Merseyrail Plans

Future
There have been various suggestions for ways to enlarge the Merseyrail network. Some would extend beyond the current area, whilst others would use former existing lines or track beds. In approximately 2013 the current Merseyrail fleet is scheduled to be replaced, if trains capable of use beyond the third rail DC network are selected as replacements then various expansions can be achieved without electrification of the entire new route.

Future fleet
The Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) for Merseyside called for additional units to ease overcrowding on peak-time services. Southeastern and London Overground have withdrawn their fleets of Class 508 multiple units. It would be possible to transfer these units back to Merseyside to supplement the current Merseyrail fleet. In November 2009, the Liverpool Daily Post reported that Merseyrail is in talks to add three further trains to its fleet to boost rush-hour capacity, with rolling stock that is currently part of London Overground. Although the trains would have to be refurbished, they could be in service by mid-2010. However, no additional units have been taken on by Merseyrail as of July 2010, despite the suggestions of both passengers and the Merseyside RUS to improve capacity.

On 30th April 2011, it was the last day for train manufacturers from around the world to put bids in to build the new fleet for the Merseyrail network. Merseytravel and Merseyrail have announced that the new fleet should be operational by 2017. This means the lease for the fleet right now will have to be extended 2yrs from the leasing company, Angel Trains, from 2015-2017. This information is supported by Liverpool Echo article dated 22 Mar 2011.

Dual-voltage trains
The Route Utilisation Strategy document makes note of the benefits of dual-voltage Electric multiple units, which can be utilised on both the third rail Merseyrail network and future electrified lines which are likely to use overhead wires.

Tram-trains
Network Rail have suggested that tram-trains could offer an opportunity to connect more areas of Merseyside to the rail network. Operating tram-trains would allow street running, providing an alternative route through Liverpool city centre. This could potentially relieve pressure on the busy underground section of the network. This is a long-term aspiration suggested for around 2024 and would be dependant on successful trials of the technology elsewhere on the UK rail network.

In August 2009, the Liverpool Daily Post reported that a new tram-train link to Liverpool John Lennon Airport and a link to Kings Dock from the east of the city, had been proposed.


 * John Lennon Airport: the existing Northern Line and the City Line from Liverpool Lime Street station to Liverpool South Parkway station are being assessed. From South Parkway the tram-trains seamlessly transfer to a new tramway.
 * Kings Dock to Edge Hill: a link from Edge Hill in the east of the city to the Arena at Kings Dock in the city centre is also being considered. The disused 1829 1.26 mi Wapping Tunnel links the two locations. Tram-trains then could access existing and proposed electrified lines to the east and south of the city.

Electrification
Many proposals to electrify lines and add them to the existing Merseyrail service have been put forward.

The City Line
The entire City Line is being electrified from Liverpool to Wigan and the Manchester branches with construction from 2011 to 2013. Much of the details of the City Line have yet to be announced:
 * Whether Merseyrail operates the trains, incorporating the City Line fully into the Merseyrail electric network or Northern Rail continues to operate on behalf of Merseytravel.
 * The extent of the electrified City Line.
 * The terminus stations.
 * If dual-voltage, overhead wire/third rail trains will be used for use on all of the Merseyrail network.

Kirkby to Wigan
In 1977, the Liverpool to Kirkby section of the Liverpool to Bolton route was electrified and merged into Merseyrail. Kirkby station became the terminal of the Northern Line Kirkby branch. The former through service to Bolton was split in two, with passengers wishing to make through journeys forced to change at Kirkby from the Merseyrail electric network to the Northern Rail diesel network onwards to Bolton. An added advantage was that passengers as far as Hunts Cross, in south Liverpool, could travel to Kirkby, north of Liverpool, on Merseyrail. Previously the Bolton line terminated at the old Liverpool Exchange station and the Hunts Cross line at the old high level Central station, entailing a cross city centre journey by foot or taxi, there being no direct public transport (bus) route.

In 2007 Merseytravel announced that funding had been secured to extend the electrification beyond Kirkby to a new station at Headbolt Lane to serve the extensive Tower Hill housing estate, however no work has commenced.

Extension of the electrification extending Merseyrail through to Wigan Wallgate is a long-term aspiration of Merseytravel.

Ormskirk to Preston
Electrification from Ormskirk to Preston has been considered in conjunction with the Burscough Curves reopening detailed below. It would re-establish the most direct Liverpool-Preston route and is one of Merseytravel's long-term aspirations. However in 2008 Network Rail identified that the benefit to cost ratio of the scheme was insufficient to justify pursuing this option in the near future.

