St Helens Central railway station

Coordinates: 53°27′10″N 2°43′48″W / 53.4529°N 2.730°W / 53.4529; -2.730
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the present station. For the similarly-named station which closed to passenger traffic in 1952, see
St Helens Central (GCR) railway station
.

St Helens Central
London Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 February 1858Opened as St Helens
1 March 1949Renamed St Helens Shaw Street
11 May 1987Renamed St Helens Central
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 0.657 million
2019/20Increase 0.724 million
2020/21Decrease 0.208 million
2021/22Increase 0.514 million
2022/23Increase 0.537 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

St Helens Central railway station (previously known as St. Helens Shaw Street) is a railway station serving the town of

Liverpool to Wigan Line from Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan North Western. The station and all trains calling at it are operated by TransPennine Express or Northern Trains
.

The station is on the

Liverpool-Wigan Line
.

History

The station was originally opened by the

Rainford Junction (opened along with the station in 1858) was joined a decade later by the Lancashire Union Railway to Wigan North Western and Blackburn in December 1869, whilst the route southwestwards to Huyton was opened by the London and North Western Railway
in 1871. It was renamed St Helens Shaw Street in 1949.

The station in 1992 largely as completed in 1961

The station was completely rebuilt in 1961[1] to a design by the architect William Robert Headley[2] which included and advertised a significant amount of the local Pilkington Vitrolite Glass. The fully glazed ticket hall was illuminated by a tower with a valley roof on two Y-shaped supports. The platform canopies were free standing folded plate roofs on tubular columns.

By this time, the original St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway routes had both closed to passenger traffic, services having ceased on 18 June 1951. The short branch to St Helens Junction suffered the same fate in June 1965 as a result of the

Beeching Axe
, though freight traffic would continue to operate on both lines until the 1980s.

It then became St Helens Central in 1987 (the original GCR

St Helens Central station situated on Corporation Street having been completely closed in 1952 and demolished in the late 1960s). Two years later the through link to St Helens Junction was severed, though the section as far as the Hays Chemicals plant at Sutton Oak remained open until 2002 (the track remains in place but out of use to the present day).[3] This left only the Liverpool to Wigan line in operation, along with a short section of the old Rainford line serving the Pilkington Glass factory at Cowley Hill (near Gerards Bridge
) though this has also been disused for several years.

An accident occurred on 11 November 1988, when a train from Blackpool North to Liverpool Lime Street became derailed after it departed from St Helens Central at 23:15. Leaving the station, the driving cab struck a bridge abutment; the driver was killed and 16 passengers received minor injuries.[4]

In 2005,

Merseytravel and Network Rail invited tenders for the reconstruction of the station, including a new station building, footbridge and lifts. The new station building and facilities were assembled just a few yards from the 1960s station building and is the third build on the same site. The project came in at a total estimated cost of £6 million,[5] with the European Union contributing £1.7 million towards the total funding.[6]
The new footbridge was lifted into place in the early hours of 22 January 2007. Construction work was completed in the summer, with the new waiting rooms and footbridge opened to passengers on 19 September. The new station building was officially opened on 3 December 2007.

Electrification

Overhead electrification of the Liverpool to Wigan line was completed in 2015.

Northern Rail
, the then train operating company, announced the introduction of electric services on the line from the commencement of the new timetable changeover in 2015.

Station information

There is a booking office, with a ticket vending machine is provided next to it. Disabled access is facilitated by lifts on both platforms.

Car parking (including disabled bays) is available and is free for rail users, provided a parking ticket for the vehicle is obtained from the ticket office first. Re-charging facilities have recently been provided for electrically powered vehicles.

Cold drink and snack vending machines are provided in the waiting room on the Wigan-bound platform. In March 2012, a dedicated coffee shop serving hot and cold food was opened upstairs in the main station building but closed in September 2012, the franchise remaining vacant up to the present.

As of 2017, St Helens Central operates automatic ticket barriers, replacing a temporary staffed barrier operated by Northern (Arriva Rail North).

Services

During Monday to Saturday daytimes, there is a half-hourly local stopping service between

Glasgow Central
each way. On Sundays, this is extended to three trains per day in both directions.

On Sundays, there is an hourly service to Wigan/Blackpool and Liverpool, calling at all stations bar Edge Hill.

The typical off-peak service is (Monday-Friday):

Northern

3 trains per hour to

Liverpool Lime Street
3 trains per hour to
Wigan North Western, one of which continues to Blackpool North railway station via Preston railway station

TransPennine Express
Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Huyton  
Liverpool to Wigan Line
   Wigan North Western
Thatto Heath     Garswood
Liverpool Lime Street   TransPennine Express
TransPennine North West 		  Wigan North Western
  Historical railways  
Terminus   London and North Western Railway
Lancashire Union Railway 		  Carr Mill
Disused railways
Gerards Bridge  
LNWR
St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway
   Peasley Cross

See also

References

  1. ISBN 0-85361-292-7
    .
  2. ISBN 9780860936855
    .
  3. ^ "Disused Stations - Sutton Oak"Disused Stations Retrieved 25 March 2016
  4. ^ Taylor, J.H. (July 1992). "Report of a train Accident that occurred on 11th November 1988 near St Helens Central Station in the London Midland Region of British Railways". Health and Safety Executive. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  5. ^ "Major works completed at St Helens Central Station". Merseytravel website. Merseytravel. 24 April 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  6. ^ "The EU: What's in it for me?" (PDF). European Union. 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
  7. ^ "Electrification in the North". Network Rail. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  8. ^ Table 84 National Rail timetable, May 2023
  9. ^ GB eNRT December 2017 Edition, Table 90

External links

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