Sandhills railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Sandhills

---

caption = Sandhills railway station in 1977
manager = Merseyrail
code = SDL
locale = Kirkdale
borough = Liverpool
pte = Merseytravel
zone = C1
usage0405 = 0.272
usage0506 = 0.314
usage0607 = 0.306
platforms = 2
years = 1850
2007
2008
events = Opened
Closed for Refurbishment
Reopened

Sandhills railway station is a railway station in Kirkdale, Liverpool, UK, located to the north of the city centre on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network. It was built by the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway Company and now stands at the junction between the branch to Southport and the branch to Ormskirk and Kirkby.

The usage figures for the station underestimate the actual usage as it is a busy interchange station. 71,953 interchange passengers are recorded for 2004-5, but passenger statistics do not include travellers using Saveaway or other multi-mode tickets. The two platforms form a single island, overlooking the River Mersey on one side, and the former industrial area of Commercial Road on the other. It is also used by football fans heading for Liverpool F.C. and Everton F.C. matches: a bus service called Soccerbus runs between the station and the football stadiums on match-days only. [cite web|url=http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/information_bus_soccerbus.html|title=Soccerbus|work=merseytravel.gov.uk|accessdate=19 July|accessyear=2007]

Passengers have to walk up a ramp to reach the ticket office, then through a subway and up ramps to reach the platform.

The station was closed for refurbishment on 17 November, 2007, and reopened on 7 July, 2008 - with the refurbishment still largely incomplete - in order to cater for passengers travelling to Birkdale for the 2008 Open Championship, and Liverpool for the 2008 Tall Ships Race. [cite web|url=http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/newsarticle.asp?articleid=1398&catid=1|title=Sandhills station re-opens|publisher=Merseytravel|accessdate=2008-07-11|date=2007-07-07]

History

Sandhills opened in 1850 as an intermediate station when the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway was extended from its previous terminal at Waterloo to Liverpool Exchange. It became part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1904, who took over from the LCSR. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway amalgamated with the London and North Western Railway on 1 January 1922 and in turn was Grouped into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. Nationalisation followed in 1948 and in 1978 the station became part of the Merseyrail Network's Northern Line (operated by British Rail until privatised in 1995). The station had 4 platforms until it was rationalised in the 1970s.

An extensive refurbishment plan for the station was suggested in 2006 which involves the building of a completely new booking hall and greatly improved facilities on the platform. A new overall roof is under construction - originally intended to cover the entire length of the platform, but now only covers approximately half. In addition, the station's entrance will be moved from Sandhills Lane to Dunes Way, a little used industrial road. This will allow a dedicated bus-rail interchange point to be built, improving transport beyond the station to localities such as Kirkdale, Anfield and Everton. On 24th April 2007, improvement works to the station at a cost of £6million were agreed. In November 2007, it was announced that the station would be closed from 17 November 2007 until March 2008 for refurbishment. [ [http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/alerts2.asp?articleid=1282&subcatid=1&subcatname=Trains Merseytravel - Temporary Closure of Sandhills Station 17 November 2007 to March 2008. Accessed 5 November 2007] ] The refurbishment work was extended until July 2008, when the station reopened in a partly completed state.

Services

Off-peak service frequency is as follows:

* 4 trains per hour (tph) to Southport
* 4 tph to Ormskirk
* 4 tph to Kirkby
* 8 tph to Liverpool Central
* 4 tph to Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central

During late evenings and on Sundays, frequencies are reduced to 2 tph on the Ormskirk and Kirkby lines. On Sundays, frequencies are reduced to 2 tph beyond Liverpool Central to Hunts Cross. On winter Sundays, frequencies are also reduced to 2 tph on the Liverpool Central to Southport section, giving a total 6 tph from all lines between Sandhills and Liverpool Central.

Trivia

* The station is named after the road, Sandhills Lane, which the main entrance is located on. There is no locality in Liverpool named Sandhills, the lane taking its name from Sandhills, a large house on the site of the station belonging to local solicitor and property speculator John Shaw Leigh.Fact|date=February 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.merseyrail.org/stations/?iStationId=58 Station information] from Merseyrail

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