Manchester Victoria Station is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop in Manchester city centre. It lies to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral and is adjoined to the Manchester Arena, which was constructed on part of the former station site in the 1990s. First opened in 1844, Victoria is Manchester’s third busiest railway station after Piccadilly and Oxford Road, and the second busiest station managed by Northern after Oxford Road.

The station hosts local and regional services to destinations in Northern England, such as Rochdale, Bradford, Leeds, Newcastle, Huddersfield, Wigan, Southport, Blackpool and Liverpool using the original Liverpool to Manchester line. Most trains calling at Victoria are operated by Northern, except for TransPennine Express services from Liverpool to Newcastle and during engineering works, when some trains are diverted from Piccadilly.

Manchester Victoria is a major interchange for the Metrolink light rail system. Several former railway lines into the station have been converted to tram operation. The line to Bury was converted in the early 1990s in the first phase of Metrolink construction and the line through Oldham to Rochdale was converted during 2009–2014. Trams switch to on-street running when they emerge from Victoria Station and continue southwards through the city centre to Piccadilly or Deansgate-Castlefield.

In 2009, Victoria was voted the worst category B interchange station in the United Kingdom. The station underwent a two-year £44 million modernisation programme which was completed in August 2015. Renovation entailed electrification of lines through the station, renewed Metrolink stop with an additional platform, restoration of listed features, upgraded retail units, and a new roof. In the Northern Hub proposals, Victoria will become the rail hub for trans-Pennine services when the Ordsall Chord is completed in 2018, and passenger numbers are expected to rise to 12 million when the station serves more destinations.

The photographs were taken on a walkabout in and around Manchester’s Victoria Station in July 2017.