Warrington Bank Quay railway station

Infobox UK station
name=Warrington Bank Quay


caption=Warrington Bank Quay Station, August 2008
locale =Warrington
borough=Warrington
code=WBQ
manager=Virgin Trains
usage0607=0.830
usage0506=1.262
usage0405=1.055
platforms=4
start=
gridref=

Warrington Bank Quay railway station is a mainline railway station serving the UK town of Warrington. The town centre has two stations on opposite sides of the main shopping area, Warrington Central operating a more frequent service to the neighbouring cities Liverpool and Manchester. A bus shuttle service operates every 20 minutes Monday to Friday daytime between the two, also linking the offices of the North West Development Agency on the Centre Park business park.Nevertheless Bank Quay suffers from a lack of bus links to other parts of Warrington. It does, however, have a large car park and a taxi rank.

The station consists of two island platforms. The easternmost one has 19th century buildings, but the western platform has buildings dating from the 1950s. Passengers enter the station at street level through a functional modern entrance containing an information office and ticket office, and proceed through a subway, reaching the elevated platforms by stairs or a lift. There is a buffet on the eastern platform.

The station's best known landmark is the huge Unilever detergent manufacturing plant which stands overlooking the site.

The station has suffered from years of neglect, and because of this, Virgin Trains have announced improvements to the station are to be made. In 2009, an extension to the existing car park, a first class lounge and a new taxi rank are expected to be built, along with improvements to the platforms and a new ticket office and travel centre. [cite web | url=http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/search/display.var.999675.0.bank_quay_on_track_for_million_facelift.php | title=Warrington Guardian article| publisher = Warrington Guardian| year=2006 | accessdate=2008-03-01] [cite web | url=http://www.virgintrainsmediaroom.com/index.cfm?articleid=1051 | title=Improvements arriving soon at Warrington Bank Quay station| publisher = Virgin Trains| year=2007 | accessdate=2008-03-29]

ervices

It lies on the West Coast Main Line, operated by Virgin Trains, with regular services to London, Birmingham, and Scotland. A regular regional express service operates between Manchester, Chester and North Wales operated by Arriva Trains Wales. There are also local services to Liverpool operated by Northern Rail, with a couple of these services per day extending to Ellesmere Port via Runcorn East.

Normal weekday service consists of:
*1tph to London Euston operated by Virgin Pendolino calling at:::Crewe, Rugby, Milton Keynes Central, Watford and London Euston

*1tph to Birmingham New Street operated by Virgin Voyager calling at:::Crewe, Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street

*1tph to Glasgow Central operated by Virgin Pendolino calling at: ::Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, "Oxenholme Lake District", Penrith", Carlisle, "Motherwell" and Glasgow Central

:::Late services terminate at Preston

*1tpth to Edinburgh operated by Virgin Voyager calling at:::Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Penrith, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Haymarket and Edinburgh Waverley

*1tph to Manchester Piccadilly operated by Arriva Trains Wales calling at:::Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly

*1tph to Llandudno operated by Arriva Trains Wales calling at:::Runcorn East, Frodsham, Helsby, Chester, Shotton,Flint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele and Pensarn, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, "Deganwy" and Llandudno

*1tph to Liverpool Lime Street operated by Northern Rail calling at:::Earlestown, St Helens Junction, Lea Green, Rainhill, Whiston, Huyton, Roby, Broad Green, Wavertree Tech Park, Edge Hill and Liverpool Lime Street

*1tph operated by Northern Rail terminates here from Liverpool Lime Street

There are also a couple of limited services:
*2tpd to Holyhead operated by Arriva Trains Wales calling at:::Runcorn East, Frodsham, Helsby, Chester, Shotton,Flint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Bangor and Holyhead.

*2tpd to Ellesmere Port operated by Northern Rail calling at:::Runcorn East, Frodsham, Helsby, Ince & Elton, Stanlow & Thornton and Ellesmere Port.

:::One train starts at Warrington, one train extends from the Liverpool service.

References

External links

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Former Services