On the finishing straight – Liverpool Lime Street
Train customers will still be able to travel in and out of Liverpool this summer when the final, major phase of work to upgrade Lime Street station takes place.
In February this year, transport partners in the Liverpool City Region unveiled plans that will keep passengers on the move and Liverpool open for business during the eight week station transformation between 2 June and 29 July 2018. This phase of work will include completely remodelling station platforms, bringing the two new platforms built last year (platforms 7 and 8) into use and completing extensive signalling upgrades.
While this work takes place, many main line services will start/terminate at Liverpool South Parkway where passengers can access the Merseyrail network to and from Liverpool city centre. Where rail replacement buses are offered, they will be high quality and offer express and stopping options.
Martin Frobisher, Network Rail’s London North Western route managing director, said:
“This major upgrade, and the wider Great North Rail Project, is part of our commitment to transform rail travel in the Liverpool City Region and across the north of England. With passenger figures expected to double during peak periods by 2043, the work is vital to boost station capacity – making room for more frequent, longer trains, with more space for passengers.
“We cannot safely complete the majority of the work while the station is open so have carefully planned it, with our partners, to cause the least amount of disruption to passengers as possible.”
Frank Rogers, chief executive at Merseytravel, said:
“Completing the upgrade at Lime Street is an important step in modernising rail transport for our City Region and is the first in a number of exciting rail projects which are due to be completed between now and 2020.
“Planning is underway to make sure passengers can continue to get to where to they need to go during this final phase and we will continue to work with Network Rail and partners to make sure up to the minute service information is able to help people plan their journeys in and out of Lime Street.
“Once completed, the works will enable Lime Street to handle an additional three services per hour and this increase in capacity will generate very significant economic benefit for the entire Liverpool City Region for many years to come.”
Liverpool Lime Street’s transformation is a key part of the £340m railway investment in the Liverpool City Region, which sits within the Great North Rail Project.
Phase 1 of the work was carried out in October 2017 and involved a complex 23-day upgrade during which time engineers replaced almost 2,000m of track, redesigned and lengthened platforms and built two new ones (platforms 7 and 8). A modern signalling system – which will improve reliability and provide passengers with a better service – was installed during the first nine days of the work. This allowed trains to run in and out of platforms 1 and 2 for the majority of the upgrade.
