R A I LT R AC K - The Railways Archive

Route characteristics
DESCRIPTION This rail network extends throughout Merseyside, including the
Sefton Coast, St Helens, and the Wirral, and beyond the Merseyside boundary to
the neighbouring towns of Ormskirk, Wigan, Ellesmere Port, and Chester. Freight
traffic is carried along the lines from Wigan and Earlestown to Edge Hill.
Route vision
These lines primarily form a high-capacity suburban passenger railway, which
performs a key role in the social fabric of Merseyside. As part of the Merseyside
integrated public transport network, these routes enable the local population to
commute to work efficiently, quickly, and with minimal environmental impact.
They also attract considerable numbers of leisure journeys, supporting the area’s
shopping and tourism markets.
By building on the existing strengths of the rail network, we want to see
this role maintained and expanded, as rail offers an ever-more attractive
alternative to private transport. This will require us to continue to invest in
improving the reliability of our infrastructure-investment which has contributed in
the past 12 months to significant improvements in the punctuality of Merseyrail
Electric’s services.
Route development and customer requirements
We have committed to evaluate a series of options to improve capacity, reliability,
and operational flexibility, including remodelling of junctions and the provision of
additional crossovers. The results, when evaluated, will be shared with industry
partners. In addition, a joint exercise will be carried out to look at the viability of
express services on the electrified network, including 75mph running.
We anticipate that a series of new stations will open, sponsored by
Merseytravel. These include Allerton Interchange, forming part of a wider,
multimodal integrated transport scheme, and new stations at Wavertree
Technology Park and Lea Green. Where applicable, we will seek to involve EU
funding in the support of these projects. The extension of the existing electrified
network from Kirkby to Headbolt Lane and east of Hunt’s Cross is under
consideration with Merseytravel.
In addition, we believe there are commercial opportunities for the rail
industry to develop integrated transport facilities (including park and ride) on the
Merseyside network. We have made provision for this in our financial plans, and
we will be developing the options in consultation with Merseytravel.
The majority of the signalling is controlled from the Sandhills Control Centre and
most of the route is electrified with a 750V DC third rail. The line from Liverpool
Lime Street is electrified with 25kV OLE as far as Edge Hill, where the WCML
diverges to Crewe.
In working towards these aspirations, we have a strong partner in Merseytravel.
Together with Merseytravel, we are particularly interested in the
case for opening new stations and developing better transfer facilities between
public transport modes, and between rail and the private car. We will also
investigate any locations where there is scope to reduce journey times. On the
Wirral, there may also be opportunities to introduce a semi-fast service in
addition to current services, and reduce journey times for many passengers.
We will also evaluate options to extend the network to Woodchurch on
the Wirral and beyond Hunt’s Cross towards Warrington.
Major alterations are planned to take place at Aintree Station including a
new ticket office and extended car park with bus interchange. Maghull Station has
also been identified as a site for a major extension to car-parking facilities.
It is anticipated that the ongoing renewal of the conductor-rail and traction
power-supply systems on the electrified network will be significantly enhanced
with a major two-year programme of works, expected to begin next year.
We want to encourage the area’s freight tra f fic to develop in line with the
w i d e ly held desire to get more freight off the roads in urban areas. We will explore
the possibility of improving the freight loading gauge, including clearance for W10
to Seafo rth Docks, and opportunities for restoring freight services to Birke n h e a d .
With our partners, we will seek out all possible sources of funding in order
to drive forward this vision, including additional funds available through the area’s
EU Objective 1 status. We will thus help not only the day-to-day running of
Merseyside, but also the longer-term economic regeneration of the whole area.
287