Wirral line
Wirral line | |||
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standard gauge | |||
Loading gauge | W6[3] | ||
Electrification | 750 V DC third rail[4] | ||
Operating speed | 70 mph (110 km/h) maximum[2][3][5][6] | ||
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The Wirral line is one of two
The Wirral line connects Liverpool to the Wirral Peninsula via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, with branches to New Brighton, West Kirby, Chester and Ellesmere Port.[8][9] Beneath Liverpool, the line follows a clockwise circular route in a single-track tunnel called the Loop, built in the early 1970s.[8][10]
The Wirral line has carried its present name since the opening of the Merseyrail network by Queen Elizabeth II on 25 October 1978,[11] during the British Rail period. The Wirral line is fully electrified with a DC third rail,[8] and has existed in its current form since May 1994 with the start of electric services to Ellesmere Port.[12][13] A total of 34 stations are served, with connections available to mainline services at Liverpool Lime Street, Bidston, Ellesmere Port and Chester. The line also connects with the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network at Liverpool Central and Moorfields.[14]
History
The Wirral line was not originally conceived as a single route, but uses several railway lines built by individual private
Pre-grouping
Chester and Birkenhead Railway
Part of the
Wirral Railway
On 28 July 1863, the Hoylake Railway was incorporated due to the Hoylake Railway Act 1863 being granted
Whilst the new lines to Seacombe and New Brighton were being surveyed and built, a new joint company, later to become the North Wales and Liverpool Railway Company (NW&LR), took over the construction of the Deeside line due to a lack of Wirral Railway funds.[38] The planned NW&LR route would pass through the heart of the Wirral Peninsula from Bidston on the Wirral Railway to Hawarden Bridge in Flintshire, Wales where it would meet the Chester and Connah's Quay Railway and the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway (WM&CQR).[32] The North Wales and Liverpool Railway opened for passengers on 18 May 1896, but powers to extend the service from Bidston to the more appealing destination of Seacombe were not granted until 1898.[34] The NW&LR and WM&CQR were both acquired by the Great Central Railway (GCR) on 1 January 1905,[39][40][41] and due to a high level of goods traffic the GCR opened a new connection to the docks in 1907 as part of what forms the now-disused Birkenhead Dock Branch.[32][42] Today the railway from Bidston to Hawarden Bridge forms the northern part of the Borderlands line which is the only railway line on the Wirral that does not form a part of the present-day Wirral line.
Mersey Railway
The first proposal to connect Birkenhead and Liverpool by a rail tunnel was made in 1864 by the Liverpool and Birkenhead Railway Company. The bill received the support of the chairman of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board and of
A contract was made with
A total of three tunnels were constructed – the main railway tunnel, a ventilation tunnel and a drainage tunnel. The railway tunnel was horseshoe shaped
Liverpool Pumping Station was built adjacent to
At the start of 1884 construction work was pushed ahead with 1,400 men and 177 horses underground.[53] On 17 January of the same year, two tunnel headings met 1,115 yards (1,020 m) from the Birkenhead shaft. A ceremony marked this occasion with Henry Cecil Raikes PC, Major Isaac, Colonel Beaumont, James Brunlees, Charles Douglas Fox, Robert Paterson (Mayor of Birkenhead) and David Radcliffe (Mayor of Liverpool) present.[48][55] The tunneling work was complete by the end of 1885 and thousands of members of the public took the opportunity to walk through the gaslit tunnel ahead of its official opening.[56]
Upon opening, the railway ran from James Street in Liverpool to Green Lane in Birkenhead via intermediate stations at
Despite the four ventilation fans, passenger numbers on the railway declined due to the steam engines filling the air with smoke and soot. Coupled with the high cost of running the fans and drainage pumps, the railway found itself bankrupt by 1900.
To operate electric services,
The Big Four
The
The Wirral Railway had considered electrification since 1900, but plans were not taken any further until 1935, when increasing traffic prompted the LMS to
With Mersey Railway trains able to use the LMS electrification system and vice versa, on 13 March 1938 the Mersey Railway was given operation of the line from Birkenhead Park to New Brighton in exchange for LMS running powers between Birkenhead Park and Liverpool Central, thus removing the need for passengers to change at Birkenhead Park for travel to Liverpool.
