Developing Rail in the Liverpool City Region …Supporting Growth in the Sub-Regional, Regional and National Economies
Committed rail investment serving LCR
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- Navigate this page:
- Trans-Pennine Express Service Level Increase
- Lime Street Re-Signalling and Re-Modelling
- Setting out a prioritised Long Term Rail Strategy for LCR
- 1. Improving National Passenger and Freight Connections
- 2. Enabling Growth on the Merseyrail Network
- 5. Facilitating a High Quality Service on the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) Line
- 6. Connecting via the Halton Curve
- 7. Improving Connections from Chester and Ellesmere Port
- 10. Enhancing the Borderlands Line
- 11. Utilising Freight Lines for Passenger Usage
- 12. Selected New Stations
- Delivery and prioritisation
Committed rail investment serving LCRIn addition to HS2, a number of committed schemes are planned for delivery within the next 5-10 years. These schemes are expected to deliver a range of improvements to rail services in the LCR, particularly at Lime Street and on routes between Liverpool and Manchester as well as between Liverpool and Wigan. These will go some way towards addressing some of the issues and constraints identified above. The four key schemes are summarised below. Northern HubThe Northern Hub is a programme of targeted upgrades to the railway in the North West of England and Yorkshire, principally in the Manchester area. Currently scheduled to complete by 2019, this programme will deliver a step change in the provision of rail services in the North West, allowing up to 700 more trains to run each day and providing capacity for an additional 44 million passengers a year. Amongst many other benefits, this programme will deliver: new platforms at Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road and Manchester Airport, and the construction of the Ordsall Chord (enabling the operation of direct rail services from Piccadilly to Victoria), each of which will allow directly or indirectly enhanced inter-regional rail connectivity from Liverpool Lime Street and other stations in the City Region (e.g. Liverpool South Parkway, Widnes, St Helen’s Junction). ElectrificationBritain’s rail network is benefitting from an unprecedented level of investment in electrification, and Liverpool is set to benefit from this investment in the near future. Network Rail is currently electrifying a number of key rail routes across the North of England in order to improve the speed, performance and reliability of the railway as well as to reduce its impact on the environment. The northern electrification programme will improve travel between key cities in the North including Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Blackpool, Leeds and York, and is seen as vital in supporting the North’s long-term economic growth. The programme is due for completion by the end of 2018, with faster, higher capacity electric trains planned to be in introduced between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool, and Liverpool and Wigan, by December 2014. The combination of the Northern Hub and trans-Pennine electrification unlocks a key bottleneck that will allow a range of service improvements, including shorter journey times, higher frequencies and new service patterns. The Northern Rail and Trans Pennine Express franchises are due to be re-let from February 2016 and will present an opportunity to exploit the opportunities created by the new infrastructure.
Setting out a prioritised Long Term Rail Strategy for LCRThe Long Term Rail Strategy for LCR (LTRS-LCR) provides a 20-year vision for rail infrastructure and services and sets out a prioritised package of schemes that will address the challenges facing LCR’s railways and provide a sustainable foundation for growth. The LTRS-LCR provides a coherent vision for what is needed and how positive change can be achieved. There are interdependencies between these schemes and the potential benefits multiply through delivering them together. The package of schemes which are summarised below have been prioritised to ensure that resources are focussed at the most pressing needs of the region. The process by which these schemes have been developed and prioritised is detailed in the LTRS5. Many of the schemes are still at the early stages of development and further work is required to define them as specific projects and to establish a demonstrable business case. The prioritised schemes identified in the LTRS-LCR are summarised below. 1. Improving National Passenger and Freight ConnectionsIt is considered imperative that LCR be better connected to the national passenger and freight networks. At present, no other core English city has fewer direct connections to other core cities (and only Cardiff in Britain has fewer). This is despite strong cultural links with Glasgow, other northern cities, and towns and cities in Wales. In terms of freight, the Port of Liverpool is a key asset for the whole country, particularly the north of England, and has the potential to reduce reliance on southern ports, reducing the impact of road haulage. The port’s owners (Peel Ports) have significant aspirations to increase both the absolute capacity of the port and the proportion of freight carried to and from it by rail, however this will only be possible with investment in infrastructure, including better links to the port from the national network. Merseytravel wishes to address this shortfall in national connectivity by promoting enhanced links to other core cities including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leicester, Bristol and Cardiff. In particular, Merseytravel has an ambition for new services between:
Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow Central / Edinburgh Waverley; Liverpool and Leicester via Crewe and Derby; Southport and Leeds via Manchester Victoria and the Calder Valley. Additionally, there are aspirations to increase the inter-peak frequency of Liverpool - London services from one to two trains per hour and extension the London Euston to Crewe inter-urban service to Liverpool Lime Street. The delivery of improvements to the Halton Curve (described below) will also open up opportunities to significantly improve connectivity between the LCR, West Cheshire and Wales and possibly allow services to run further south to Cardiff/Bristol. A significant part of this package is a resolution of the conflict between freight and passenger services, and a key scheme is to provide a grade separated junction between the Bootle Branch and its feeder lines to allow freight services access without hindering passengers. This would have clear advantages in separating passenger and freight traffic. It should be noted however, that the ongoing Northern Ports study is looking at network requirements for freight services into and out of Liverpool and will make further recommendations regarding the provision of adequate capacity. 2. Enabling Growth on the Merseyrail NetworkThe Class 507 and 508 electric units that currently operate on the Northern and Wirral lines are amongst the oldest units in operation on the national network. Merseytravel is considering replacing this fleet with higher capacity, faster accelerating units with future possible provision for dual-voltage if required. New trains would offer the possibility of shorter journey times and with additional vehicles, more capacity and an expanded network could be delivered. But new rolling stock would also necessitate investment in depot facilities and modifications to infrastructure, including upgrading the traction power supply and signalling. As an interim measure it is possible that some or all units will be refurbished prior to their replacement. 3. Increasing Capacity in Liverpool City Centre Responding to one of the most critical future issues for the rail network in LCR, this package aims to alleviate the capacity situation at Central Liverpool stations in a number of ways. By a combination of facilitating greater use of other stations in the City Centre, particularly Moorfields which is underused outside of peak, times, and a comprehensive capacity enhancement scheme at Liverpool Central, the platform crowding issues at certain times of the day are to be brought under control. Concurrently the creation of a Liverpool South Parkway Turnback facility and other rail capacity increasing measures will allow a higher proportion of trains into Central to pass through. Thirdly, rail and passenger capacity enhancements at Lime Street will ensure that it is ready and waiting for HS2 in 2026, and able to accommodate the longest trains to ensure that the city can compete at the highest level. 4. Improving Connectivity on the City Line Northern Rail currently operates three local services under the City Rail brand between Liverpool and Wigan, Warrington and Manchester. Merseytravel aspires to improve the City Line services and bring them to a similar level of connectivity and frequency as the Merseyrail Northern and Wirral lines. The electrification of the Manchester/Liverpool and Manchester/Wigan lines will enable the introduction of electric rolling stock, which will deliver service quality and journey time improvements. Merseytravel also aspires to significantly improve connectivity between the City Lines and Northern Line. Currently, City Line services only interchange with the Northern Line at Liverpool South Parkway. By connecting the City and Northern lines via the Wapping Tunnel, two simultaneous problems can be resolved: firstly the lack of southern destinations on the Northern Line which limits the ability to turn back services anywhere apart from Central can be reduced by running services south of Central through the Wapping Tunnel and onto the City Line; secondly the lack of ability to run cross-city services can be resolved by connecting key City, Northern and Wirral Line destinations. In the future services will run freely between the lines and will extend towards Liverpool Airport and Speke with possible extensions to Runcorn.
The rail network of the future as envisaged in this strategy includes a high quality, high frequency clockface service on the CLC rail route between Liverpool and Manchester via Warrington. This would be facilitated by electrification, capacity increases and extension of the Merseyrail services beyond Hunts Cross to Warrington Central and beyond, running alongside faster inter-regional services. 6. Connecting via the Halton CurveThe LCR currently has poor connectivity with Wales and the Welsh Marches, with the exception of the hourlyservice on the Borderlands Line. The loss of these services is partly because there is no direct two-way access between Liverpool and the North Wales line, except via the Wirral Line at Chester (which is inappropriate for long distance services). Merseytravel is therefore proposing that the Halton Curve, a short section of single track line that connects the WCML Liverpool Branch to the Chester/Warrington line, is restored. This will enable the LCR to be better connected with Cheshire West and Chester, Wrexham and North Wales, providing direct access to South Liverpool and Liverpool Airport from a key area of latent demand. When the long-term aspiration for longer distance journeys to and from Cardiff and the North Wales coast via Halton Curve is also considered, the justification for the scheme is enhanced, and this is reflected in the increasing level of support for the scheme from the Welsh Government and from Cheshire West and Chester Council.
