Passenger interchange to the Wirral Line is available at Moorfields and Liverpool Central, and to the City Line at Hunts Cross and Liverpool South Parkway. Liverpool South Parkway also allows interchange with regional and long-distance services, while connections to services operated by Northern Trains are possible at Kirkby, Ormskirk and Southport.
The line runs from Hunts Cross in the south of Liverpool towards Liverpool Central. Brunswick station between St Michaels and Liverpool Central was added in 1998 to provide a connection to the Brunswick Business Park. In the tunnel just south of Liverpool Central, the line drops into a 1970s tunnel to a lower level into the underground Mersey Railway Liverpool Central (Low Level) station. North of Central the line uses the Mersey Railway tunnel for about half of the route to Moorfields, an underground station built in the 1970s to replace the surface-level Liverpool Exchange. North of Moorfields, the route emerges from the tunnel to join the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway lines from the former Exchange station.
Generally, trains from Hunts Cross continue to Southport, while trains to Ormskirk and Kirkby start at Liverpool Central. Daytime trains operate every 15minutes on each of the three routes Monday to Saturday daytime and every 30minutes evenings and Sundays. Until 2017, summer Sunday frequencies on the Southport route were increased to every 15minutes. There are no peak hour frequency increases but trains on the Southport and Ormskirk routes are increased to six carriages, as are weekend services during the summer on the Southport route.
Special timetables are implemented for major events such as the Grand National meeting at Aintree and golf tournaments at Birkdale. These involve changing services on all branches and the closure of stations in anticipation of overcrowding risks.
Passenger volume
Passengers from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2010.
The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail and Road estimates of station usage. The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve-month periods that start in April. Methodology may vary year on year. Usage from the periods 2019-20 and especially 2020-21 onwards have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic
Service pattern
There are a total of 12 trains per hour (tph) running on the central section between Sandhills and Liverpool Central. The service pattern is:[6](Not all stops listed; trains call at every station on their route.)
Liverpool Exchange to Southport, Crossens and Meols Cop was the first section to be electrified, in 1904.
The branch to Aintree, on the Ormskirk branch, followed in 1906, extended to Ormskirk in 1913.
The Kirkby branch and the line south to Garston were electrified to create a north–south line through the Link Tunnel in 1978.
Electrification was cut back to Southport in the north in 1964 as part of the Southport-Preston line closure, stations closing which previously had had electric services were St Lukes, Hesketh Park, Churchtown, and Crossens, electric services also ceased to Meols Cop station although the conductor rail remained until 1970 to serve the large depot at Meols Cop, and this station continues to serve trains on the Southport to Wigan/Manchester line.[7]
Garston to Hunts Cross was electrified in 1983.
Connections
Merseyrail service map, with the Northern line in blue
Interchange with the Wirral line is available at Liverpool Central and Moorfields. As the Northern line does not pass through Liverpool Lime Street, passengers from other rail networks must use the Wirral line as a connection. As there is only a direct escalator down to the Wirral line towards Birkenhead at Liverpool Central and given the short distance between Central and Lime Street most passengers prefer to walk rather than use the several escalators necessary to travel between the two stations.
Liverpool city centre stations have lifts for wheelchairs buggies and heavy luggage but they are small.
Interchange with other National Rail services can be made at Southport, Ormskirk, Kirkby, Liverpool South Parkway and Hunts Cross.
Liverpool South Parkway opened on 11 June 2006, replacing Garston and providing connections to the City Line formerly available at Allerton.
Future
Plans to re-open St James station have been proposed. Merseytravel agreed to work with Liverpool Vision in March 2014 to investigate the cost of re-opening the station and its projected usage.[8] Merseytravel listed the re-opening of St James station as a 'top rail project' on a Rail Development and Delivery Committee report in 2016.[9]
As part of Lancashire County Council's plans to build a new railway station in Skelmersdale, they have proposed an extension to the Northern Line that would change the terminus of the Kirkby branch of the line from Kirkby to Skelmersdale. The proposals could see a new station built at Headbolt Lane and Merseyrail services also passing through Rainford railway station. By September 2017, Merseytravel and Lancashire County Council had committed £5million of funding to the scheme. Merseytravel believe the scheme could cost around £300million to develop and could be ready in a decade.[10]
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Long Term Rail Strategy document of October 2017, page 37, states a review in 2020 to introduce new Merseyrail battery trains will be undertaken, in view to put Preston onto the Merseyrail network by extending the Merseyrail Northern Line from Ormskirk to Preston. The aim is to have Preston one of the terminals of the Northern Line. The document states, "The potential use of battery powered Merseyrail units may improve the business case".[11]
^"Merseyrail - About Merseyrail". Merseyrail. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
^(PDF). Network Rail. 1 August 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
^(PDF). Network Rail. 25 March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 April 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
^(PDF). Network Rail. 31 March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
^(PDF), merseytravel.gov.uk, archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2006, retrieved 4 January 2009
^"Merseyrail Northern Line Timetable" (PDF). merseyrail.org. 22 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^"Disused Stations: Meols Cop Triangle & Electric Car Sheds".
