Bolton train station

You can reach 85 stations directly from Bolton on a weekday, without changing. The most frequent is Salford Crescent, with 206 trains a day.

See Bolton on the map

• 85 direct destinations
• 180th busiest in Britain
• Staffed full time
• Step-free throughout
• 13 bus stops nearby

Direct trains from Bolton

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

and 57 more stations, each served less often.

See these routes on the map

Lines serving Bolton

Bolton is on the Manchester to Preston Line and the Ribble Valley Line, each of which has its own page with the whole route, every station on it and how busy each one is.

Freight through Bolton station, hour by hour

Freight is booked through or alongside Bolton station on 10 paths in the week beginning 12 October 2026: 2 paths on the Wednesday, no paths on the Saturday and no paths on the Sunday. Every one of them is 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 Bolton station is

3,011,850 passenger entries and exits in 2024-25, making it the 180th busiest station in Great Britain.

A further 495,120 passengers changed trains here without entering or leaving the station.

More journeys run between Bolton and Manchester Oxford Road than any other pair: 421,764 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: 67 stations instead of 85, a drop of about 21%. Saturday runs to 97.

Nearest other stations

• Moses Gate 1.5 miles
• Hall i' th' Wood 1.7 miles
• Farnworth 2.2 miles
• Bromley Cross 2.9 miles
• Lostock 2.9 miles

Closed stations nearby

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

• Bolton Crook Street · 0.2 miles
• Bolton Great Moor Street · 0.3 miles
• Darcy Lever · 0.7 miles
• Daubhill · 1.2 miles
• Rumworth and Daubhill · 1.4 miles
• Astley Bridge · 1.6 miles

Show closed stations on the map

Facilities at Bolton station

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

Ticket office: Monday: 06:00 to 21:00 · Sunday: 08:15 to 19:30

Toilets · Waiting room · WiFi

Parking at Bolton station

• Parking is not available.

Cycle parking: 109 spaces (sheltered, stands).

From National Rail's station record, last updated 4 August 2026.

Getting to Bolton station

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

The nearest motorway junction is M61 J4 (Watergate Lane Interchange), 2.2 miles south.

13 bus stops are within a short walk, the nearest being Bolton Rail Station.

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

Bolton 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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