There are also aspirations to improve connectivity between Liverpool, Ellesmere Port and communities between Ellesmere Port and Runcorn. One proposal that could deliver these improvements is to enhance shuttle services between Ellesmere Port and Helsby. A more ambitious long term proposal, which would require additional electrification, would be to extend Merseyrail Wirral Line services from Ellesmere Port to Warrington. 8. Serving New Development on the Ormskirk – Preston line Merseytravel is proposing that the line between Ormskirk and Preston is electrified and incorporated into the Northern Line. This would improve connectivity between Preston and Liverpool as well as generate environmental and operational benefits. In particular, this initiative would serve new development in West Lancashire and South Preston. 9. Connecting to Skelmersdale and New Development in Wigan Skelmersdale is a new town with a growing population located in West Lancashire to the North East of Liverpool, but is one of the largest towns in England without a rail station. The strategy proposes that the Northern Line is extended from Kirkby to a new station at Skelmersdale, which could become the new terminus for Wigan-Kirkby services. This will significantly improve the accessibility from Skelmersdale to opportunities with Liverpool and the wider LCR and will help encourage mode shift from car to rail. There would also be the option of extending electrification through to Wigan, enabling the extension of the Northern Line from Kirkby/Skelmersdale to Wigan. 10. Enhancing the Borderlands LineThe Borderlands Line is currently operated by diesel units on a two hourly basis between Wrexham Central and Bidston (a suburb of Birkenhead). The aim of this scheme is to enhance the scope of services to improve direct access to key employment sites at Deeside, Queensferry and Shotton for residential communities in mid and South Wirral and also to significantly improve access to Liverpool City Centre from locations such as Heswall, Neston, Buckley, and Mold. A number of options are under consideration. These include running diesel services to Birkenhead, increasing service frequency, and electrifying part or all of the line. An electrified solution could offer scope to fully incorporate the line into the Wirral Line. The benefits of these improvements would be to attract more people to Merseyrail, to support access to employment along the Borderlands corridor, and to deliver environmental and operational benefits. 11. Utilising Freight Lines for Passenger UsageThere is a long term aspiration to improve access to the rail network for key latent markets within inner Liverpool. Two lines that are currently used exclusively by freight services have been identified as having potential to be used passenger services to meet this aspiration. These are the Bootle Branch, which carries existing freight services between Edge Hill / Wavertree and the Port of Liverpool, and the North Mersey Branch, which is a mothballed line between Aintree on the Ormskirk line and Bootle New Strand on the Southport line. Conversion of the North Mersey Branch route would allow Ormskirk services to be divided between the two routes, and provide an enhanced service to Bootle and Bank Hall stations. Combined with a potential flyover at Sandhills for Southport services, the scheme could have potential line capacity improvements for Ormskirk services, allowing a larger number of trains per hour to serve this and onward destinations. In contrast, usage of the Bootle Branch by passenger services would provide for the first time in the modern era, a direct rail connection to parts of North Liverpool including Fairfield, Newsham Park, Tuebrook and Anfield, potentially providing an additional mode of travel for access to Anfield and Goodison Park football stadia on match days. There are a number of options for how these services could be configured and integrated with the rest of the Merseyrail network, which include the potential integration of the Wapping Tunnel into a new circular route serving both Liverpool Central and Lime Street stations. Both of these schemes are contingent on the findings of the Northern Ports Study. 12. Selected New StationsA number of stakeholders are supporting proposals for new stations in response to planned new developments, new markets and/or areas of perceived latent demand. An initial shortlist of proposed new stations in the LCR is shown in Table 2. Table 2: Shortlisted proposed new stations in the LCR:
13. Improvements to facilitate rail freight growth The strategy’s position on rail freight is contingent on the outcomes of the ongoing Northern Ports study work commissioned by Network Rail and supported by Merseytravel, since this will identify the likely requirements for freight. The strategic value of improving access for rail freight on the northern east-west axis is fully recognised by Rail North partners who are working closely together to ensure that an expanding role for rail freight forms a key part of a long term rail strategy. Clearance of the routes connecting the Seaforth container terminal to accommodate W10 gauge intermodal traffic will be an essential to facilitate growth in rail freight servicing the Port of Liverpool. Given the work involved, it would be prudent to examine the case to clear these lines to the larger W12 gauge for future proofing. The freight line between Bootle and Wavertree provides a critical link for rail freight services between the Port of Liverpool and the wider region. The capacity of this railway is severely limited by current signalling arrangements. A key strategic scheme, currently phased for later in the process but potentially to be moved forward based on the findings of the Northern Ports study, is a high level flyover between the West Coast Mainline Liverpool Branch (at Wavertree) and the Bootle Branch. This would potentially remove a significant conflict for freight at Wavertree junction and improve access for rail freight to and from the Bootle Branch. Delivery and prioritisationFigure 9 highlights the envisaged phasing and priority of the LTRS schemes. All are phased so as to be delivered within the four control periods that make up the next 20 years. This ties in with the timescales of both HS2 Phase 2 and SUPERPORT, both due for full delivery by the end of Control Period 8. With HS2 Phase 2 set to increase traffic on the WCML north of Crewe, it will be key for the success of SUPERPORT to have the capacity available to accommodate additional freight paths. Figure 9: Scheme Phasing and Prioritisation 
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