James Street railway station (England)

Infobox UK station
name = Liverpool James Street


manager = Merseyrail
locale = Liverpool
borough = Liverpool
code = LVJ
pte = Merseytravel
zone = C1
usage0405 = 0.196
usage0506 = 0.209
usage0607 = 1.552
platforms = 3
years = 1886
events = Opened

James Street (full name Liverpool James Street) is a railway station located in the centre of Liverpool, England, and situated on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. James Street is an underground station; access is via lift from James Street and (at peak times) via a tunnel from Water Street.

History

The station opened as the original terminus of Mersey Railway Tunnel in 1886. In 1892 the tunnel was extended to Liverpool Central station. By this time, there were trains from Liverpool to Birkenhead Park and Rock Ferry stations in Birkenhead. The line was electrified in 1903. Through trains to West Kirby and New Brighton commenced in 1938, when the former Wirral Railway routes were electrified. There were originally two platforms, either side of a twin-track tunnel.

In the 1970s, the station was rebuilt as part of the expansion of the Merseyrail network. A new single-track tunnel known as the "Loop" was constructed, from the Mersey Railway Tunnel via a new third platform at James Street, then Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central, rejoining the Mersey Railway just to the east of James Street. This opened in 1977. Part of the original tunnel between Liverpool Central and James Street was used by the new Northern Line. The remaining part of that tunnel which is used by neither the Wirral Line nor Northern Lines was retained, to provide a connection between the two for moving empty stock. Of the original two platforms at James Street, only the westbound remains in regular use.

Description

There are three platforms: Platforms 1 and 2 are situated on either side of the original Mersey Railway tunnel, and Platform 3 in the newer tunnel. Only Platforms 1 and 3 are in regular use, Platform 1 by trains to the Wirral and Platform 3 by trains inbound to Liverpool. Platform 2, which is situated on the empty stock line, is not normally used by passenger services. However, if the Loop is closed for any reason (such as the engineering works taking place between April and May 2007 [ [http://www.merseyrail.org/downloads/1176714007wirralloopclosure20071.pdf Info Pages.qxp ] ] ), this platform is brought into use to allow trains arriving from the Wirral to terminate and reverse there.

Until the mid-1990s James Street closed at 7pm; it now remains open throughout the evening.

Services

Trains operate every five minutes (Monday-Saturday daytime) around the Liverpool city centre loop to Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central. In the other direction, trains operate every five minutes to Hamilton Square, from where they continue every 15 minutes to each of New Brighton, West Kirby and Hooton. From Hooton, trains continue every 30 minutes to each of Chester and Ellesmere Port. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes to each of the four destinations, giving a service every 5-10 minutes to Hamilton Square.

Upgrade

On 26 February 2007, a £2 million package of improvements to the station received planning permission from Liverpool City Council. [ [http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/newsarticle.asp?articleid=1135&catid=1 Article | Merseytravel | Keeping Merseyside on the Move ] ] Work on the street outside the station was carried out in 2007 and 2008, and internal work began on 13th February 2008 with completion due in mid-April.

External links

* [http://www.merseyrail.org/stations/?iStationId=38 Station information] from Merseyrail

References

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