Gatley station was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1909; it was first known as
Gatley for Cheadle, before being renamed
Gatley on 6 May 1974. When the
Styal line was electrified in 1960, there was a half-hourly electric service (Monday - Saturday) between and operated by
electric multiple units. Services were extended to , when the electrification was upgraded to
25 kV AC in 1971, and operated in this way until the line between Altrincham and Cornbrook Junction was transferred to
Manchester Metrolink in 1990. When station opened in 1993, the Monday to Saturday service pattern was two trains per hour to Manchester Piccadilly, with two trains per hour in the opposite direction: one to Manchester Airport and the other continued onto Crewe. Sunday services consisted of obe train per hour to Manchester Airport, with one service every two hours continuing to Alderley Edge and one to Manchester Piccadilly. Gatley station reopened on 28 January 2007, after reconstruction of the platforms and work to replace the ramp access to them. Electronic train service information screens were introduced in 2010 on each platform. In 2018,
Arriva Rail North introduced ticket machines, which are on the northbound platform and at the bottom of the ramp for the southbound platform. Work to extend the platforms at the station was completed in March 2023. ==Facilities==