Liverpool–Manchester lines
Liverpool to Manchester routes | |||
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OHLE Lime Street - Liverpool South Parkway. Lime Street - Manchester Piccadilly Northern Route and also Manchester Victoria | |||
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There once were four direct railway routes between Liverpool and Manchester in the North West of England; only two remain, the two centre routes of the four. The most northerly and the most southerly of the four routes are no longer direct lines. Of the remaining two direct routes, the northern route of the two is fully electric, while the now southern route is a diesel-only line. The most northerly of the four has been split into two routes: the western section operated by Merseyrail electric trains and the eastern section by diesel trains, requiring passengers to change trains between the two cities. The fourth route, the most southerly of the four, has been largely abandoned east of Warrington; the remaining section caters mainly for freight trains.
The remaining two direct routes are:
- The northern route (Chat Moss line) from Manchester Piccadilly. This line follows the route of the original 1830 Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
- The southern route (CLC line) from Manchester Piccadilly operates on lines formerly owned by the Cheshire Lines Committee.
Northern route (Chat Moss line)
The northern route runs from
Current services
Following completion of electrification in May 2015, services to
3-car and 4-car electric multiple units.Northern operate two trains per hour on the Chat Moss line, an hourly all-stops service from
During weekday peak times, two daily return trains operate between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Victoria, one service in the morning and one in the evening, calling at all stations. Six daily return trains also operate between Manchester Victoria and Wigan North Western, three services in the morning and three in the evening at hourly frequency via Eccles, although only morning services towards Manchester and evening services towards Wigan call at the station.
A parliamentary service operates between Ellesmere Port and Liverpool via the western section of the Chat Moss route, calling at all stations between Earlestown and Lime Street.
Between Earlestown and Manchester Airport, there are additional hourly services operated by
Northern Trains is the dominant operator on the route, and its services are operated with Class 323 3-car electric multiple units, Class 331 3-car or 4-car electric multiple units or Class 195 2-car or 3-car diesel multiple units. Transport for Wales services between Earlestown and Manchester Piccadilly are usually operated by Class 197 diesel multiple units, but Class 158 units may be substituted on occasions.
TransPennine Express operate an hourly service between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle Central via Manchester Victoria and York, calling at Lea Green and Newton-le-Willows, operated by Class 802 bi-mode units.
A similar service operates on a Sunday, however the Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport service is extended to Wilmslow and the Llandudno service terminates at Chester.[2]
The northern Liverpool to Manchester route is also used by East Midlands Railway for empty coaching stock (ECS) movements, and as a diversionary route when the southern route is closed.
In past years, the line has been used by many express services which included through trains to
Work to four-track the line between Huyton and Roby was completed in October 2017.[3]
Technical details
The key junctions on this route are:
- Edge Hill West Jn (to CLC line via Warrington Central)
- Edge Hill East Jn (to Edge Hill CS)
- Bootle Branch Jn (to Canada Dock Branch, leading to the docks)
- Olive Mount Jn (Olive Mount Jn Chat Moss to Regent Rd)
- Huyton Jn (to Wigan line)
- Earlestown West Jn (West Coast Main Line Southbound via Warrington Bank Quay)
- Earlestown East Jn (West Coast Main Line Southbound via Warrington Bank Quay)
- Newton-le-Willows Jn (for daily Wigan via Golborne Junction services)
- Parkside Jn (for daily Wigan via Golborne Junction services)
- Eccles Station Jn (to the Weaste branch towards the Manchester Ship Canal)
- Ordsall Lane Jn (separates Chat Moss line (to Victoria) from Bolton lines (to Piccadilly) [4]
During a journey trains are controlled by:
- Lime Street control (LS) (Lime Street and the Lime Street tunnels) - now dedicated desk at new Manchester Rail Operating Centre (LL)
- Edge Hill signal box (LE) (Edge Hill to Edge Hill junction)
- Sandhills IECC (ML) (Olive Mount Jn To Regent Rd)
- Huyton signal box (HN) (Edge Hill to Huyton) - now dedicated desk at new Manchester Rail Operating Centre (LL)
- Warrington signal box (WN)
- Astley signal box (AY)
- Eccles signal box (ES)
- Manchester Piccadilly control (MP)
The above is likely to change in the future as various sections are migrated over to the control of the new Manchester
Electrification
From 5 March 2015, Class 319 trains started electric operation on this route from Liverpool to Manchester Airport via the Oxford Road viaduct. Manchester Victoria station itself is now electrified and at the new timetable changeover on 17 May 2015 Liverpool to Manchester Victoria stopping services also began electric operation using the same rolling stock.[6]
As a result of completion of the
The Department for Transport initially announced in July 2009 that the northern route of the Manchester to Liverpool line was to be electrified[8] with
Southern route (CLC line)
The southern route is the old Cheshire Lines Committee line running from Liverpool Lime Street via
The line's newest station is Warrington West, which opened in December 2019.