During the
British Railways
In 1955, the original Mersey Railway fourth-rail system was replaced with the third rail system adopted by LMS from Birkenhead Park to New Brighton and West Kirby, removing the need for automatic changeover switches.[71][76] Despite the design already being 19 years old at the time, a new batch of 28 third-rail-only Class 503 units was delivered the following year. Of these, 24 were ordered as replacements for the original Mersey Railway trains, and the remaining four to replace stock damaged during the Second World War.[72] As each new train was placed in service, a Mersey Railway train was withdrawn and hauled by steam locomotive to Horwich Works for breaking up.[77]
In March 1963,
The development of Merseyrail
The programme of route closures in the early 1960s, known as the
Riverside terminal station at the Pier Head was the fourth terminal station to close. This was not a part of the Beeching cuts: the demise of the trans-Atlantic liner trade forced its closure in 1971.
The Beeching Report recommended that the suburban and outer-suburban commuter rail services into both Exchange and Central High-level stations be terminated and that long and medium-distance routes be concentrated on Lime Street station. Liverpool City Council took a different view, and proposed the retention of the suburban services and their integration into a regional rapid-transit network. This approach was backed up by the Merseyside Area Land Use and Transportation Study, the MALTS report. Liverpool City Council's proposal was adopted and Merseyrail was born.[81]
The Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority, later named Merseytravel, was formed in 1969 with representatives from all Merseyside local authorities taking responsibility for the local rail network, henceforth known as 'Merseyrail'. At that time, the lines out of Liverpool Exchange, Liverpool Central Low Level and Liverpool Lime Street stations were completely separate and were given the names of 'Northern line', 'Wirral line' and 'City Line' respectively.
The new Wirral line was to have a loop tunnel under Liverpool's city centre which would be an extension of the Mersey Railway tunnel. This arrangement meant trains would only terminate in the Wirral. Trains would leave Wirral terminus stations, run into Liverpool's city centre and loop back out. Four underground stations would be on this loop under Liverpool's city centre. A further underground Link Tunnel connection between a new Moorfields through underground station and Liverpool Central underground creating a Liverpool north-south crossrail was planned. Moorfields would replace Liverpool Exchange terminus station.
The Mersey Railway Extensions Act was passed in 1968 to authorise the first stage of these improvements. The
The one track Loop Tunnel was designed to allow trains to run in a clockwise direction beneath Liverpool's city centre. It diverged from the Mersey Railway tunnel beneath
The Loop is a
In addition to the construction of the Loop Tunnel, a
In 1974,
To operate the new Merseyrail services, procurement of new stock began for the Wirral line. Following extensive testing of
In the early 1980s, plans were made to extend the Wirral line from Rock Ferry to Hooton along the former Birkenhead Joint Railway route. Third rail electrification work was carried out during 1985, and Hooton to Liverpool services started on 30 September that year, at a 15-minute frequency.[88] Bromborough Rake station opened along the line to coincide with the introduction of electric services, and diesel multiple units provided onwards connections at Hooton to Helsby and Chester.[12] Further electrification work to Chester and Ellesmere Port was planned to start in 1990.[89] Electric services through to Liverpool from Chester commenced on 3 September 1993 and from Ellesmere Port on 29 May 1994.[12]
Post-privatisation
The privatisation of British Rail began in 1994 under the Railways Act 1993 and allowed separate parts of the railway to be transferred to the private sector. The Merseyrail network continued to operate as part of the Regional Railways sector of British Rail until 11 December 1996 when MTL was announced as the preferred bidder for the Merseyrail franchise.[90] MTL ran the Merseyrail franchise as Merseyrail Electrics until 2000, when MTL was sold to Arriva by its shareholders and later rebranded as Arriva Trains Merseyside.[91] The franchise was then run as Arriva Trains Merseyside.[17]
In 2003, Merseytravel took over responsibility for the Merseyrail franchise from the Strategic Rail Authority.[17] In conjunction with this, on 20 July 2003, the franchise was awarded to Serco-NedRailways (now Serco-Abellio), a 50-50 joint business venture between Serco and Abellio, a subsidiary of Dutch national train operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen.[92][93][94] Merseyrail Electrics 2002 Ltd was established by Serco-Abellio and the franchise is run under the "Merseyrail" brand with a 25-year contract ending in July 2028 and a review taking place every five years in line with the Merseyside Local Transport Plan.[95]
Infrastructure
