Bolton Railway Station

It’s moving down (quite rightly so as giving it a 5 star initially was pretty ridiculous), but it’s moving down because of the halt in development and the bloody café that’s always closed!
Other than that it’s still a great commuting station with access to pretty much anywhere you could be hoping to go!

Beginning my journey here before getting train to Manchester Airport.
There’s parking down the side of the station for drop offs.
The ticket office staff where very chatty and even cracked the odd joke.
The station was rammed full of travelling football supporters, but everyone was in good spirits.
Platforms are clean and well signed.
There’s a secure entry cycle hub to lock your pride n joy up in. Log onto
to get your pass code.
There isn’t a coffee shop or snack bar here though, this needs addressing.

Bolton Railway Station, is what it says of the tin, it is the main, central train station in Bolton, with connections into Manchester (Airport /​Victoria /​Piccadily), Blackpool, Preston and Clitheroe and that’s about it. It only has 4 platforms too, so it doesn’t have a full list of places.
Despite being in a reasonably large city, Bolton in many ways still acts as a more local train station to Manchester, on which it is 20 – 25 minutes away on a Northern rail train, and then 18 minutes away from Wigan Wallgate in the opposite directions. It mainly only serves local towns and cities, smaller towns and cities mainly, such as Blackpool and Wigan, with the main exception being Manchester.
This station is run and managed by Northern Rail, the staff here and on my trains seemed nice, friendly and well prepared.
My train didn’t seem to get delayed too much (Finally — A northern train not really delayed!) so I can’t really comment too much on how they handle delays today.
Bolton Station is set to become more of a «better» station to visit with more locations added, such as being added on a connection to London Euston via the end of 2016 with Virgin Trains.
They isn’t really many places in the station, and you’d probably be best getting any pre-​travel food and drink from nearby supermarkets — Morrisons and Sainsbury’s are all within walking distance from here, as well as Bolton city center.
For a train station, it is merely average, but still slightly below average and in my opinion I feel it only deserves 2 stars, this is one of the many cases I’d love to give 2.5 stars but sadly I’m forced to «downgrade» to a 2, as it does not yet prove to me to be worthy of anything higher.

As I’ve said with many a review of train stations, it’s merely a means to another transportation system so it’s not going to über cool and hip. It’s a train station. But saying that we are getting better at making things better so…
Anyway Bolton, Four platforms, mainly used to reach the following three stations (areas)
Preston
Manchester (Victoria /​Piccadilly and the airport)
West Yorkshire (Huddersfield)
Within it’s ticket hall there are three human counters and two automatic DIY ticket machines. (normally the one on the left is bust)
Never have I ever seem the concourse down to the platform without at least two members of northern rail /​G4S checking tickets .
The platforms are quite open and in winter and even a breezy summers day can get you and your bits a tad cold!
There are no mainstream railway shops such as upper crust, but on platform 3 there is a private railway café type establishment ! So if your on platform 4 for any train going north ish then you have a vending machine so your pick so that’s quite poor!
Other than this niggle it’s a train station. There is a good presence of staff at night so it’s ok normally!
Happy train travel :-)

The layout of this station is a bit stupid. Trains start halfway down each platform and the platforms are a trek, yes… even though its cold up here in the north, you still need a cold bottle of water to hydrate you for the epic walk to the platform. Trains are more or less delayed every evening. Staff are not very pleasant and are in their own world. This station generally hosts one ticket machine and one ticket position is only opened at any one time. It would be in your favour to arrive 10−15mins before your train departs just for the mere fact that you will probably have to queue to get a ticket, the platforms are nowhere in sight, and the train might surprise you and turn up early for once.

yes, not what you expect from a University town/​city commute station but it is trying to improve with its recent refurbishment. i am sure that if they were to turn it more into a shopping environment like Piccadilly Station + create a good link/​transition into town centre, uni’s, etc that it will improve even more!