Bidston to Wrexham
The Borderlands Line from Bidston to Wrexham Central is operated by Arriva Trains Wales using diesel trains. Various proposals to electrify some or all of the line exist. The most recent study, conducted by Network Rail in 2008, investigated the costs of extending the Merseyrail network third rail electrification to Wrexham. However, when the cost was estimated at £207 million, Merseytravel announced that cheaper overhead line electrification would be considered instead. This would require the replacements for the Class 507 and 508 Electric Multiple Units to be equipped with dual-voltage equipment to operate on both overhead and third rail electrification.

Other electrification proposals
The following routes are included in Merseytravel's rail strategy as "long-term aspirations". No detailed analysis has been carried out into their feasibility and they are unlikely to be developed further in the near future.
 * Hunts Cross to Warrington Central
 * Ellesmere Port to Helsby

Burscough Curves
The Burscough Curves were short chords linking the Ormskirk to Preston Line with the Manchester to Southport Line. The last regular passenger trains ran over the curves in 1962; the tracks were subsequently lifted. The reinstatement of the Burscough Curves would allow direct Preston-Southport and Ormskirk-Southport services and provide an alternative Liverpool-Southport route. Network Rail have recommended that a strategy for the Burscough Curves be developed further.

In a parliamentary debate on 27 April 2011, the Burscough Curves were a prime point of the debate. The transport minister wished to meet Southport MP John Pugh regarding the reinstatement of the curves.

Edge Hill to Bootle
The Canada Dock Branch line is a line running from Edge Hill Junction in the east of the city in a long curve to Canada Dock in the north of the city. It meets Merseyrail's Northern Line at a junction between Bank Hall and Bootle Oriel Road stations. The line's last remaining passenger services were withdrawn in 1977, but the line remains busy with freight to Seaforth Container Terminal.

The line could be reopened to passengers, allowing the reopening of stations along its length: Spellow, Walton & Anfield, Breck Road, Tuebrook, Stanley and Edge Lane. The line from Edge Lane would continue through to Edge Hill station and terminate at Lime Street.

Network Rail have investigated options for the Canada Dock Branch in their Route Utilisation Strategy for Merseyside and have concluded that the expected benefits do not justify the investment in new infrastructure. However, it has been suggested that Liverpool FC could assist in funding the reopening of this line to provide a direct link to their proposed new Stanley Park Stadium.

The Department for Transport's Rail electrification document of July 2009, states that the route to Liverpool Docks will be electrified. The Canada Dock Branch Line is the only line into the docks. From the document:


 * 70. Electrification of this route will offer electric haulage options for freight.
 * There will be an alternative route to Liverpool docks for electrically-operated freight trains, and better opportunities of electrified access to the proposed freight terminal at Parkside near Newton-le-Willows.

The electrification of this line would greatly assist in recommissioning passenger trains, as costs would be reduced.

North Mersey Branch
The North Mersey Branch from Bootle to Aintree is currently used only by engineering trains to gain access to Merseyrail tracks, however Merseytravel have long-term goals to reopen and electrify the line. The line was considered in the Merseyside Route Utilisation Strategy document, concluding that reopening could not yet be recommended. However the Route Utilisation Strategy document went on to state:


 * The possibility of running passenger trains along the North Mersey and Bootle branches was examined by the RUS and cannot yet be recommended. However, future development and regeneration could lead to increased demand for such services. Any such passenger services would need to be implemented in a way that ensures current and future freight demand can be accommodated. There is also a possibility in the longer term of using other infrastructure, including the disused Wapping and Waterloo tunnels, to provide new journey opportunities.



Skelmersdale Branch
A reopening of a section of the Skelmersdale Branch from Upholland to Skelmersdale town centre has been proposed. This would give Skelmersdale, the second largest town in North West England without a railway service, direct access to Liverpool city centre's shopping and business districts. Network Rail have recommended that a further feasibility study into this possibility be carried out. In June 2009, the Association of Train Operating Companies, in its Connecting Communities: Expanding Access to the Rail Network report, called for funding for the reopening of the line from Ormskirk to Skelmersdale as part of a £500m scheme to open 33 stations on 14 lines closed in the Beeching Axe, including seven new parkway stations.

Halton Curve
Merseytravel have shown interest in the Halton Curve, a short section of track from Frodsham to Runcorn which currently operates one passenger train per week. It is only possible for trains to use the curve in the northbound direction because of signalling and permanent way restrictions. The curve was threatened with closure in 2004, however was reprieved and there is a hope that one day a passenger service will return

Proposals for the route were included in Network Rail's Route Utilisation Strategy for Wales. An hourly service between Liverpool and Chester via the curve would be feasible if the line was upgraded.

This would improve railway connections from Chester and North Wales to Liverpool South Parkway, the nearest station for Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Whether the Liverpool Lime Street to Chester line via Runcorn railway bridge and Liverpool South Parkway station will be on the Merseyrail network using dual-voltage trains remains to be seen.

Concept
The idea of using the former Cheshire Lines Committee's North Liverpool Extension Line route through the eastern suburbs of Liverpool as a rapid transit rail route serving the city centre was developed in the 1960s into the Outer Rail Loop scheme. This would be an electric passenger railway circling the city by using a combination of newly electrified existing lines and a new link tunnel under the city centre. This was similar to a 1940s proposal for a 'belt' line using the Liverpool Overhead Railway as its western section. The proposal advanced into one large outer loop with two sub loops. One for the northern section of the city and one for the south.

A part of the proposal was that passengers on the mainline radial routes into Lime Street entering from the east and south, could transfer onto the electric urban rapid-transit network at interchange stations on the Loop to access outer suburbs and avoid the need to travel into the city centre. Liverpool South Parkway is an example of such a station although completed in 2006, long after the Outer Rail Loop scheme had ceased to be a live Merseytravel project. Another interchange station was to have been at Broad Green. This would have been a six track underground station called Rocket located near to the M62 and Queens Drive junction.

The Outer Rail Loop, as proposed in the 1960s would use the following sections of line:

The east section of line: the former Cheshire Lines Committee North Liverpool Extension Line from Hunts Cross to Walton which ran through the city's eastern suburbs. This line was originally built as a freight line to Huskisson Dock to allow the Cheshire Lines Committee to have a share of the lucrative North Liverpool Docks trade. Passenger services were also run on this line with the last service ending in 1972 with the closing of the Liverpool Central to Gateacre service. The line crosses the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Broad Green.

The north section would use the curve that forms the southern side of the Walton Rail Triangle, skirting Walton Hall Park, and via the Rice Lane and Breeze Hill tunnels to Kirkdale station to join the western section at the old Liverpool Exchange to Ormskirk branch, which would be the new Northern Line. A later version of the project was to extend the eastern section to Aintree and then used the North Mersey Branch as the northern section. The North Mersey Branch branched directly south of Aintree station joining the western section at the old Liverpool Exchange to Southport line, north of Bootle New Strand Station.

The west section would link the former Lanchashire and Yorkshire lines out of Exchange Station with the Cheshire Lines Committee line out of Central by means of a new tunnel under Liverpool city centre. This tunnel, known as the Liverpool Link Line, utilised part of the former Liverpool Central to James Street Mersey Railway tunnel plus some new single track tunnels. Two underground stations, Central Low Level and Moorfields, provided interchange with the Wirral Line, allowing their high level counterparts at Central High-Level and Liverpool Exchange stations to be closed. The Link Line was opened in 1977 forming the most expensive part of the Outer Rail Loop.

The southern section would be formed from the short stretch of line from Allerton Junction to Halewood Junction, linking the Liverpool Central to Hunts Cross Cheshire Lines Committee route with the eastern section, the North Liverpool Extension Line.

Two sub loops
The main drawback of the Outer Rail Loop was the indirect route offered from the eastern suburbs to Liverpool City Centre, the main destination for passenger journeys in the conurbation. For example, a journey from West Derby would involve travelling either via Aintree to the North or Gateacre to the south. As such, it was uncompetitive with slower, but more direct, bus services.

To resolve this problem, the Edge Hill Spur scheme was proposed, which would cut the Loop into two smaller loops, a northern loop and a southern loop, thereby reducing distances. It would involve a complex tunnelled junction with the Liverpool and Manchester Railway at Broad Green, with a six platform underground interchange station under the Rocket pub near the M62 to Queens Drive junction.

The demise of the project was compounded by cost overruns on the Loop and Link tunnel projects and the financial stringency of the late 1970s and by delays to the parliamentary bill required to authorise the works caused by the objection of the MP for Broad Green on the grounds of the disruption to local residents.

Since the postponement of the project, a number of Route Utilisation Strategy documents have mentioned re-opening the North Mersey Branch line to form a passenger link between Bootle and Aintree with stations to serve Ford and Girobank. This would have formed the northern section of the loop. The remaining section of the loop, the line from Hunts Cross to Aintree, is now the Liverpool Loop Country Park, a popular walking and cycling route.

The earlier proposed route for the northern section of the loop via the southern side of the Walton Rail Triangle, skirting Walton Hall Park, and via Rice Lane and Breeze Hill tunnels to Kirkdale station, is now disused and built upon. The later northern alignment using the North Mersey Branch via Aintree and Bootle is still in use but single tracked and used only by maintenance trains.

