Sandhills railway station

Sandhills
A Merseyrail Class 508 at the station in 2012.
Location
Place	Kirkdale
Local authority	Liverpool
Coordinates	53°25′48″N 2°59′30″W / 53.4300°N 2.9917°W / 53.4300; -2.9917Coordinates: 53°25′48″N 2°59′30″W / 53.4300°N 2.9917°W / 53.4300; -2.9917
Grid reference	SJ342930
Operations
Station code	SDL
Managed by	Merseyrail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.272 million
2005/06	0.314 million
2006/07	0.306 million
2007/08	0.208 million
2008/09	0.390 million
2009/10	0.446 million
2010/11	0.495 million
2011/12	0.501 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Merseytravel
Zone	C1
History
1850	Opened
2007	Closed for Refurbishment
2008	Reopened
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 Sandhills from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Sandhills railway station is a railway station in Kirkdale, Liverpool, England, located to the north of the city centre on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network.It was built by the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway Company and now stands at the junction between the branch to Southport and the branch to Ormskirk and Kirkby.

The two platforms form a single island, overlooking the River Mersey on one side, and the former industrial area of Commercial Road on the other. It is also used by football fans heading for Liverpool F.C. and Everton F.C. matches: a bus service called Soccerbus runs between the station and the football stadiums on match-days only.^[1]

Passengers have to walk up a ramp to reach the ticket office, then through a subway and up ramps to reach the platform

History

Sandhills opened in 1850 as an intermediate station when the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway was extended from its previous terminal at Waterloo to Liverpool Exchange. It became part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1904, who took over from the LCSR. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922 and in turn was Grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. Nationalisation followed in 1948 and in 1978 the station became part of the Merseyrail Network's Northern Line (operated by British Rail until privatised in 1995). The station had four wooden platforms until it was rationalised in 1973.

An extensive refurbishment plan for the station was suggested in 2006 which involves the building of a completely new booking hall and greatly improved facilities on the platform. A large canopy was constructed - originally intended to cover the entire length of the platform, but now only covers approximately half. In addition, a dedicated bus-rail interchange point was built, improving transport beyond the station to localities such as Kirkdale, Anfield and Everton. On 24 April 2007, improvement works to the station at a cost of £6million were agreed. In November 2007, it was announced that the station would be closed from 17 November 2007 until March 2008 for refurbishment.^[2] The refurbishment work was extended until July 2008, when the station reopened in a partly completed state. The full completion of the work at the station was finished in early 2009 and a second phase of works to develop a bus turnaround facility in front of the station is planned in 2010.

Services

Off-peak service frequency is as follows:

• 4 trains per hour (tph) to Southport
• 4 tph to Ormskirk
• 4 tph to Kirkby
• 4 tph to Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central and Liverpool Moorfields station

During late evenings and on Sundays, frequencies are reduced to 2 tph on the Ormskirk and Kirkby lines. On Sundays, frequencies are reduced to 2 tph beyond Liverpool Central to Hunts Cross. On winter Sundays, frequencies are also reduced to 2 tph on the Liverpool Central to Southport section, giving a total 6 tph from all lines between Sandhills and Liverpool Central.

Gallery

• 

  The main entrance, viewed from platform 1.

• 

  Platform 1, with Alexandra Tower in the distance.

• 

  A Merseyrail Class 508 arrives with a service from Liverpool.

• 

  A Merseyrail Class 507 arrives with a service to Liverpool.

Trivia

The station is named after the road, Sandhills Lane, which the main entrance is located on. There is no locality in Liverpool named Sandhills, the lane taking its name from Sandhills, a large house on the site of the station belonging to local solicitor and property speculator John Shaw Leigh.^{[citation needed]}

Passengers

The usage figures for the station underestimate the actual usage as it is a busy interchange station. 71,953 interchange passengers are recorded for 2004-5, but passenger statistics do not include travellers using Saveaway or other multi-mode tickets.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sandhills railway station.

• Train times and station information for Sandhills railway station from National Rail

• Station information for Sandhills railway station from Merseyrail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Moorfields		Merseyrail Northern Line Southport Branch		Bank Hall
		Merseyrail Northern Line Kirkby/Ormskirk Branch		Kirkdale
	Disused railways
Liverpool Exchange Line and station closed		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway		Bank Hall Line and station open
		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway Liverpool and Bury Railway		Kirkdale Line and station open