- Liverpool South Parkway railway station
UK stations
name = Liverpool South Parkway
"for Liverpool John Lennon Airport"
manager =Merseyrail
code = LPY
locale = Garston, Allerton
borough =Liverpool
pte = Merseytravel
zone = C1/C2
years =11 June 2006
events = Opened
platforms = 4 High Level, 2 Low Level
latitude = 53.3577
longitude = -2.8897
usage0607 = 0.289Liverpool South Parkway station is a railway station and bus interchange in Garston,
Liverpool ,England .It is located towards the southern end of
Merseyrail 's Northern Line and on the junction of two main lines: the City Line from Liverpool towardsManchester viaWarrington and also towardsLondon viaCrewe on the Liverpool branch of theWest Coast Main Line . Allerton Traction Maintenance Depot is situated to the immediate east of the station.History
The station was built to improve public transport access to
Liverpool John Lennon Airport , and also to provide new journey opportunities for rail passengers in south Liverpool by allowing easy interchange between Northern Line, City Line and West Coast Main Line services. Proposals for the station, originally called Allerton Interchange, existed as far back as 1999, but it was not until 2004 that construction began.The main line platforms at Liverpool South Parkway are on the site of the former Allerton station, which closed in
2005 to allow the required rebuilding work to take place. The Northern Line platforms are completely new, replacing a station at Garston which was slightly further west of the current station. The concourse, bus station and car park are built on land that was once the home ofSouth Liverpool F.C. At the time of opening, the City Line service (which had been hourly at the former Allerton station) was increased to half-hourly. The station also became an additional stop on the Liverpool-Birmingham service (then operated by
Central Trains ). Then, from11 December 2006 , the Monday-Saturday evening service on the Northern Line was increased to run every 15 minutes, instead of half-hourly as previously.Features
* 6 platforms (4 on the
West Coast Main Line , 2 on the Northern Line)
* A 5-stand bus station for local bus services.
* A 16-space taxi rank.
* Provision for a proposed extension of the now-shelvedMerseytram system towards the airport.
* A 240-space car park for use as aPark and Ride facility.
* Storage facilities for 65 bicycles.The station has been designed to use environmentally-friendly techniques wherever possible. Some of the building's electricity is provided by
Photovoltaic cells . A 700,000 litre rainwater harvesting system has also been installed to reduce the use of mains water. This water will be used for cleaning and washing, as well as toilet flushes. All timber used has been certified by theForest Stewardship Council as being from a well-managed forest. The roof is made from recycled aluminium instead of virgin materials.cite web|publisher=Merseytravel|url=http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/articleimages/lsp%20leaflet.pdf|title=Welcome to Liverpool South Parkway|format=pdf|accessdate=2007-10-06]In August 2006, Liverpool South Parkway won the Innovation Award at
Network Rail 's annual Environment Awards.cite web|publisher=Network Rail|url=http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/4030.aspx#innovation|title=Winners of the 2006 Awards|accessdate=2007-10-06]ervices
On the Northern Line (platforms 5 and 6), trains run every 15 minutes, Monday to Saturday, to Southport via Liverpool Central, with a half-hourly service on Sundays.
On the high-level platforms (1 and 2),
Northern Rail provide two trains per hour in each direction on the City Line between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Oxford Road. On Sundays an hourly service operates.Most
London Midland services from Liverpool to Birmingham New Street call at Liverpool South Parkway. The service runs hourly Monday to Saturday, with a train every two hours on Sundays.There are no services booked to call at platform 3 (up slow) or 4 (down slow).