Originally this line ran from Liverpool Central High Level terminus station to Manchester Central terminus station built by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) in 1873. Liverpool Central High Level station was demolished in 1973 due to all the long-haul distance services on Merseyside being concentrated at Liverpool Lime Street with Merseyrail operating the local urban services with underground stations in Liverpool and Birkenhead centres. Manchester Central closed in 1969 and is now the Manchester Central Convention Complex.
At the Liverpool end, the line from Hunts Cross to Central High Level station—which accessed the station via a tunnel—was given over to the
In 1977-8 the original line in the tunnel approaching Liverpool Central High Level terminus was dropped into a new lower level tunnel immediately south of the station to enter Liverpool Central underground station becoming a through line continuing underground to the north of Liverpool and onto Southport. The Low Level underground station and tunnel was built in 1890 to align with the approach tunnel to the High Level station if in the future the need was there. Victorian foresight was utilised nearly 80 years later.
At the Manchester end the line was diverted to Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly after Manchester Central was closed.
The Liverpool to Warrington section of this line was initially scheduled to be on the Merseyrail electric urban network. The Strategic Plan for the North West, the SPNW, in 1973 envisaged that the Outer Loop which was to be an orbital line circling the city of Liverpool, the Edge Hill Spur which is a tunnel connecting the east of Liverpool to the central underground sections, and the lines to St. Helens, Wigan and Warrington would be electrified and all integrated into Merseyrail by 1991.[13] This meant that trains from Warrington would access Liverpool city centre's underground stations via the Northern Line and Liverpool Central underground station, giving access to Liverpool's shopping and business quarters. This never transpired; however, it is a long-term aspiration of Merseytravel.
The
Planned electrification
Trains run on electrified track between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester on the Northern route (Chat Moss route), however only diesel engine propulsion can be used on the Southern route (Cheshire Lines route). This line has been prioritised for full electrification between the two cities, however no date has been set for the commencement of works.[15]
Current services
Northern operate two trains per hour on the southern route between Liverpool Lime Street and Warrington Central, with one train per hour extending to Manchester Oxford Road. The Manchester service is semi-fast until Warrington, and the service terminating at Warrington calls at all stations (except Sankey for Penketh which receives a limited service). Northern operates a mixture of Class 195, Class 156 and Class 150 units along the line.
East Midlands Railway operate an hourly fast service between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich calling at Liverpool South Parkway, Widnes, Warrington Central, Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly. EMR mainly use Class 158s along the line, although Class 170s are used sometimes.
TransPennine Express also operate a fast hourly service using this line from Liverpool Lime Street to Cleethorpes - this was extended from Manchester Piccadilly in December 2022. All services call at Liverpool South Parkway, Warrington Central and Birchwood, most services call at Irlam and Urmston and a few services in the morning and evening peaks call at Warrington West. All TransPennine services on this route use Class 185 units.
In the past, the CLC route was used by a variety of local services in addition to limited-stop expresses between the two cities. These included trains between Warrington Central and Stockport Tiviot Dale, Liverpool and Manchester to Wigan Central. and Liverpool to Southport Lord Street via Aintree Central. The latter route was closed as long ago as 1952. The diversion of Liverpool-bound trains to Lime Street in 1966 and the closure of Manchester Central in 1969 (all trains subsequently running to Oxford Road and Piccadilly) saw the route downgraded in importance and from then until the mid-1980s it was operated as a self-contained route due to congestion issues at the Manchester end. The service frequency was also lower than at present, for example the British Rail 1985 timetable showed one semi-fast and one stopping train per hour in each direction on weekdays (excluding the weekday peak periods). Through running to destinations east of Manchester via this route began on a regular basis only in 1986, when the opening of a new connection at Hazel Grove allowed trains from the Sheffield direction to run via Stockport and thus avoid conflicting movements across the station throat at Piccadilly.
