Upton railway station

Upton National Rail
Location
Place Upton
Local authority Wirral
Grid reference SJ279882
Operations
Station code UPT
Managed by Arriva Trains Wales
Number of platforms 2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05  13,863
2005/06 Increase 14,662
2006/07 Decrease 12,976
2007/08 Increase 15,477
2008/09 Increase 20,902
2009/10 Increase 21,036
2010/11 Increase 22,720
2011/12 Increase 24,116
2012/13 Decrease 23,750
2013/14 Increase 27,960
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE Merseytravel
Zone B1
History
Key dates Opened 1896
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Upton from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Upton railway station serves the village of Upton, and the Noctorum area of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The station is situated on the Borderlands Line. Arriva Trains Wales operates the station and all trains serving it.

History

Upton Station was opened to passengers on 18 May 1896, as part of the Dee and Birkenhead Railway.[1] The station became part of the North Wales and Liverpool Railway, less than three months later, on 7 July 1896.[1]

The station used to have a booking office, on the road bridge, which spans the two platforms.[2][3] The booking office was removed during redevelopment of the station and expansion of the road bridge in the 1970s. The station also used to have its own brick-built waiting room, situated on the Bidston-bound platform.[4]

Freight and goods

Adjacent to the station there was a coal and goods yard, which is the site of a Co-Operative supermarket. Access to the yard was operated by a small signal box, which was situated at the southern end of the Bidston-bound platform.[5]

Iron ore freight trains also passed through the station.[3][5] These freight trains operated from Bidston Dock to the John Summers steelworks in Shotton. This freight service ended around 1980.

Future

Proposals have been put forward by Merseyrail to electrify the track as part of the Borderlands Electrification scheme. This would allow the station to serve as a part of a direct service to Liverpool.

Arriva Trains Wales have an Adopt a Station initiative, Upton Station is on their list of adopted stations and has been adopted by a member, or members, of the public.

Facilities

The station facilities are somewhat rudimentary. The station is unstaffed, at nearly all times, but has platform CCTV.[6] Each of the two platforms has a waiting shelter with seating. There is no payphone or booking office, but there are electronic departure and arrival screens for live information to passengers. There is no official station car park, but very limited parking outside the station, at the drop-off point, on the old Ford Road bridge. Wheelchair and pram access to each of the two platforms is possible, and relatively easy, via the ramp-staircases. Though, as yet, platform access has not been modernised to the standard of that at Hooton.

Services

From Monday to Saturday, there is an hourly service between Bidston and Wrexham Central (two-hourly in the evening and on Bank Holidays). There is an irregular service (six trains each way) on Sundays. Services are provided by an Arriva Trains Wales Class 150/2 Sprinter DMU.

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 p.29, A Portrait of Wirral's Railways, Jermy, R., Countryvise, 1987. ISBN 0-907768-17-2
  2. ↑ p.59, Railway Stations of Wirral, Merseyside Railway History Group, 1994. ISBN 1-899241-02-7
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Flickr - 92xxx Upton Stn. 19.7.67 Accessed 2014-06-07
  4. ↑ p.122, British Railways Past and Present No.39, Liverpool and Wirral, Shannon, P. and Hillmer, J., Past and Present Publishing, 2002. ISBN 1-85895-199-2
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Flickr - 92057 Upton Stn. 19.7.67 Accessed 2014-06-07
  6. ↑ Station Facilities for Upton (Merseyside) Accessed 2013-12-18

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Upton railway station.

Upton Station is on the list of stations adopted as part of the Adopt a Station initiative of Arriva Trains Wales.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Heswall   Arriva Trains Wales
Borderlands Line		   Bidston

Coordinates: 53°23′09″N 3°05′02″W / 53.38583°N 3.08389°W