Bus services run from the station to
Liverpool John Lennon Airport ,Aigburth , Dingle,Mossley Hill andLiverpool City Centre. Services are operated by Arriva North West,Stagecoach Merseyside andSupertravel . Combined bus-rail tickets are available for rail passengers wishing to travel to the airport.Criticism
Originally scheduled to open in December
2005 , the project fell behind schedule, and finally opened on11 June 2006 . The construction cost, originally estimated to be £16 million, had doubled to £32 million by the time construction was completed.Merseytravel rejected criticism of the delays and cost increase, stating that it had been caused by factors beyond its control, such as the collapse ofRailtrack , increasing steel costs and poor weather causing flooding at the construction site.cite news|title=Cost of Liverpool rail hub doubles to £32m|last=Neild|first=Larry|publisher=Liverpool Daily Post|url=http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16880091%26method=full%26siteid=50061-name_page.html|date=2006-03-30]Tom Wileman, regional director of bus operator Stagecoach, described Liverpool South Parkway is a "white elephant".cite news|title=£30m wasted on doomed tram project, says Arriva|last=Higgerson|first=David|publisher=Liverpool Daily Post|url=http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_method=full%26objectid=18583298%26siteid=50061-name_page.html|date=2006-02-06] This is now notable considering East Midlands Trains, (a Stagecoach company), will begin calling here from December 2008. However, from
28 September 2008 Stagecoach service 82 was rerouted to serve the station.">cite web|format=pdf|url=http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/articleimages/28%20September%202008.pdf|title=Changes to Bus Services from 28 September 2008|publisher=Merseytravel]Future
Merseytravel have stated that they aim to work with the train operators to improve the train service at Liverpool South Parkway, introducing new services with each twice-yearly timetable change.
* The frequency of the Birmingham service will increase to two trains per hour, all serving Liverpool South Parkway, from December
2008 .cite web|format=pdf|url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/wcml/wcms2008timetables/wcmsgoviatimetable|title=West Coast 2008 Timetable|publisher=Department for Transport]* Also from December 2008, the hourly Liverpool-
Norwich service, operated byEast Midlands Trains , will serve Liverpool South Parkway. cite web|format=doc|url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/em/stakeholderbriefingdocumente1631|title=East Midlands Stakeholder Briefing Document|publisher=Department for Transport] Citation|last=Abbott|first=James|title=An expansive vision for Merseyside|magazine=Modern Railways |date=July 2008|pages=56-63]Other new services which have been proposed but not confirmed are:
* Additional shuttle services between Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street on the City Line
* More frequent Sunday services on the Northern Line
* An hourlyFirst TransPennine Express service to Manchester,Leeds and the north east. Merseytravel spokesman Jim Barclay told "Modern Railways" that this service may start in December 2008, adding, "we are waiting to hear what Transpennine Express can do." ] However, the December 2008 timetable, now available from online sources such asTheTrainLine , shows no TransPennine services at South Parkway.
* Services toChester and North Wales. This would require upgrading of theHalton Curve to accommodate bidirectional working and is a long-term project.Virgin Trains services to London Euston do not serve the station and there are no plans to do so in the near future. The platforms are not long enough to accommodate Virgin's Pendolino trains, and the location of this station, with a bridge at the north end and Allerton Junction at the south end, makes platform extension difficult.On TV and Film
The scenes ending the long-running John Paul/Craig storyline in the soap opera
Hollyoaks , which aired in September 2008, were filmed at Liverpool South Parkway. The scenes were broadcast onChannel 4 on19 September 2008 .cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a127727/2390-john-paul-rushes-to-find-craig.html|title=John Paul rushes to find Craig|publisher=Digital Spy ]###@@@KEYEND@@@###
External links
* [http://www.merseyrail.org/stations/?iStationId=28 Station information] from Merseyrail
* [http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/newsarticle.asp?articleid=570&catid=1 Maria Eagle MP visits Liverpool South Parkway (April 2005)]
* [http://www.edmund-nuttall.co.uk/news/september2005/merseyside%20merger.html Merseyside Merger (Contract Journal - 01/09/05)]
* [http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=15935907%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26page=1%26headline=engineer%2ds%2dbaby%2dnearing%2ddelivery-name_page.html Engineer's baby nearing delivery (icLiverpool - 06/09/05)]
* [http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/newsarticle.asp?articleid=935&catid=4 Article from Merseytravel web site announcing the opening date]
* [http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/newsarticle.asp?articleid=936&catid=1 Merseytravel announce that Merseyrail Electrics will operate the new station]References
stationyears
open = 2006
close =
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