Rail services are operated by Northern Trains. Horwich Parkway opened on 2 July 1999. It is the only railway station owned and managed by TfGM. A ticket office was built in 2007 and car parking provision has been expanded on several occasions. A wind turbine was built in 2012 and the station is powered by green energy. Horwich Parkway is the railway station for the University of Bolton Stadium, home of Bolton Wanderers F.C. and the Middlebrook shopping, leisure and business complex.
The station has a ticket office on Platform 1, which is open Monday-Saturday 06:20-19:35. A ticket vending machine is in place for purchase of tickets or promise to pay coupons when the ticket office is closed and for the collection of pre-paid tickets. Digital station information boards are in operation on both platforms. Car parking is available adjacent to the ticket office.
The delayed electrification work on the Manchester to Preston line (running two years behind schedule) led to a temporary reduction in service frequency here from the start of the summer 2018 timetable, along with regular weekend engineering blockades and replacement buses in place of the scheduled train service.[2] Weekend services resumed on Sunday 11 November 2018 after the completion of the engineering work after more than three years of regular weekend possessions.