It is largely used by commuters entering Manchester from surrounding suburbs and cities, but is also one of the main railway lines in the North West and is utilised by TransPennine Express regional services and to Scotland.

The line cuts through the western suburbs of Bolton including Lostock, where trains to Wigan Wallgate via Westhoughton, branch off.

It then proceeds through the town of Adlington and on to Chorley, passing through Buckshaw Parkway, which opened in 2011 and finally joins the West Coast Main Line at Euxton Junction before continuing via Leyland to Preston.

[6] TransPennine Express (TPX) used to operate the semi-fast Manchester Airport to Blackpool North, Barrow-in-Furness and Windermere services prior to the 2016 franchise change.

These were temporarily diverted to via Wigan North Western and Chat Moss but resumed in May 2019 after the completion of the electrification of this line.

Class 185 trains were the most frequent units on the line: working for First TransPennine Express to Blackpool North, Barrow-in-Furness and Windermere.

Work on 25 kV OHL electrification of the line began in May 2015 and has included numerous bridgeworks plus the major undertaking of the re-boring of Farnworth Tunnel.

[8] Breakthrough was achieved in late, rather than early October, due to loose sand delaying the work in August; the first trains running through the new twin track bore on Monday 14 December 2015.

[9] This was attributed to difficult ground conditions including hard rock and running sand resulting from old mine workings.