Monday 16 Mar 2026
New £10m depot unveiled to maintain Manchester’s railway for passengers
- Region & Route:
- North West & Central
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North West & Central: North West
A £10m new rail upkeep depot has been unveiled to preserve passenger and freight trains shifting easily via Greater Manchester.
The high-tech facility at Guide Bridge is the brand new dwelling for over 120 Network Rail workers who work evening and day to make the railway secure and dependable.
In simply over a yr, the two-storey constructing has been constructed on a 2.3-acre former railway siding.
It brings 4 separate monitor upkeep groups underneath one roof for the primary time, having beforehand been primarily based in separate momentary cabins with outdated amenities on the identical web site.
It’s hoped that bringing the workers collectively will imply higher collaboration and quicker response instances to repair railway faults – main to fewer delays for passengers.
The constructing got here in £6m underneath funds thanks to a variety of effectivity measures together with modern building sequencing, materials specs and difficult normal railway approaches.
Clare Waller, Network Rail’s interim North West route director, stated: “It’s improbable to see this new depot at Guide Bridge now in use and supply fashionable amenities for the groups primarily based there to allow them to reply to incidents and maintain the railway for passengers and freight in Greater Manchester.
“The teams have worked across multiple temporary buildings and not the best of environments for many years, so I’m sure this new striking building with top-notch accommodation will make a massive difference to them and the work they are able to achieve.”
Everything has been constructed to fashionable accessibility requirements, with a carry between flooring, accessible rest room and altering rooms.
The male locker room has 120 lockers and feminine equal 20 lockers, each with showering and bathroom amenities, whereas the mess room has capability for 100 workers at anybody time.
There is an array of 60 photo voltaic panels on the depot’s roof which is able to present roughly 44% of the depot’s vitality, with a buy-back scheme set to be launched so it may possibly generate income with any surplus being provided again to National Grid.
Ten new electrical car charging factors have additionally been put in the depot as a part of Network Rail’s dedication to transfer to all-electric automobiles in future.
Network Rail’s Maintenance Delivery Units (MDUs) are operational day and evening with shifts across the clock for groups to have the opportunity to reply to incidents and perform in a single day engineering work.
For extra details about how Network Rail takes care of the railway go to: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/our-work/looking-after-the-railway/
Notes to Editors
The undertaking took 62 weeks to full and was managed by Network Rail Capital Delivery Buildings and Civils staff and delivered by principal contractor Galliford Try.
The multi-disciplinary groups now primarily based within the one constructing embrace: Permanent Way, Off Track, Lubrication, and Welding & Grinding.
About Network Rail
We personal, function and develop Britain’s railway infrastructure; that is 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the 1000’s of signals, stage crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK’s largest stations whereas all of the others, over 2,500, are run by the nation’s train operating companies.
Usually, there are nearly 5 million journeys made within the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the community. People rely on Britain’s railway for their every day commute, to go to pals and family members and to get them dwelling secure daily. Our function is to ship a safe and reliable railway, so we rigorously handle and ship 1000’s of tasks yearly that kind a part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to develop and increase the nation’s railway community to reply to the large development and demand the railway has skilled – a doubling of passenger journeys over the previous 20 years.
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