- From
- The railway platforms in The Station, between Terminals 2 and 3 — about 10 minutes' walk from Terminal 2 and 5 from Terminal 3; ticket machines in baggage reclaim and at the station, ticket office 06:30 to 22:30
- To
- Manchester Piccadilly, direct; some trains run on to Manchester Oxford Road, Deansgate, Salford Crescent and Manchester Victoria
- Runs
- 03:21–02:28
- Journey
- 13–20 min
The Bee Network tap does not work on this train — it covers only Greater Manchester's buses and trams. Buy a ticket instead.
It is £1.60 more than the tram and £4.20 more than the bus, and it saves 36 minutes on the tram and about 50 on the daytime bus. At 16 minutes it is the fastest thing on this page by a distance.
Advertised "from" prices are not the walk-up fare: Northern's £3.90 needs booking 9 weeks ahead, TPE's £5.70 is its cheapest Advance, and Advance fares tie you to one specific train. A flight is not a train, so book the walk-up fare instead.
It runs through the night on weekdays: trains at 00:38, 01:14, 01:50 and 02:28 on Tuesday to Saturday mornings, then the day's first at 03:21 — the longest gap is 53 minutes. The airport's own page prints different times (first 04:12, last 01:34); go by the timetable's 03:21 and 02:28.
The gap is the weekend. Saturday's last train is 23:46 and Sunday's first 07:37 (07:20 from 15 November); Sunday night has one train at 00:38 and then nothing until 03:59. The 43 covers both.
A ticket bought to "Manchester CTLZ" rather than to Piccadilly includes the Metrolink in zone 1, so St Peter's Square, Deansgate-Castlefield, Market Street and Victoria come free with it.
Up to eight trains an hour by day, unevenly spaced — three operators share the line — so a wait is rarely more than ten minutes. The airport says "every 10 minutes"; Northern's "every 23 minutes" counts its own trains only.
Train to Piccadilly: price for every party size
Check times and fares with National Rail