Both the Main Line and the Styal Line were electrified in 1959 as part of the West Coast Main Line electrification and modernisation programme with the construction and installation of a state of the artsignal box and control centre near the end of the Styal Line down platform at Wilmslow and serving virtually the entire railway from Crewe to Manchester via both routes. The complexity of that installation was not repeated for the remainder of the electrification scheme, which had its control and signalling systems renewed in ways that were less highly automated. In March 1997, the Provisional IRA exploded two bombs in relay boxes near this signal box, causing disruption to rail and road services. The railway reopened the following day. In April 2006, as part of the total renewal of the railway from Crewe to near Stockport, the large 1959 signal box was demolished. Large-scale resignalling of the line through Wilmslow was completed behind schedule in the Autumn of 2006.
Services
Monday to Saturday, there are five trains per hour northbound with Avanti West Coast, Northern Trains and Transport for Wales services stopping at Wilmslow en route to. One Northern Trains service operates via , the remainder all run via. Since May 2018, some Northern Trains services run beyond Piccadilly to either Liverpool Lime Street via or via. Southbound Monday to Saturdays there are four trains per hour to. These consist of two Northern Trains trains per hour that terminate at , an hourly Transport for Wales fast service that continues via to, and West Wales and an hourly bound Avanti West Coastexpress service. There is also one local Northern Trains train per hour that terminates at. A small number of CrossCountry services stop at Wilmslow on the route between and during peak times. On Sundays, there are hourly main line services to South Wales and London but the local routes run less frequently i.e. two trains per hour to - one via and one via continuing to via Chat Moss. Southbound there is an hourly local stopping service to. The service from terminates here.
Future high speed services
The economic case for High Speed 2 Phase 1 includes one train per hour each way stopping at Wilmslow, travelling between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly.