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Two platforms reopen as Liverpool Lime Street upgrade continues

Passengers travelling between Liverpool and Preston, Blackpool, Wigan, St Helens and Manchester Victoria can begin to use Liverpool Lime Street from today after two platforms reopened.

Network Rail has successfully completed the first nine days of work on the station’s major upgrade, part of a £340m investment into the railway in the Liverpool City Region by 2019, as part of the Great North Rail Project.

Work to upgrade platforms 1 and 2, combined with signalling work and connecting a fourth track between Huyton and Roby, means that trains will run in and out of Lime Street between 6am and 8pm. Replacement buses will continue to be in use outside of these times.

Vital upgrades to the Liverpool City Region’s main station started on Saturday 30 September, as part of a 23-day transformation. Work completed so far includes upgraded track on platforms 1, 2 and 9 and the modernisation of the station’s signalling system.

When completed in 2018, the upgrade will enable an extra three services per hour in and out of Lime Street station, including new direct services to Scotland. Longer, better managed platforms will allow bigger trains, with more room for passengers into the station. There will also be a re-modelled concourse.

Main line services between Liverpool and Birmingham, London, Leeds, Manchester and Crewe have successfully been diverted to Liverpool South Parkway over the last nine days, and will continue until work completes on 22 October. 

Rob Grey, project manager at Network Rail, said: “This work forms part of a massive £340m investment in the Liverpool City Region which is vital to increase capacity and provide passengers with a better railway. This much needed investment will boost the city’s economy and enable more reliable, more frequent journeys. Completing the fourth track between Huyton and Roby is a major milestone and we are making great progress at Lime Street, a third of the way through the first phase of its major upgrade.”

Sharon Keith, regional director at Northern, said: “It’s great to see such early progress in the transformation of Liverpool Lime Street and the modernisation of the Liverpool City Region infrastructure. We are delighted to once again be able to offer rail services to our customers on the Huyton and Roby line and are excited about the long term benefits the line upgrades will bring in tandem with our own modernisation programme.”

Work between Huyton and Roby has been completed in two key stages, the first of which was in 2014. The overall improvements include new track between Huyton and Roby, a new platform at both Huyton and Roby, signalling upgrades and overhead line equipment installed, and new facilities at the stations including better customer information systems, new lifts and easier access via subways.

The additional fourth track between Huyton and Roby will allow faster services to overtake local stopping services, enabling quicker journeys and more capacity on the route in and out of Liverpool.

If you would like to contact Andy Walker about this, or any other story, please email awalker@infrastructure-intelligence.com.