What can I say about Bolton Train Station that hasn’t already been stated by the superb Sam R? He absolutely sums it up with his description of the ‘strangely long walk from the platform up to the exit of the station’. As I said to one Chris M whom I was meeting at the entrance via the technological wonderment of mobile phone, ‘It takes so long to get out of here!’
Bolton’s a weird town as it seems to be divided up into sections of civilisation, bordered by nothingness. Kind of like LA with Old Man Pubs and the occasional Greenhalgh Bakery. It’s conveniently placed however, as there’s a bus station right outside to connect you to wherever you need be, and the trains go to and fro between Manchester and here at least thrice an hour on a Sunday which isn’t bad. Plus you’re mere minutes away from one of Bolton’s great attractions… a statue of Fred Dibnah. Rock n’ roll.
I was somewhat surprised when I walked out of the station, coming from security-​airtight Manchester, that I wandered past with only a brief glance from the tickety peeps, no request for a showing or anything. There was a massively awkward moment where I looked back at them, lingered, gave them an earnest gaze which was intended to mean that I hadn’t deliberately breezed by and tried to get to this li’l township for free… nothing.
Clearly Greater Manchester’s a tad more relaxed. Or just blissfully unaware.

What reviews say about Bolton station are very true.
I have an unsual memory of Bolton Station.
Got on train at Chorley return ticket to Horwich.
Told which train to get on by staion attendant.
Fantasic, train went flying past Horwich and had to get off at Bolton.
So all in all around a 15 minute stop over on a Bolton Platform.
Was very Ghost Town like at least for that 15 minutes.
And I’m sure that the attendant I spoke to on there was Boris Karloff.
All I needed was a fog machine.

Well one thing is for sure, that there is no other train station in the whole UK that could be compared to this one. Staff at the cashiers: one or two very professional, the others rude and are taking their time while there is no separate cahier for those eager to catch the train. Staff at inspection: very rude, not even looking at the tickets, having massive breaks altogether, laughing and joking with each other while if someone is in rush to catch the train, they won’t leave him/​her pass and will cause a chaos while checking the tickets (again on their own time) while people are in a hurry. Station: not clean, not functional, trains coming with more than 20minutes delay, people stuffed in a train like animals… come on! it’s like living in a developing country! Early in the morning during winter, we had to wait in the cold to get a ticket from the small trailer outside the station while the ticket-​machine is not working most of the times. Is this England??? really??? The tickets are getting more and more expensive. and the reason? better buildings? better staff? I can’t see what is getting better here. the staff confront the public as if they are doing a favor! Do something! New buildings cannot replace incompetence I am afraid!

If you’re arriving in Bolton from Manchester, be prepared for a strangely long walk from the platform up to the exit of the station.
Once you’ve made the slightly annoying hundred-​yard walk, you’ll find that Bolton train station is right by the centre of town. It only takes a couple of minutes before you’re amongst the main high street and shops.
The entrance to the station is slightly faded, but based on the platforms themselves this train station is actually quite a pleasant place. If you’re travelling into the depths of Bolton, then the buses go from right outside the front entrance of the station.

The train station at Bolton leaves something to be desired. The toilet facilities are a disgrace so I never use them. I do believe though that there are to be improvements to be made sometime soon. The staffs are helpful. There is a lift which is handy for those with prams or disabled. There is a small kiosk selling confectionary and a small amount of magazines and newspapers. On the platforms there are some waiting rooms but these are smelly and dirty. There is also a café but I can’t comment on the food as I have never been in there.

Let’s start with the positives. The staff are generally friendly and helpful; the location is good — right in the middle of town, with ready access to the bus station etc; and they’ve spent a bit of money on the bus station with the result that it’s not too bad a place to use. However, the station itself seems pretty sorry for itself and would benefit from a major face-​lift. And the biggest draw-​back of all is that the trains stop a long way from the ticket office and the bridge between the platforms. This means that changing trains takes ages — you’ve probably got nearly quarter of a mile to walk if you’ve got to change platforms. Allow a lot more than the publicised 5 minutes if this applies to you or better still, avoid the station altogether.