Atherton station is

218,476 passenger entries and exits in 2024-25, making it the 1,342nd busiest station in Great Britain.

More journeys run between Atherton and Manchester Victoria than any other pair: 95,980 a year. That is where passengers go, which is not always where the most trains go.

Source: Office of Rail and Road, Estimates of station usage, 2024-25. Estimated from ticket sales.

Sundays

Sunday is a different railway here: 17 stations instead of 48, a drop of about 65%. Saturday runs to 48.

Nearest other stations

• Hag Fold 0.7 miles
• Daisy Hill 1.7 miles
• Westhoughton 2.6 miles
• Lostock 3.1 miles
• Walkden 3.4 miles

Closed stations nearby

Former stations within 8 km of Atherton, from Wikidata. They are on the map under Closed & former stations.

• Atherton Bag Lane · 1.1 miles
• Tyldesley · 1.2 miles
• Howe Bridge · 1.4 miles
• Chequerbent · 1.5 miles
• Chequerbent · 1.7 miles
• Atherleigh · 2.3 miles

Show closed stations on the map

Facilities at Atherton station

Atherton is staffed full time, with step-free access to the whole station.

Ticket office: Monday: 06:10 to 23:45 · Sunday: closed

Parking at Atherton station

• Station Car Park 64 spaces, 1 accessible
  free

Cycle parking: 11 spaces (compounds).

From National Rail's station record, last updated 12 August 2026.

Getting to Atherton station

Atherton station is in Wigan, North West, and is run by Northern Trains.

The nearest motorway junction is M61 J4 (Watergate Lane Interchange), 1.5 miles north-east.

7 bus stops are within a short walk, the nearest being Atherton Rail Station.

Sources: Office of Rail and Road (Table 6329), OpenStreetMap and NaPTAN.

Atherton station elsewhere

• National Rail facilities, opening hours and live departures
• Realtime Trains every train calling today, to the minute
• Wikipedia the station's history
• OpenStreetMap the map data this page is built from

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