Daisy Hill railway station serves the Daisy Hill area of Westhoughton, in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England.
Daisy Hill is one of the principal stations that lie on the Atherton line, between Wigan and Manchester. The station is located 14 miles (23 km) west of Manchester Victoria with regular Northern Rail services to these towns as well as Salford, Swinton and Hindley, with onward trains to Kirkby and Southport.
Due to considerable housing development in the area, it is now a well-used commuter station and (according to official Strategic Rail Authority figures) has vied (with Atherton and Walkden) for the position of the most used station on the line. In 2005-2006 this second place was "awarded" to Walkden station, and this continued with the new figures (from 2007-8, released March 2008). Given the latest figures (2010/11) Daisy Hill is "catching up" again. The slight drop in usage in 2006-7 may be due to statistical correction rather than genuine decline. A substantial increase in usage (2008–2009, see SRA figures right) was reported. Part of this was explained in the SRA notes as an attempt more accurately to include local (transport executive) tickets.
An interesting aspect of Daisy Hill station is that, even when in the 1970s the service was sporadic, the station was fully staffed. This continued until recent times. Until 2008, Daisy Hill station (unlike the then more frequently used next station of Hindley and the stations of many other major towns and even cities in Britain) was continuously staffed from before the first train to after the last – just over 18 hours. Since 2008, however, the station ticket office has closed at 7.25pm (having opened at 6.25am). This is still a longer period of staffing than many other stations in the United Kingdom. The town's other station (Westhoughton railway station) which, until recently enjoyed an even greater patronage, has been unstaffed since 1974.
Read more about Daisy Hill Railway Station: History, Location and Facilities, The Future, Service
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