Northern Line (Merseyrail)

For other uses, see Northern Line (disambiguation).

Northern Line (Merseyrail)
A Northern Line Class 507 at Liverpool Central.
Overview
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Liverpool North West England
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Merseyrail
Rolling stock	British Rail Class 507 British Rail Class 508
Technical
Track gauge	Standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)

Merseyrail Map. The Northern Line is in blue

[v · d · e]Northern Line

Legend Preston to Ormskirk Line Southport to Manchester Birkdale Ormskirk (Divided Platform) Hillside Aughton Park Ainsdale Town Green Freshfield Maghull M58 M57 Formby Old Roan Hightown Aintree Hall Road Orrell Park Blundellsands & Crosby Walton Waterloo Kirkby to Wigan Line Seaforth & Litherland Kirkby Bootle New Strand Fazakerley Bootle Oriel Road Rice Lane Bank Hall Kirkdale Kirkdale TMD Sandhills Moorfields For Wirral Line Liverpool Lime Street (Wirral Line only) Liverpool Central For Wirral Line Saint James Brunswick St Michaels Aigburth Cressington Garston (Merseyside) City Line Liverpool South Parkway Hunts Cross City Line

The Northern Line is one of the two commuter rail lines operated^[1] by Merseyrail in Merseyside, England. The other line is the Wirral Line. A third line of the Merseyrail Network, the City Line, is not owned or operated by Merseyrail, although funded by Merseytravel.

The Northern Line passes underground through Liverpool city centre and has four termini at:

• Hunts Cross to the south.
• Southport to the north.
• Ormskirk to the north.
• Kirkby to the north.

Description

The line runs from Hunts Cross via the former Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) route towards Liverpool Central. Brunswick station between St Michaels and Liverpool Central was added in 1998 to provide a connection to the Brunswick Business Park. Just south of Liverpool Central, the line leaves the CLC route (which is in tunnel at that point) into a 1970s tunnel which drops the tunnel to a lower level, running into the former underground Mersey Railway Liverpool Central (Low Level) station. North of Central Station the line uses the former Mersey Railway tunnel for about half of the route to the next station, Moorfields, a new underground station built in the 1970s to replace the surface-level Liverpool Exchange. North of Moorfields station, the route emerges from the tunnel to join the former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway lines from Exchange station.

After the next station, Sandhills, the former Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway line 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.

Trains from Hunts Cross continue to Southport, while trains to Ormskirk and Kirkby start at Liverpool Central station. Daytime trains operate every 15 minutes on each of the three routes (Monday to Saturday) and every 30 minutes on Sundays, except in the summer months when Sunday frequencies on the Southport - Hunts Cross route are increased to every 15 minutes. On the same route, the frequency is as little as every 8 minutes during peak hours. Trains on the Southport - Hunts Cross and Ormskirk - Liverpool Central routes are increased to 6 carriages during peak hours. Weekend services during the summer on the Southport route are 6 carriages all day.

Electrification

The Northern Line is electrified using a 750V DC third rail.

• The section of line from the old Liverpool Exchange Station to Southport on to Crossens and Meols Cop, was the first section to be electrified in 1904.
• The branch to Aintree, on the current Northern Line Ormskirk branch, followed in 1906, being extended to Ormskirk in 1913.
• The Kirkby branch and the line south of Liverpool as far as Garston were electrified to coincide with the construction of the Link Tunnel creating Merseyrail in 1978.
• Electrification was cut back to Southport in the north in 1978.
• The section from Garston to Hunts Cross was electrified in 1983, making Hunts Cross the southern terminal station.

Connections

Interchange with the Wirral Line is available at Liverpool Central and Moorfields stations. As the Northern Line does not pass through Liverpool's mainline station, Liverpool Lime Street, passengers must use the Wirral Line as a connection. In practice, given the relatively short distance between Liverpool Central and Liverpool Lime Street stations, many prefer to walk. Using the Wirral Line as a connection from Liverpool Central to Liverpool Lime Street requires passengers to change at James Street station. This is the only station on the Loop with two Wirral Line platforms, one coming into Liverpool and out going out.

Interchange with other National Rail services can be made at Southport, Ormskirk, Kirkby, Liverpool South Parkway and Hunts Cross.

The new Liverpool South Parkway station opened on 11 June 2006, replacing Garston station and providing connections to the City Line formerly available at Allerton.

Stations

Former stations

This list is incomplete.

• Churchtown (Southport-Crossens branch)
• Crossens (Southport-Crossens branch)
• Ford[1] (North Mersey Branch)
• Garston (Closed 10 June 2006; replaced by Liverpool South Parkway)
• Hesketh Park (Southport-Crossens branch)
• Linacre Road [2] (North Mersey Branch).
• Liverpool Exchange (1850-1977: Southport/Kirkby/Ormskirk branches)
• Meols Cop (Still open, but no longer part of the Northern Line: Manchester and Southport Railway)
• Otterspool (Closed 1951)
• St James' (Closed 1917)

See also

• LYR electric units
• A59 road, which serves the same route at the line.

References

1. ^ Merseyrail - A brief History, merseytravel.gov.uk, http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/pdf/history_Merseyrail.pdf, retrieved 2009-01-04 

External links

• Merseyrail official site

Coordinates: 53°24′16″N 2°58′47″W / 53.4045°N 2.9798°W / 53.4045; -2.9798