^Thomas, JoeJoe (21 January 2015). "Merseytravel plan St James station re-opening study in next financial year". liverpoolecho. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
^"Merseytravel Committee Rail Development and Delivery" (PDF). Merseytravel. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
^Houghton, Alistair (18 September 2017). "Skelmersdale rail link moves step closer as £5m funding revealed". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
^(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links
Media related to Northern Line (Merseyrail) at Wikimedia Commons
northern, line, merseyrail, other, uses, northern, line, disambiguation, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sour. For other uses see Northern line disambiguation This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Northern line Merseyrail news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2010 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Merseyrail Northern line is a cross city railway running from Hunts Cross in south Liverpool then by way of an underground section through Liverpool s city centre to termini in the north at Southport Merseyside Ormskirk Lancashire and Kirkby Merseyside It and the Wirral Line are commuter rail services operated by Merseyrail 5 serving Merseyside A third line the City Line is not owned or operated by Merseyrail although stations inside Merseytravel s area are branded as Merseyrail All three lines are funded by Merseytravel Northern lineA Northern line Class 507 at Liverpool CentralOverviewStatusOperationalOwnerNetwork RailLocaleLiverpoolNorth West EnglandTerminiSouthport Ormskirk KirkbyHunts Cross Liverpool CentralStations36ServiceTypeCommuter railSystemNational RailOperator s Merseyrail 1 Depot s Kirkdale TMDRolling stockClass 777 from January 2023 Class 507 Class 508TechnicalNumber of tracksTwoTrack gauge4 ft 8 1 2 in 1 435 mm standard gaugeElectrification750 V DC third rail 2 Operating speed60 mph 97 km h maximum 3 4 Route map Click to expand vteNorthern lineLegendOrmskirk branch lineto Preston Manchester Southport lineSouthport Ormskirk divided platform Southport C S Aughton ParkBirkdale Town GreenHillside Maghull NorthAinsdale MaghullFreshfield M58 Formby M57 Hightown Old RoanHall Road AintreeBlundellsands amp Crosby Orrell ParkWaterloo WaltonSeaforth amp Litherland Kirkby branch lineto Wigan WallgateBootle New Strand KirkbyBootle Oriel Road FazakerleyBank Hall Rice LaneKirkdaleKirkdale TMDSandhillsMoorfieldsStock transfer linevia James Street Liverpool Lime StreetWirral Lineto Birkenhead Hamilton Sq Liverpool CentralSt James proposed BrunswickSt MichaelsAigburthCressington City Lineto Liverpool Lime StreetGarston closed LiverpoolSouth ParkwayCity Lineto Runcorn Hunts CrossCity Lineto Warrington CentralPassenger interchange to the Wirral Line is available at Moorfields and Liverpool Central and to the City Line at Hunts Cross and Liverpool South Parkway Liverpool South Parkway also allows interchange with regional and long distance services while connections to services operated by Northern Trains are possible at Kirkby Ormskirk and Southport Contents 1 Description 2 Passenger volume 3 Service pattern 4 History 4 1 Electrification 5 Connections 6 Future 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksDescription EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Northern line Merseyrail news newspapers books scholar JSTOR December 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message The line runs from Hunts Cross in the south of Liverpool towards Liverpool Central Brunswick station between St Michaels and Liverpool Central was added in 1998 to provide a connection to the Brunswick Business Park In the tunnel just south of Liverpool Central the line drops into a 1970s tunnel to a lower level into the underground Mersey Railway Liverpool Central Low Level station North of Central the line uses the Mersey Railway tunnel for about half of the route to Moorfields an underground station built in the 1970s to replace the surface level Liverpool Exchange North of Moorfields the route emerges from the tunnel to join the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway lines from the former Exchange station After Sandhills the former Liverpool Crosby and Southport Railway branches off towards Southport while the other routes continue to Kirkdale on what was a joint section of track between Liverpool Ormskirk and Preston Railway and the Liverpool and Bury Railway After Kirkdale the Ormskirk and Kirkby lines diverge Generally trains from Hunts Cross continue to Southport while trains to Ormskirk and Kirkby start at Liverpool Central Daytime trains operate every 15 minutes on each of the three routes Monday to Saturday daytime and every 30 minutes evenings and Sundays Until 