Kirkdale railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in Kirkdale,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, located to the north of the city centre on the

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

of the

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network which serves Merseyside and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire in the North West England, North West of England. Merseyrail serves 69 Railway station, stations, 67 of which it manages, across two lin ...

network. It acts as the interchange between the branches to

Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, Historic counties of England, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 wa ...

and

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is located north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, Merseyside, St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Ormski ...

; these lines diverge just north of the station. Kirkdale TMD train maintenance depot, the largest depot on the Merseyrail Network, is located adjacent to the station.

History

The station originally opened as Bootle Lane was built by the

Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway The Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway in north-west England was formed in 1846 by the ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. ccclxxxi). It was purchased by the East Lancashire Railway the following year and opened to traffic on 2 April 1849. The railway ra ...

and Liverpool and Bury Railway at the start of their joint line into

, opening in 1848. In 1977 it became part of the

network's Northern Line.

Five tunnels

The station is aligned north–south. When facing north, five tunnel portals can be seen north of the platforms. To the west lies a cluster of three very short tunnels, running under a road. These tunnels were to give greater throughput, and are all on the same line. The westernmost tunnel is used for shunting. The next tunnel is the main Merseyrail Northern Line tunnel. The third tunnel is disused, but was in use until 1968 as the fast line for expresses to Yorkshire and Manchester. To the east is a cluster of two tunnels. The easternmost tunnel was an abandoned project. The adjacent tunnel runs in tunnels and cuttings to the disused Walton on the Hill station, and was a part of the

North Liverpool Extension Line The North Liverpool Extension Line was a railway line in Liverpool, England in operation between 1879 and 1972. It was at one stage intended to become the eastern section of the Merseyrail Outer Loop, an Circle route, orbital line circling th ...

. This section of line was used from 1879 to 1979; however, trains running on it never called at Kirkdale station.

Freight lines

Two freight lines passed through or under the station. The busy

Canada Dock Branch The Canada Dock Branch is a 4-mile 59 chain (7.62 kilometre) long railway line in Liverpool, England. The line's route is from the large Edge Hill rail junction in the east of Liverpool to Seaforth Dock to the north. The line was originally ...

freight-only line serving

Liverpool Docks The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed Dock (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks betwee ...

passes under the station, roughly north-east to south-west, via a tunnel. The North Liverpool Extension Line, also referred to as the eastern section of the Outer Loop, emerged from the north out of a tunnel next to the station, running parallel to the west platform. This section of line was used from 1879 to 1979.

Facilities

The station (as is usual for most on Merseyrail) is fully staffed throughout the hours of service all week. The platforms are fully accessible and step-free (as noted above) and there are shelters, customer information screens and timetable poster boards on each platform. Train running information is also offered by automated announcements. The station has two car-parking spaces for disabled users and cycle racks for 10 cycles.

Services

Trains operate every 15 minutes, Monday - Saturday during the daytime to either Kirkby or Ormskirk to the north, and every 5 or 10 minutes to Liverpool Central to the south. During the evenings after 20:00 and all day Sundays, services are every 30 minutes to Kirkby and Ormskirk, and every 15 minutes to Liverpool.

Gallery

Image:Kirkdale to Rice Lane Railway Tunnel (geograph 2995961).jpg, The railway tunnel to Rice Lane, viewed from the end of the platform Image:A5090 bridge, Kirkdale Railway Station (geograph 2995954).jpg, The A5090 road bridge, at the end of the platform Image:508137 arriving at Kirkdale Railway Station (geograph 2995898).jpg, A Merseyrail Class 508 arrives with a service to Liverpool. Image:Kirkdale railway station - 2012-09-29 (1).JPG, The station with Kirkdale TMD in the distance

References

External links

{{Railway stations served by Merseyrail Railway stations in Liverpool DfT Category E stations Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations served by Merseyrail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848