Liverpool Central railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Liverpool Central | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Liverpool |
| Local authority | Liverpool |
| Operations | |
| Station code | LVC |
| Managed by | Merseyrail |
| Platforms in use | 3 |
| Annual entry/exit 04/05 | 0.982 million ** |
| Passenger Transport Executive | |
| PTE | Merseytravel |
| Zone | C/E |
| History | |
| 2 March 1874 11 January 1892 17 April 1972 28 July 1975 9 May 1977 |
Opened (High Level) Opened (Low Level) Closed (High Level) Closed (Low Level) Reopened (Low Level) |
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |
| ** based on sales of tickets in 2004/05 financial year which end or originate at Liverpool Central. Disclaimer (PDF) | |
Liverpool Central railway station is a railway station in Liverpool, England, and forms the central hub of the Merseyrail network, being on both the Northern Line and the Wirral Line.
Liverpool Central is one of six stations on the Merseyrail network to incorporate automatic ticket barriers. The main concourse is part of a shopping centre.
Contents |
[edit] History
The original station (which was above ground), opened on 2nd March 1874, at the end of the Cheshire Lines Committee CLC line to Manchester Central. It replaced Brunswick station as the CLC's terminus, and became the headquarters of the committee. The 3 story building fronted Ranelagh Street in the city centre, with a 65 feet high, arched shed behind. There were 6 platforms within the station, offering journeys to Manchester Central (in 45 mins; making the route the quickest and most direct), London St. Pancras, Hull, Harwich, Stockport Tiviot Dale, Southport Lord Street and an alternative route to that of the Midland Railway terminating at London Marylebone. On 11th January 1892 Liverpool Central Low Level station opened, at the end of the Mersey Railway's route, via the Mersey Railway Tunnel from Birkenhead, when their route was extended from James Street. The Mersey Railway platforms were underground, accessed from stairs within the High Level station (They were situated in roughly the same position as the escalators accessing the Merseyrail Northern Line today.
The station was always busy, up until nationalisation, but as with many other stations in the UK, fell victim to the Beeching Axe, as the routes served could be taken from nearby Liverpool Lime Street. In 1966, most services on the CLC route were diverted to Liverpool Lime Street via the Allerton Curve, leaving only a dozen trains per day to and from Gateacre. These final services were withdrawn on the 17th April 1972 and the High Level station was later demolished, after having served little time as a car park. However, the Low Level platforms remained open. The station's demolition was unfortunate, as the large trainshed could have possibly have been developed into something of similar use, to that of the GMEX in Manchester, which had been the Cheshire Lines Committee's Manchester Central up until 1969.
In the 1970s, the Merseyrail network in Liverpool city centre was expanded considerably. A new loop line was built for Wirral Line trains, linking James Street with Moorfields, Lime Street, Liverpool Central and returning to James Street. A new deep-level underground platform was built at Liverpool Central as part of this. Meanwhile, the former CLC route was connected to the Mersey Railway platforms, and another new tunnel allowed trains to continue northwards via Moorfields to the lines from Liverpool Exchange, which was closed in 1977. This route then became the Merseyrail Northern Line. The rebuilt station opened in 1977.
In the original 1970s plan, southbound trains would have continued to Warrington and Manchester; however, services terminated at Garston (but were later extended to Hunts Cross). At the same time, works to allow the Merseyrail Northern Line to be connected to the Victoria Tunnel were put in place, but were later abandoned. This would have allowed trains to operate to St Helens.
On 26 October 2005 a Wirral Line train derailed on the approach to Liverpool Central en route from Liverpool Lime Street. [1] There were no serious injuries; however, the design of the Liverpool Loop meant that all Wirral Line services through the Loop were suspended for the remainder of the week, terminating at James Street.
At present, there are plans to develop the car park behind Central Station (bounded by the rear of the station, Cropper Street, Newington and Bold Street) into Central Village. The 'village' will consist of a high rise tower for residential & business use, retail outlets, bars & restaurants and will also have a canal running the length of Bold Street. Planning has just been granted to develop this area, which has been relatively derelict since the demolition of the High Level Station in the 1970's.
The station has approximately 1 million "exits and entrances" per annum according to ORR statistics: however this excludes 2 million "interchanges" plus all passengers using Merseyside PTE season tickets and day rover tickets.
[edit] Facilities
At street level is a newsagent, toilets and ticket office. Escalators and lifts lead to the 2 Northern Line platforms and the deep-level Wirral Line platform.
[edit] Services
On the Northern Line, trains run every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to each of Southport, Ormskirk, Kirkby and Hunts Cross. Trains from Hunts Cross continue through to Southport and vice versa; Ormskirk and Kirkby trains terminate at Liverpool Central. During the evenings, trains between Southport and Hunts Cross continue to run every 15 minutes, but on the other branches, the service is reduced to every 30 minutes. On Sundays services are every 30 minutes on all lines (with extra trains to Southport during the summer months).
On the Wirral Line, run every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to each of New Brighton, West Kirby and Hooton. From Hooton, trains continue every 30 minutes to either Chester or Ellesmere Port. These services give a combined frequency of five minutes via James Street and through the Mersey Railway Tunnel to Hamilton Square station in Birkenhead. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes to each of the four destinations.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Train times and station information for Liverpool Central railway station from National Rail
- Map and aerial photo of Liverpool Central railway station from Multimap.com
- Station information from Merseyrail
- History of Central station
- Report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch into 26 October 2005 derailment. (PDF format)
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brunswick | Merseyrail Northern Line Hunts Cross-Southport |
Moorfields | ||
| Terminus | Merseyrail Northern Line Liverpool Central-Kirkby/ Liverpool Central-Ormskirk |
Moorfields | ||
| Liverpool Lime Street | Merseyrail Wirral Line |
James Street | ||
| Merseyrail Northern Line Stations | |
|---|---|
| Hunts Cross – Southport Branch | |
| Hunts Cross Liverpool South Parkway Cressington Aigburth St Michaels Brunswick Liverpool Central Moorfields Sandhills Bank Hall Bootle Oriel Road Bootle New Strand Seaforth & Litherland Waterloo Blundellsands & Crosby Hall Road Hightown Formby Freshfield Ainsdale Hillside Birkdale Southport |
|
| Ormskirk Branch | |
| Liverpool Central Moorfields Sandhills Kirkdale Walton Orrell Park Aintree Old Roan Maghull Town Green Aughton Park Ormskirk |
|
| Kirkby Branch | |
| Liverpool Central Moorfields Sandhills Kirkdale Rice Lane Fazakerley Kirkby | |
| Merseyrail Wirral Line Stations | |
|---|---|
| New Brighton Branch: | New Brighton Wallasey Grove Road Wallasey Village |
| West Kirby Branch: | West Kirby Hoylake Manor Road Meols Moreton Leasowe Bidston |
| Northern Branch: | Birkenhead North Birkenhead Park Conway Park |
| Liverpool Loop: | Hamilton Square James Street Moorfields Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Central |
| Southern Branch: | Birkenhead Central Green Lane Rock Ferry Bebington Port Sunlight Spital Bromborough Rake Bromborough Eastham Rake Hooton |
| Chester Branch: | Capenhurst Bache Chester |
| Ellesmere Port Branch: | Little Sutton Overpool Ellesmere Port |