Track
All railway lines are built to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification
The whole network is electrified using the 750 V DC third rail system.[3] The Mersey Railway was electrified in 1903, making it the first railway in the world to be converted entirely to electrification.[98] The former Wirral Railway, by then part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), was electrified in 1938.[13] The opening of the Loop in 1977 led to three electrified terminals on the Wirral: New Brighton, West Kirby and Rock Ferry. Electrification south from Rock Ferry to Hooton followed in 1985, with extensions to Chester and Ellesmere Port in 1993 and 1994 respectively.[13][99]
Rolling stock
In 1938, following the electrification of the former Wirral Railway, the LMS introduced new trains with air-operated sliding doors. These
Maintenance of the Class 507 and 508 fleet was carried out at Birkenhead North TMD and Kirkdale TMD. Birkenhead North TMD, just west of Birkenhead North station, focused on major overhauls of the electric fleet, whereas Kirkdale TMD, situated south of Kirkdale station on the Northern line, was used for undertaking minor repairs and cleaning activities. Train cleaning operations took place at the now-defunct Birkenhead Central TMD beside Birkenhead Central station until the late 1990s.[9]
It was expected by Merseyrail that the 507s and 508s would be withdrawn around 2014 and replaced by a new EMU, but this was postponed and the trains were refurbished instead. In May 2012, Merseytravel announced that it had formally begun a project for replacement of the 507s and 508s.[104] In December 2016, Merseytravel announced that Stadler had won the £460 million contract and that the new Class 777 trains would be delivered from summer 2019, with all the old trains replaced by 2021.[105]
In May 2014, the lease on the Class 507s and 508s was extended to 2018. As part of the agreement with Angel Trains, the fleet would receive a refresh package including external re-livery, internal enhancements and engineering work.[106]
Services
During Monday to Saturday, trains run every 15 minutes from Liverpool to each of New Brighton, West Kirby and Chester, and every 30 minutes to Ellesmere Port. During peak times outside of the leaf-fall season in autumn, additional services run to (evening peak), respectively from (morning peak) Ellesmere Port, giving a 15 minutes frequency there in the peak direction only. Hooton is the point of interchange between trains to Ellesmere Port and trains to Chester, and is served by six trains per hour from Liverpool, four of which continue to Chester (only two call at Capenhurst) and two calling at stations to Ellesmere Port. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these frequencies reduced as of March 2020.[107] By mid-2022, frequencies have been increased back towards their original levels.[108]
Interchange with the Northern line is available at Liverpool Central and Moorfields, and with the
Connections are available with other National Rail services at Liverpool Lime Street and Chester. There is also a connecting service from Ellesmere Port to Helsby and Warrington Bank Quay.[110]
Incidents
A number of incidents have occurred on the Wirral line.
Unit 508118, while in storage in the siding at Birkenhead North, was subject to an arson attack in 2001. The unit was scrapped.[111]
On 19 May 2004, Unit 507009 derailed at points as it approached Birkenhead North station.[112] The leading bogie of four wheels came off the track, but the train remained upright. None of the 20 or so passengers on the train were injured.[113][114] The cause was a worn switch rail and an imbalance in wheel loads across the leading carriage of the train.[115]
At 17:41 on 26 October 2005, the rear bogie of unit 508124 derailed in the Loop tunnel between Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central.[116][117] Due to concerns by Network Rail as to the condition of the track, there had long been a temporary speed restriction of 20 mph (32 km/h) in the tunnel, although at the time of the derailment the train was travelling at only 12 mph (19 km/h). None of the 119 passengers were injured; the guard attended hospital overnight with a neck injury, but was not detained.[113] In August 2006, a report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) cited poor track maintenance, inadequacy of the rail fastening system, and the track infrastructure and trains not being designed as a complete system, as causes of the derailment.[115][118] Liverpool-bound services terminated at James Street instead of going around the Loop while investigation and track renewal work took place.[119][120][121]
On 19 April 2006, a small fire in the Mersey Railway Tunnel caused electrics to short circuit. The 06:30 service from Ellesmere Port to Liverpool Central was in the tunnel at the time of the incident. All 120 passengers were escorted 400 yards (370 m) through the tunnel to