2017 summer Sunday frequencies on the Southport route were increased to every 15 minutes There are no peak hour frequency increases but trains on the Southport and Ormskirk routes are increased to six carriages as are weekend services during the summer on the Southport route Special timetables are implemented for major events such as the Grand National meeting at Aintree and golf tournaments at Birkdale These involve changing services on all branches and the closure of stations in anticipation of overcrowding risks Passenger volume EditPassengers from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2010 Station usageStation name 2002 03 2004 05 2005 06 2006 07 2007 08 2008 09 2009 10 2010 11 2011 12 2012 13 2013 14 2014 15 2015 16 2016 17 2017 18 2018 19 2019 20 2020 21 2021 22Southport branchSouthport 1 080 767 1 549 576 1 582 115 1 669 056 1 681 444 3 094 576 2 949 656 2 886 448Birkdale 164 753 251 641 256 424 270 277 289 106 820 240 783 066 770 104Hillside 125 031 158 618 178 252 177 678 180 744 688 812 579 460 590 254Ainsdale 210 317 289 260 322 911 328 423 345 791 998 438 955 328 972 616Freshfield 169 370 249 567 266 415 277 933 283 772 827 718 798 444 795 312Formby 279 822 424 875 482 312 525 841 553 546 1 668 128 1 576 974 1 595 890Hightown 84 188 117 664 133 241 141 686 150 991 439 588 409 956 416 844Hall Road 50 377 69 251 76 158 88 355 91 686 288 584 270 198 269 744Blundellsands and Crosby 296 685 457 346 518 823 561 676 599 071 1 839 920 1 717 962 1 735 882Waterloo Merseyside 433 285 601 447 660 922 669 416 720 522 1 136 872 1 022 416 1 014 942Seaforth and Litherland 176 145 300 292 335 884 337 209 362 341 832 894 766 468 789 156Bootle New Strand 345 451 415 685 404 558 348 458 405 802 977 696 909 922 931 806Bootle Oriel Road 57 791 155 295 203 956 249 030 209 041 523 944 511 614 521 576Bank Hall 51 477 71 052 74 624 62 692 85 014 197 086 171 010 172 426Ormskirk branchOrmskirk 726 015 693 376 716 362 733 381 770 621 1 026 546 998 858 878 782Aughton Park 95 060 86 413 83 012 89 200 85 699 124 736 109 592 96 224Town Green 188 160 183 233 203 324 202 425 206 180 259 972 239 100 193 200Maghull 394 191 431 945 502 020 610 318 696 791 2 144 046 1 999 436 1 956 936Old Roan 177 332 260 871 284 901 305 589 337 166 918 262 861 176 863 568Aintree 284 514 388 230 376 908 412 132 473 143 1 251 404 1 173 276 1 197 258Orrell Park 369 037 452 889 473 979 469 256 491 948 1 257 746 1 170 676 1 192 140Walton Merseyside 65 155 93 261 110 471 113 214 113 131 179 148 162 612 164 478Kirkdale 299 396 410 808 452 155 441 525 479 342 1 179 346 1 085 418 1 099 018Kirkby branchKirkby 350 098 516 007 560 285 639 337 739 590 2 191 476 2 050 590 2 006 486Fazakerley 215 019 300 552 329 306 318 664 330 843 889 816 832 474 864 108Rice Lane 64 677 102 525 116 590 118 113 133 723 330 818 307 116 323 310Kirkdale See above See above See above See above See above See above See above See aboveBank Hall Kirkdale to Hunts CrossSandhills 178 991 272 009 314 309 306 134 207 944 390 346 446 210 495 458Moorfields 339 533 309 014 383 815 1 577 540 2 141 398 5 141 655 4 445 984 4 637 356Liverpool Central 1 086 536 982 498 1 293 790 7 169 618 8 856 570 19 635 814 18 413 982 17 958 028Brunswick 224 476 352 854 407 134 410 813 442 711 1 061 698 979 312 963 252St Michaels 195 408 289 183 365 547 360 976 378 944 562 860 506 288 469 570Aigburth 146 283 179 458 241 063 246 583 265 442 761 362 696 992 681 774Cressington 74 789 120 034 152 383 164 734 170 409 456 042 424 174 421 076Garston Merseyside 141 022 190 778 222 247 42 886 Closed Closed Closed ClosedLiverpool South Parkway 288 845 419 681 568 822 581 898 641 662Hunts Cross 277 961 326 258 443 837 464 367 503 426 1 269 710 1 190 934 1 172 150The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail and Road estimates of station usage The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve month periods that start in April Methodology may vary year on year Usage from the periods 2019 20 and especially 2020 21 onwards have been affected by the Covid 19 pandemicService pattern EditThere are a total of 12 trains per hour tph running on the central section between Sandhills and Liverpool Central The service pattern is 6 Not all stops listed trains call at every station on their route Northern LineRoute tphMon Sat Sun Southport Formby Sandhills Liverpool Central Liverpool South Parkway Hunts Cross 4 2Ormskirk Sandhills Liverpool Central 4 2Kirkby Sandhills Liverpool Central 4 2History Edit 1909 map showing former linesThe Northern Line was introduced in 1977 In 2006 Garston station was replaced by Liverpool South Parkway station Electrification Edit The line is electrified using 750 V DC third rail identical to the third rail system present in southern England Liverpool Exchange to Southport Crossens and Meols Cop was the first