For several decades, Merseytravel safeguarded the route against development. .

Legacy
Despite the Outer Rail Loop project never having been realised, the project has left an important legacy. The Link Line tunnel beneath Liverpool City Centre, which integrates the Northern and Wirral lines and links the northern and southern rail networks is the most obvious. However the establishment of the Liverpool Loop Country Park owes its existence to the safeguarding of the line, which meant that its bridges and tunnels were left in place and a through route was maintained.

The Edge Hill Spur
In the 1960s/early 1970s the Edge Hill Spur scheme was proposed to extend the Merseyrail underground network from Liverpool Central Station to Edge Hill Station using existing freight and passenger tunnels. The original proposal was extended to widen the benefits of the proposal. The scheme has not been actively pursued since the 1980s but a junction to facilitate future construction was built as part of the Link Line works in the 1970s.

The construction of the Spur would have served two main functions:


 * The complete integration into Merseyrail of the urban lines east of Liverpool city centre. The east-west diesel City Line routes from Wigan, St. Helens and Earlestown to Lime Street mainline station were to be electrified and diverted into the north-south Link tunnel of the Northern Line. This would achieve complete integration of the three lines forming the Merseyrail network: the City, Northern and Wirral Lines. Access from stations on the City Line into Liverpool City Centre would be greatly improved.
 * Giving more direct city centre access from the city's north eastern and south eastern suburbs. The proposed Outer Rail Loop would have been split into northern and southern sub loops, thereby shortening distances and journey times.

The initial and cheaper proposal was to re-use the 1829 Wapping freight tunnel, by means of two new single track tunnels from a new junction, Liverpool Central South Junction, on the tunnel approach to Central Station. The Wapping Tunnel would give access to Edge Hill via the historic Cavendish Cutting built for the 1830 Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Access to the City Line would be obtained via a flyover to the east of Edge Hill Station over the main lines from Lime Street. This flyover has since been demolished. A new station would be needed at Edge Hill, if Edge Hill was to be served, as the existing station is at the head of the Lime Street cutting and Waterloo/Victoria Tunnel.

In the early 1970s, Liverpool City Council planners proposed an alternative scheme, which was subsequently adopted. This revised route would permit a new underground station to be constructed to serve Liverpool University, which would be located behind the Student's Union building in Mount Pleasant. This scheme would extend the tunnels in a large radius curve to the north, passing beneath the mainline Lime Street station approach cutting accessing Edge Hill via the Waterloo/Victoria Tunnel. The tunnel served the former Waterloo Goods depot opposite Waterloo Dock and the Riverside passenger station serving trans-Atlantic liners at the Pier Head. On emerging from this tunnel at the existing Edge Hill Station, the route would be on the right side of the main lines to serve the City Line branches without the need for a flyover.

Although powers were obtained to construct the line under the Merseyside Metropolitan Railway Act (1975), construction was postponed due to the financial cutbacks and political opposition that also halted the Outer Rail Loop. An attempt was made to revive the project in the mid 80s however it was found not to be financially viable, as the city was experiencing a financial collapse.

The only part of the scheme to be realised was Liverpool Central South Junction south of the underground station, which was constructed as part of the Link Tunnel project on the Northern Line. This is a burrowing junction, similar to that at Hamilton Square station in Birkenhead, which would allow trains from Edge Hill to pass beneath trains from Central station on the Northern Line increasing throughput. Two short header branch tunnels were cut into the rock, which would allow construction to proceed on the Spur without disrupting existing services if the project was revived. The two header tunnels can be used for branching into either the Wapping or Victoria/Waterloo tunnels.

Following the collapse of the Merseytram scheme in 2006, proposals were considered to revive the scheme. The route of the tunnels is being protected. Merseyrail required revisions to the Central Village scheme commenced in 2010 to prevent obstruction of the proposed tunnel route. The electrification of the 1830 Liverpool to Manchester line and the Merseyrail City Line, due for completion in 2013, which both run through Edge Hill gives impetus to revive the tunnelled spur into Liverpool's city centre.

The 1849 Waterloo/Victoria Tunnel is over 2 miles long with the 1829 Wapping Tunnel 1.24 miles long. Both run from Edge Hill, under Liverpool city centre to former goods stations on the Dock Road, serving the north and south Liverpool Docks. The Waterloo Tunnel also served the Riverside passenger station at Liverpool's Pier Head, serving the trans-Atlantic liner trade. The tunnels are protected for future use.