Liverpool South Parkway railway station

Liverpool South Parkway station is a railway station and bus interchange in the Garston district of Liverpool, England. It serves, via a bus link, Liverpool John Lennon Airport in the neighbouring suburb of Speke.

The station is located towards the southern end of Merseyrail's Northern Line and on the junction of two main lines: the City Line from Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington and the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line to London via Crewe.

Allerton Traction Maintenance Depot is situated to the immediate east of the station.

History

The station was built to improve public transport access to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, and also to provide new journey opportunities for rail passengers in south Liverpool by allowing easy interchange between Northern Line, City Line and West Coast Main Line services. Proposals for the station, originally called Allerton Interchange, existed as far back as 1999, but it was not until 2004 that construction began.

The main line platforms at Liverpool South Parkway are on the site of the former Allerton station, which closed in 2005 to allow the required rebuilding work to take place. The Northern Line platforms are completely new, replacing a station at Garston which was slightly further west of the current station. The concourse, bus station and car park are built on land that was once the home of South Liverpool F.C.

At the time of opening, the City Line service (which had been hourly at the former Allerton station) was increased to half-hourly. The station also became an additional stop on the Liverpool-Birmingham service (then operated by Central Trains). Then, from 11 December 2006, the Monday-Saturday evening service on the Northern Line was increased to run every 15 minutes, instead of half-hourly as previously.

Initially, many long-distance services omitted Liverpool South Parkway from their timetables, but more train services were gradually introduced. In December 2008 the Birmingham service was doubled in frequency,^[1] and East Midlands Trains services began calling at the station.^[2]

In December 2010 a further service was introduced, when First Transpennine Express services added the station as an extra stop on their services from Liverpool to York and Scarborough.

In May 2011, Blackpool North services which used to operate from Lime Street have now been extended to start and terminate at Liverpool South Parkway. The service is operated by Northern Rail and does not call at stations between South Parkway and Lime Street. The service from Lime Street is unchanged. Trains travelling from Blackpool North to Liverpool South Parkway have a 15 minute dwelling time at Liverpool Lime Street.

Features

• 6 platforms (four high-level platforms on the West Coast Main Line and a further two on the Northern Line)
• A 5-stand bus station for local bus services.
• A 16-space taxi rank.
• Provision for a proposed extension of the now-shelved Merseytram system towards the airport.
• A 240-space car park for use as a Park and Ride facility.
• Storage facilities for 65 bicycles.
• A café and adjacent passenger lounge with wifi.

The station has been designed to use environmentally-friendly techniques wherever possible. Some of the building's electricity is provided by Photovoltaic cells. A 700,000 litre rainwater harvesting system has also been installed to reduce the use of mains water. This water will be used for cleaning and washing, as well as toilet flushes. All timber used has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as being from a well-managed forest. The roof is made from recycled aluminium instead of virgin materials.^[3] The automatic doors at each of the five bus stances open only when a bus arrives, enhancing safety but also retaining heat within the building and avoiding excessive openings of the doors. The free-access main entrance uses a revolving door to avoid draughts.

In August 2006, Liverpool South Parkway won the Innovation Award at Network Rail's annual Environment Awards.^[4]

In June 2009 the station underwent some enhancements, and saw the introduction of a new travel centre and a heated passenger lounge with wifi internet access, comfortable chairs and free newspapers, adjacent to the café; ticket barriers at both ends of the concourse were also installed.

Services

On the Northern Line (Platforms 5 and 6), trains run every 15 minutes, Monday to Saturday, to Southport via Liverpool Central, with a half-hourly service on Sundays.

On the high-level platforms (1 and 2), Northern Rail provide two trains per hour in each direction on the City Line between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Oxford Road. On Sundays an hourly service operates.

The East Midlands Trains service from Liverpool to Nottingham and Norwich) serves the station hourly.