section to be electrified in 1904 The branch to Aintree on the Ormskirk branch followed in 1906 extended to Ormskirk in 1913 The Kirkby branch and the line south to Garston were electrified to create a north south line through the Link Tunnel in 1978 Electrification was cut back to Southport in the north in 1964 as part of the Southport Preston line closure stations closing which previously had had electric services were St Lukes Hesketh Park Churchtown and Crossens electric services also ceased to Meols Cop station although the conductor rail remained until 1970 to serve the large depot at Meols Cop and this station continues to serve trains on the Southport to Wigan Manchester line 7 Garston to Hunts Cross was electrified in 1983 Connections Edit Merseyrail service map with the Northern line in blueInterchange with the Wirral line is available at Liverpool Central and Moorfields As the Northern line does not pass through Liverpool Lime Street passengers from other rail networks must use the Wirral line as a connection As there is only a direct escalator down to the Wirral line towards Birkenhead at Liverpool Central and given the short distance between Central and Lime Street most passengers prefer to walk rather than use the several escalators necessary to travel between the two stations Liverpool city centre stations have lifts for wheelchairs buggies and heavy luggage but they are small Interchange with other National Rail services can be made at Southport Ormskirk Kirkby Liverpool South Parkway and Hunts Cross Liverpool South Parkway opened on 11 June 2006 replacing Garston and providing connections to the City Line formerly available at Allerton Future EditPlans to re open St James station have been proposed Merseytravel agreed to work with Liverpool Vision in March 2014 to investigate the cost of re opening the station and its projected usage 8 Merseytravel listed the re opening of St James station as a top rail project on a Rail Development and Delivery Committee report in 2016 9 As part of Lancashire County Council s plans to build a new railway station in Skelmersdale they have proposed an extension to the Northern Line that would change the terminus of the Kirkby branch of the line from Kirkby to Skelmersdale The proposals could see a new station built at Headbolt Lane and Merseyrail services also passing through Rainford railway station By September 2017 Merseytravel and Lancashire County Council had committed 5 million of funding to the scheme Merseytravel believe the scheme could cost around 300 million to develop and could be ready in a decade 10 Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Long Term Rail Strategy document of October 2017 page 37 states a review in 2020 to introduce new Merseyrail battery trains will be undertaken in view to put Preston onto the Merseyrail network by extending the Merseyrail Northern Line from Ormskirk to Preston The aim is to have Preston one of the terminals of the Northern Line The document states The potential use of battery powered Merseyrail units may improve the business case 11 See also EditLYR electric units A59 road which follows the same route References Edit Merseyrail About Merseyrail Merseyrail Retrieved 30 May 2011 04 Current Capability PDF Network Rail 1 August 2008 Archived from the original PDF on 18 January 2016 Retrieved 30 May 2011 Merseyside Route Utilisation Strategy PDF Network Rail 25 March 2009 Archived from the original PDF on 7 April 2009 Retrieved 4 August 2010 Network Capability Baseline Declaration 1 Line speeds 2 London North Western Route North PDF Network Rail 31 March 2009 Archived from the original PDF on 18 January 2016 Retrieved 4 August 2010 Merseyrail A brief History PDF merseytravel gov uk archived from the original PDF on 28 September 2006 retrieved 4 January 2009 Merseyrail Northern Line Timetable PDF merseyrail org 22 July 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Disused Stations Meols Cop Triangle amp Electric Car Sheds Thomas JoeJoe 21 January 2015 Merseytravel plan St James station re opening study in next financial year liverpoolecho Retrieved 20 September 2017 Merseytravel Committee Rail Development and Delivery PDF Merseytravel Retrieved 7 September 2017 Houghton Alistair 18 September 2017 Skelmersdale rail link moves step closer as 5m funding revealed Liverpool Echo Retrieved 21 September 2017 Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 7 November 2017 Retrieved 3 March 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link External links Edit Media related to Northern Line Merseyrail at Wikimedia Commons 53 24 16 N 2 58 47 W 53 4045 N 2 9798 W 53 4045 2 9798 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Northern line Merseyrail amp oldid 1164607116, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
