Current passenger routes

Trains running north-west serve Manchester Piccadilly; some continue on to Manchester Oxford Road and beyond to Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Central. There are no longer regular services from here to Bolton and points north (passengers should change at Piccadilly or Manchester Oxford Road).

South-east from Stockport, express services run to Sheffield and onwards to Cleethorpes, Nottingham and Norwich with local services running to Hazel Grove and Buxton.

The two southbound West Coast Main Line routes run via Cheadle Hulme. One continues via Macclesfield and Stoke-on-Trent to Birmingham New Street and London; the other via Wilmslow and Crewe for through services to London and Birmingham and via Shrewsbury and the Welsh Marches Line to Cardiff, Carmarthen, Pembroke Dock and Milford Haven. Trains to Birmingham continue to destinations in the south of England such as Bournemouth via Reading and Bristol Temple Meads.

The Mid-Cheshire Line runs hourly westbound through Altrincham, Knutsford, Northwich to Chester.

The Stockport to Stalybridge Line, via Guide Bridge, no longer has a regular passenger service. It was reduced from an hourly shuttle service to a once a week, one direction only skeleton service in the early 1990s. It now has two services a week, one in each direction on Saturday mornings.

The main concourse opened in September 2004 in a development that included a new platform (platform 0) that only became fully operational at the beginning of March 2008. A pedestrian subway leads to the island platforms, which have a buffet and newsagent.

The Monday–Saturday off-peak service pattern in trains per hour (tph) is:

Avanti West Coast

• 3 tph to Manchester Piccadilly
• 3 tph to London Euston:
  • 1 tph calling at Macclesfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Rugby and Milton Keynes Central
  • 1 tph calling at Stoke-on-Trent and Nuneaton
  • 1 tph calling at Wilmslow, Crewe and Stafford^[5]

CrossCountry

• 2 tph to Manchester Piccadilly
• 1 tph to Bournemouth via Macclesfield, Birmingham New Street and Reading
• 1 tph to Bristol Temple Meads via Macclesfield and Birmingham New Street
  • 2tpd extend from Bristol T.M. to Paignton via Exeter St Davids.^[6]

East Midlands Railway

• 1 tph to Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Central
• 1 tph to Norwich via Sheffield and Nottingham^[7]

TransPennine Express

• 1 tph to Cleethorpes
• 1 tph to Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Central^[8]

Transport for Wales Rail

• 1 tph to Manchester Piccadilly
• 1 tph to Carmarthen/Milford Haven via Shrewsbury and Cardiff Central^[9]

Northern Trains

• 6 tph to Manchester Piccadilly
• 1 tph to Alderley Edge
• 1 tph to Crewe^[10]
• 1 tph to Hazel Grove
• 1 tph to Buxton
• 1 tph to Chester
• 1 tph to Stoke-on-Trent^[11]
• 1 train per week on Saturday to Stalybridge, via Reddish South, Denton and Guide Bridge.^[12]

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Macclesfield		Avanti West Coast West Coast Main Line		Manchester Piccadilly
Stoke-on-Trent
Wilmslow
Wilmslow		Transport for Wales Rail Welsh Marches Line
Macclesfield		CrossCountry CrossCountry Network
Sheffield		East Midlands Railway Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich
Dore and Totley Limited service
Chinley Limited service
Hazel Grove Limited service
Sheffield		TransPennine Express South TransPennine
Dore & Totley Limited service
Navigation Road		Northern Trains Mid-Cheshire line
Cheadle Hulme		Northern Trains Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester Piccadilly
		Northern Trains Crewe–Manchester line		Heaton Chapel
				Manchester Piccadilly
Davenport		Northern Trains Buxton line		Heaton Chapel
Chinley		Northern Trains Hope Valley Line Limited service		Manchester Piccadilly
Hazel Grove
Terminus		Northern Trains Stockport–Stalybridge line Saturdays only		Reddish South
	Previous services
Congleton		CrossCountry Cross Country Network Peak Hours Only Monday-Saturday Only		Manchester Piccadilly

Platform use

Platform 0

Platforms 2 and 3

Platform 0 — Typically services to Hazel Grove, Buxton, Sheffield, Norwich, Nottingham and Cleethorpes (opened in 2003).

Platform 1 — southbound services to Macclesfield, Crewe, Stoke-on-Trent and Alderley Edge. It is also signalled for use by trains in the Manchester direction.

Platform 2 — southbound platform for services to Stoke-on-Trent, Chester, Crewe, Alderley Edge, services to South Wales, London, Bristol, Bournemouth, Paignton and Plymouth.

Platform 3 — mainly used by Fast services to Manchester Piccadilly along with services to Manchester Airport, Liverpool Lime Street, Blackpool North, Preston, Salford Crescent, Bolton, Wigan, Southport and Barrow-in-Furness.

Platform 3a — used by the weekly Parliamentary train from / to Stalybridge.

Platform 4 — mainly used by stopping services to Manchester Piccadilly along with services to Manchester Airport, Liverpool Lime Street, Blackpool North, Preston, Salford Crescent, Bolton, Wigan, Southport and Barrow-in-Furness.

Non-stopping trains

It has been claimed that Stockport viaduct was built on condition that all passenger trains using it were required to stop at Stockport station.^[13][14][15] Local MP Andrew Gwynne commissioned research into the issue and reported "Sadly no such Act of Parliament exists, although it is common currency in the town that it does. I made enquiries with the House of Commons Library and the Parliamentary Archives back at the time some intercity trains stopped using Stockport. It appears it is purely an urban myth."^[16]

Taxi

Passengers can board taxis from the taxi rank located immediately outside the station entrance.^[17]

Bus

The bus stops immediately outside the station were previously served by the Metroshuttle free bus service. This service was withdrawn in 2019,^[18] and as of 2020 the bus stops were only used by the infrequent service number 312^[19] and occasionally rail replacement buses.

The station is a short walk from Stockport bus station where most services can be accessed. As part of Transport for Greater Manchester's Stockport Interchange project, a new bridge to improve the walking route between the two facilities is planned to be built.^[20]

Passengers can also use the bus stops on the nearby Wellington Road which are well-served by services, especially the 192 between Manchester Piccadilly and Hazel Grove, that are mostly operated by Stagecoach Manchester.

Tram

An extension to the Metrolink line from East Didsbury to Stockport was planned in 2004 and the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive applied for powers to build it. The project came to a halt when the Big Bang extension was stopped due to the loss of potential funding.^[21] As a result, there is currently no tram interchange at Stockport station.

The proposed extension would have reused some of the former railway alignment, but some of it was built on or filled in after closure. This made re-opening more difficult and the proposed line would have included new infrastructure and street running sections to take it into Stockport. The line would have terminated at Stockport bus station.^[21]