All London Midland services from Liverpool to Birmingham New Street call at Liverpool South Parkway. The service runs half-hourly Monday to Saturday, and hourly on Sundays. Since East Midlands Trains started calling, platform 3 is used for one of the Birmingham services, and the other uses platform 1.

First TransPennine Express services from Liverpool call at the station as of 12 December 2010 (2010 -12-12)^[update]. Most services continue to York and Scarborough via Leeds. Selected services also travel to Hull, Middlesbrough and Newcastle

Platform 4 is used for Northern Rail services to Blackpool North.

Virgin Trains services to London Euston do not serve the station and there are no plans to do so in the near future. The platforms are not long enough to accommodate Virgin's Pendolino trains, and the location of this station, with a bridge at the north end and Allerton Junction at the south end, makes platform extension difficult.

Bus services run from the station to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Aigburth, Dingle, Mossley Hill and Liverpool City Centre. Services are operated by Arriva North West, Stagecoach Merseyside and Supertravel.

A dedicated airport shuttle bus, route 501, operates from the station to the airport every 20 minutes, Monday to Saturday daytimes only. In the evenings and on Sundays, passengers must instead use local services 80A and 86A for transfer to/from the airport.^[5] Combined bus-rail tickets are available for rail passengers wishing to travel to the airport.^[3]

From December 2011 low cost coach operator Gorilla Bus will run direct services between Liverpool South Parkway and Carlisle, Hamilton, Glasgow, Knutsford, East Midlands Airport and Meadowhall including overnight services.^[6]

Criticism

Originally scheduled to open in December 2005, the project fell behind schedule, and finally opened on 11 June 2006. The construction cost, originally estimated to be £16 million, had doubled to £32 million by the time construction was completed. Merseytravel rejected criticism of the delays and cost increase, stating that it had been caused by factors beyond its control, such as the collapse of Railtrack, increasing steel costs and poor weather causing flooding at the construction site.^[7]

Tom Wileman, regional director of bus operator Stagecoach, described Liverpool South Parkway as a "white elephant".^[8] However, from 28 September 2008 Stagecoach service 82 was rerouted to serve the station;^[9] and from December 2008, trains operated by Stagecoach-owned East Midlands Trains began calling there.

The station does have cash machines, but there are no ticket machines at the station.

Future

Merseytravel have stated that they aim to work with the train operators to improve the train service at Liverpool South Parkway, introducing new services with each twice-yearly timetable change.

From 23rd May 2011, Northern Rail introduced direct services to Blackpool North. This was achieved by extending the existing Blackpool to Liverpool service. Trains run non-stop from Liverpool South Parkway to Liverpool Lime Street, where they will reverse to continue their journey to Blackpool. Seven trains per day will operate Monday-Saturday, all outside the peaks with no direct evening or Sunday service.^[10]

Other new services which have been proposed but not confirmed are:

• Additional shuttle services between Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street on the City Line
• More frequent Sunday services on the Northern Line
• Services to Chester and North Wales. This would require upgrading of the Halton Curve to accommodate bidirectional working and is a long-term project.

Proposals for High Speed 2 raise the possibility of London trains calling at Liverpool South Parkway. This could be as part of the new high speed service to Liverpool or as part of a revised stopping pattern on the existing West Coast Main Line service.^[11]

On TV and film

The scenes ending the long-running John Paul/Craig storyline in the soap opera Hollyoaks, which aired in September 2008, were filmed at Liverpool South Parkway. The scenes were broadcast on Channel 4 on 19 September 2008.^[12]

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Liverpool South Parkway railway station from National Rail
• Station information from Merseyrail
• Maria Eagle MP visits Liverpool South Parkway (April 2005)
• Merseyside Merger (Contract Journal - 01/09/05)
• Engineer's baby nearing delivery (icLiverpool - 06/09/05)
• Article from Merseytravel web site announcing the opening date
• Merseytravel announce that Merseyrail Electrics will operate the new station