Hamilton Square railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Hamilton Square


manager = Merseyrail
locale = Birkenhead
borough = Wirral
code = BKQ
pte = Merseytravel
zone = B1
usage0405 = 1.146
usage0506 = 1.239
usage0607 = 1.134
platforms = 3
years = 1886
1903
1977
events = Opened
Electrified
Extended

Hamilton Square railway station (named on rail tickets as "Birkenhead Hamilton Sq") is situated near Hamilton Square in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. It is an underground station, the platforms being reached by lifts from the surface.

History

Hamilton Square station was built by the Mersey Railway in 1886, on its original route from James Street station in Liverpool to Green Lane, later extended to Rock Ferry and Birkenhead Park. Just south of the station, the lines towards Rock Ferry and Birkenhead Park diverge; this junction was originally built as a flat crossing.

The Mersey Railway was electrified in 1903, as despite the journey being far quicker than travel aboard the Mersey Ferries passengers were not keen on travelling underground on steam trains due to the smoke from the coal-powered locomotives. The "Frequent Electric Trains" sign was erected on the outside of the station's large hydraulic lift-tower to publicise this.

In the 1970s, as part of the expansion programme of the Merseyrail network, a burrowing junction was built at Hamilton Square so that trains heading towards New Brighton and West Kirby did not have to cross the path of trains coming from Rock Ferry. Along with the construction of the loop tunnel in the centre of Liverpool, this improved the capacity of the Wirral Line, allowing increased train frequencies. As part of this project, Hamilton Square gained a new platform (Platform 3) for New Brighton and West Kirby services, and the rest of the station was refurbished. The station now has a new [http://www.atoc-comms.org/dynamic/tocpress-story.php?toc=999917 'M to Go'] shop, which sells tickets and snacks, opened in 2007 in the main booking hall.

Services

Trains operate every five minutes (Monday-Saturday daytime) to James Street and around the Liverpool city centre loop. In the other direction, trains operate every 15 minutes to each of New Brighton, West Kirby and Hooton. From Hooton, trains continue every 30 minutes to each of Chester and Ellesmere Port. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes to each of the four destinations, giving a service every 5-10 minutes to Liverpool.

External links

* [http://www.merseyrail.org/stations/?iStationId=32 Station information] from Merseyrail

rail two to one|previous1=Birkenhead Central
route1=Merseyrail
Wirral Line
Ellesmere Port/Chester
route2=Merseyrail
Wirral Line
New Brighton/West Kirby|next=James Street
previous2=Conway Park|col=008800
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