The route from
Technical details
The key junctions on this route are:
- Lime Street (used to move trains onto appropriate platform)
- Edge Hill East Junction (for the Huyton line)
- Allerton West Junction (to West Coast Main Line, known as Allerton junction)
- Hunts Cross Junction (to Merseyrail Northern Line)
- Glazebrook East Junction (formerly for Warrington-Stockport services, but now used as a passing point)
- Trafford Park Junction (for Euroterminal freight terminal)
- Castlefield Junction (where lines to Manchester converge).[4]
During a journey trains are controlled by:
- Lime Street control (LS) (Lime Street and the Lime Street tunnels) - now dedicated desk at new Manchester Rail Operating Centre (LL)
- Edge Hill signal box (LE) (Edge Hill to Edge Hill junction)
- Allerton signal box (AN) (Edge Hill junction to Liverpool South Parkway)
- Hunts Cross signal box (HC) (Allerton junction to Widnes Station)
- Warrington Central signal box (WC) (Widnes station to Padgate station)
- Glazebrook East signal box (GE) (Birchwood station to Urmston)
- Manchester Piccadilly control (MP) (Urmston to route terminus)
The above is likely to change in the future as various sections are migrated over to the control of the new Manchester
Former direct routes
Via Wigan
It is possible to travel between
This line was partially built by the
The Merseyrail terminus at the Liverpool end of the line was extended from Liverpool Exchange to underground Liverpool Central. With the closure of Liverpool Exchange terminus station in 1977, the terminus at the Liverpool end of the diesel service was cut back to Kirkby station. Passengers from Manchester alight at Headbolt Lane and walk down from platform 3 to platform 1 or 2, boarding a Liverpool bound electric train terminating at Liverpool's underground Central station. The diesel train from Manchester is scheduled to meet a Merseyrail electric train from Liverpool at Headbolt Lane (albeit a tight connection) for ease of passenger transfers. A new underground through station was built at Moorfields replacing some of the services of nearby Liverpool Exchange terminus station.
At 37 miles (59.5 km) this route is longer than either of the two direct routes. According to National Rail Enquires website the travelling time from end to end would be 1 hour 38 minutes, including the change, compared with around 30 minutes from Lime Street to Manchester Piccadilly. However, for passengers who live near to the stations in the middle section of the line it may prove a quicker journey into Liverpool or Manchester.
Via Ditton Junction
A further southerly route, using what was
Timings and line speeds
As of 2016[update], the fastest journey times are around half an hour, which is little better than over a century earlier. The fastest recorded run was from Manchester Exchange to Liverpool Lime St in 30 minutes 46 seconds by a 1936 built Jubilee 5707 with 7 coaches. An 1882-built compound steam locomotive was timed on the same route in 38 minutes 18 seconds. Until 1968 trains from Liverpool to Manchester by all 3 routes were scheduled to take 40 minutes and often took less. The southern route via Warrington is now restricted to 85 mph and the northern route via Earlestown to 90 mph, with 75 mph over Chat Moss peat bog.[18]
See also
- Eccles rail crash (1941)
- Eccles rail crash (1984)
References
- ^ "4 - North Wales and Chester to Crewe, Warrington and Manchester" (PDF). Arriva Trains Wales Train Times. Arriva Trains Wales Limited. 17 May 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "N15 - Liverpool to Manchester Airport and Warrington Bank Quay via Earlestown (includes Helsby to Ellesmere Port)" (PDF). Northern Trains. Northern Trains Limited. 10 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
- ^ "Two platforms reopen at Liverpool Lime Street".
- ^ a b "Appendix B North West Route Utilisation Strategy" (PDF). Network Rail. Retrieved 27 November 2015.. With assistance from: "Help re the Liverpool-Manchester lines". Northern Railways forum. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011.
- ^ a b "Manchester rail operating centre opens". Network Rail. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- ^ "Better rail services become a reality between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Airport station". Network Rail Media Centre. Network Rail. 5 March 2015. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "Britain's Transport Infrastructure - Rail Electrification" (PDF). DfT. 22 July 2009. pp. 22–24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 August 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
- ^ "£100m plan to electrify Manchester to Liverpool railway" (Press release). DfT. 23 July 2009. Archived from the original on 25 August 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
- ^ "NR completes NW bridge work". Rail. Peterborough. 10 August 2011. p. 13.
- ^ "Better rail services become a reality between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Airport station". Network Rail Media Centre. Network Rail. 5 March 2015. Archived from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ "Thameslink gets 14,500 more seats". BBC News. 9 April 2008. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
- ^ Laversuch, Chloe (28 July 2017). "Goverment [sic] to pay £4.2 million towards cost of building £17.2 million Warrington West Station". Warrington Guardian. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-84014-857-2.
- ^ "Battery breakthrough will see Merseyrail network extended". 15 July 2021.
- ^ "Electrification priorities in northern England". Railway Gazette. 5 March 2015.
- ^ Ambrose, Jillian (13 June 2019). "UK to be left with five coal power stations after latest closure". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ "SSE announces proposed closure of Fiddler's Ferry coal-fired power station". SSE. Archived from the original on 2 June 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
- ISSN 0033-8923.
Further reading
- Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1.