At 11:57 on 11 January 2007, unit 507019 hit the buffers at West Kirby as it was arriving from Liverpool Central. There were no injuries to the 20–30 passengers, but the driver and guard were treated for shock and minor rib injuries respectively.[124] The train was travelling at around 5 mph (8.0 km/h) at the time of impact when it demolished the buffers and caused other minor damage.[125][126][127][128][129] The unit was towed to Crewe Works and repaired.[130]
On 30 October 2007, a fire broke out on a Liverpool Central to Chester service. The train was evacuated at Bromborough Rake. The fire was caused by an electrical fault, and the carriage involved was damaged.[131]
The West Kirby branch of the line has several level crossings, and accidents at these, involving pedestrian fatalities, have taken place in July 2007,[132][133] January 2008,[134][135] and November 2009.[136][137][138][139][140]
See also
- Commuter rail in the United Kingdom
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- ^ Murphy, Liam (26 January 2009). "Appendices of Proof of Evidence by Mr Steven Harrison" (PDF). Public Inquiry Document Library. Knowsley Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- ^ Barker, Kelly (11 January 2007). "Train driver knocked out in crash". Wirral Globe. Birkenhead. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- ^ Knight, Robert (14 January 2007). "Two Injured as Train Hits Buffers". Mersey Trains. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- ^ Bramley, Dave (27 April 2007). "507019 at Crewe Works while vehicle 64423 is under repair. :: 100_2814m.jpg". Fotopic.net. Retrieved 11 August 2010.[dead link]
- ^ Fenna, Kelly (2 November 2007). "Train evacuated after fire broke out". Wirral Globe. Birkenhead. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
- ^ Hughes, Lorna (18 April 2008). "Widow killed on Merseyrail line". Liverpool Daily Post. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ Dunn, Justin (31 July 2007). "Woman killed at railway crossing". Wirral Globe. Birkenhead. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ Core, Kevin (24 January 2008). "Clive will be missed by all who knew him". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ Dunn, Justin (30 January 2008). "Hoylake says farewell to a 'fine friend'". Wirral Globe. Birkenhead. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ "Man killed at Wirral level crossing in Hoylake". Liverpool Echo. 17 November 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ John (17 November 2009). "Man Dies At Hoylake Crossing". Hoylake Junction. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ Hughes, Lorna (18 November 2009). "Investigation launched after man dies at rail crossing on Wirral's West Kirby line". Liverpool Daily Post. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ Hughes, Lorna (18 November 2009). "Probe after third death on Wirral Line in three years". Wirral News. Liverpool. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
- ^ "Probe as man dies on Hoylake railway". Liverpool Echo. 18 November 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
Bibliography
- Baughan, Peter E. (1980). Regional history of the railways of Great Britain: North and Mid Wales. Vol. 11 (illustrated ed.). Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 9780715378502.
- Beeching, Richard (February 1965). The development of the major railway trunk routes. London: British Railways Board. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
- Beeching, Richard (27 March 1963). The Reshaping of British Railways - Part 1: Report. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
- Bradshaw's Railway Manual, Shareholders' Guide and Directory for 1889. London: W.J. Adams. 1889. OCLC 173728390.
- ISBN 9780711000247.
- Duffy, Michael Ciaran (2003). Electric railways 1880 - 1990. London: The Institution of Electrical Engineers. ISBN 9780852968055.
- Gahan, John W. (1983). The Line Beneath The Liners: A hundred years of Mersey Railway sights and sounds. Birkenhead: Countyvise. ISBN 9780907768401.
- Holt, Geoffrey Ogden (27 July 1978). A regional history of the railways of Great Britain: The North West. Vol. 10. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 9780715375211.
- Locomotive Railway Carriage & Wagon Review. Vol. 31. Locomotive Pub. Co. 1925.
- The Railway News and Joint-Stock Journal. London: The Office of the "Railway News". December 1864. OCLC 145379756.
- OCLC 4814919.
- Simmons, Jack; Biddle, Gordon (1997). The Oxford Companion to British Railway History From 1603 to the 1990s. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192116970.
- The Story of Merseyrail. Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive and British Rail. December 1978. OCLC 8740619.
- van de Velde, Didier (1999). Changing Trains: Railway Reform and the Role of Competition - The Experience of Six Countries. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 9781840148787.
- Whishaw, Francis (1838). Analysis of railways: consisting of a series of reports on the railways projected in England and Wales, in the year M.DCCC.XXXVII (2nd ed.). London: John Weale. OCLC 642411114.
Further reading
- "Merseyrail loop tunnels to be finally pumped dry". OCLC 49953699.
External links
- Media related to Wirral Line at Wikimedia Commons