Newton-le-Willows railway station

Newton-le-Willows
Newton-le-Willows railway station
Location
Place	Newton-le-Willows
Local authority	St Helens
Coordinates	53°27′11″N 2°36′50″W / 53.453°N 2.614°W / 53.453; -2.614Coordinates: 53°27′11″N 2°36′50″W / 53.453°N 2.614°W / 53.453; -2.614
Grid reference	SJ593953
Operations
Station code	NLW
Managed by	Northern Rail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.274 million
2005/06	0.318 million
2006/07	0.343 million
2007/08	0.361 million
2008/09	0.554 million
2009/10	0.594 million
2010/11	0.645 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Merseytravel
Zone	A1
History
Original company	London and North Western Railway
Pre-grouping	London and North Western Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
1861	Opened as Earlestown
June 1868	Renamed Newton Bridge
14 June 1888	Renamed Newton-le-Willows
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Newton-le-Willows from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Newton-le-Willows railway station is a railway station in the town of Newton-le-Willows, in the borough of St Helens in the north-west of England, and at the edge of the Merseytravel region. It is situated on the northern route of the Liverpool to Manchester Line, the former Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. It is a busy feeder station for nearby towns which no longer have railway stations, such as Golborne, Billinge and Haydock. There is also a bus shuttle service to Haydock Park Racecourse on race weekends.

History

The station was opened in 1861, and was originally named Earlestown. It was renamed twice: to Newton Bridge in June 1868, and to the present name of Newton-le-Willows on 14 June 1888.^[1]

Relocation proposal

There have been proposals to move the station eastwards, due to the poor accessibility of the approach roads and very limited parking, to a site possibly near the M6. However, this could cause some political issues, as it may place the station partially over the Merseyside border into the GMPTE area. Some benefits of this though, would be an opportunity to create a substantial interchange with the West Coast Main Line which passes just east of the existing station, and a large park and ride, reducing car traffic into both Liverpool, Warrington and Manchester. The proposed plans were scrapped in June 2009.^[2]

Electrification

The line through the station was electrified in 1973 as part of the WCML work, and the station was served by electrically-hauled mail trains, but no regularly scheduled electric passenger trains have called here (the section via the curve to Lowton & Golbourn on the main line and along to Earlestown has only been used for occasional diversions). This is set to change when the remaining sections of the L&M main line (from here to Castlefield Jcn & Manchester Victoria and Earlestown to Edge Hill) have their electrification work completed in 2013/4.^[3] Local trains over the route between the two cities can then be electrically worked, along with longer distance services - most likely to Leeds, York, Teesside and Newcastle once the main line via Huddersfield is electrified in 2016 (though Liverpool to Scotland trains over the WCML could potentially operate via this route as they did back in the 1970s and 80s). It is not yet clear as to whether any long distance trains will actually call here though when they do start running over this route again.

Services

Northern Rail operate an hourly fast train service between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Airport via Manchester Piccadilly, and also an hourly all-stations service between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Victoria, usually extended to Stalybridge (or beyond at peak times), which both call at Newton-le-Willows. The station is also served by Arriva Trains Wales services from the North Wales Coast Line and Chester to Manchester Piccadilly, and a few services from Wigan North Western to Liverpool Lime Street at peak times. Also if the southern Warrington line is closed due to engineering works, diverted TransPennine Express and East Midlands Trains services stop here (with an onward Rail Replacement bus to Warrington Central).

Gallery

• 

  The station building from the roadside.

• 

  An Arriva Trains Wales Class 175 waits at the station.

• 

  A Northern Rail Class 156 waits at the station.

• 

  The view along platform 2.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Newton-le-Willows railway station.

• Train times and station information for Newton-le-Willows railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Manchester Oxford Road		Arriva Trains Wales Chester to Manchester Line		Earlestown
Patricroft Eccles on Sundays		Northern Rail Liverpool to Manchester Line (Northern Route)		Earlestown
Manchester Oxford Road		Northern Rail Liverpool to Manchester Airport Line		St Helens Junction
	Historical railways
Earlestown Line and station open		London and North Western Railway		Lowton Line open, station closed
				Parkside Line open, station closed