Hillside railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Hillside


code = HIL
manager = Merseyrail
locale = Birkdale
borough = Sefton
pte = Merseytravel
zone = D1,
lowusage0405 = 158,618
lowusage0506 = 178,252
lowusage0607 = 177,678
platforms = 2
start =
events =
Hillside railway station serves the southern half of the Birkdale area of Southport, England. It is located on the Southport branch of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line.

It is the closest station to the golf course, Royal Birkdale, and is extremely busy when major events (such as the Open Championship) are held there.

History

Hillside opened in May 1926 [Gell, R: "An Illustrated Survey of Railway Stations between Southport & Liverpool 1848-1986". Heyday Publishing, 1986] as an intermediate station on the ex-
Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway, after the 1923 grouping into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and long after the railway had originally opened in 1848. By this time, the area had developed into a sizable residential suburb of Southport.

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).

ervices

Trains operate every 15 minutes throughout the day from Monday to Saturday and on summer Sundays to Southport to the north, and to Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central to the south. Winter Sunday services are every 30 minutes in each direction.

Facilities

Safety and security features at this station include cycle storage, CCTV, an induction loop is installed, shelters and seats and a public telephone. There is no wheelchair access at this station, as access to the platforms is limited to only stairs; the nearest station with disabled access is Ainsdale. The ticket office is always staffed by at least one member of staff from before start of service and 15 minutes from the end of service.

Future

Plans are already in progress for an extensive refurbisment of the station for when the Open Championship is held at the nearby Royal Birkdale golf course in 2008.

External links

* [http://www.merseyrail.org/stations/?iStationId=34 Station information] from Merseyrail

References

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