Hunts Cross railway station

Hunts Cross railway station is a Grade II listed railway station in Hunt's Cross, Liverpool, England. It is situated on the southern branch of the City Line's Liverpool to Manchester route, and is the southern terminus of Merseyrail's Northern Line.

Hunts Cross
The station buildings at Hunts Cross.
Location
PlaceHunt's Cross
Local authorityLiverpool
Coordinates53.3606°N 2.8560°W / 53.3606; -2.8560
Grid referenceSJ431852
Operations
Station codeHNX
Managed byMerseyrail
Number of platforms3
DfT categoryE
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 1.365 million
2015/16 1.410 million
2016/17 1.450 million
2017/18 1.446 million
2018/19 1.452 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTEMerseytravel
ZoneC2
History
Original companyCheshire Lines Committee
Pre-groupingCheshire Lines Committee
Post-groupingCheshire Lines Committee
May 1874Opened
1983Electrified
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Hunts Cross from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

Originally built by the Cheshire Lines Committee and opened in May 1874,[1] Hunts Cross was the only four-platform station on the line running between Liverpool Central and Manchester Central stations. It was also a junction at the southern end of the North Liverpool Extension Line to Gateacre, West Derby, north Liverpool docks and Southport. This line was closed in stages from 1952 to 1979 and is now part of National Cycle Network Route 62, the Trans Pennine Trail. The closure of the North Liverpool route left Hunts Cross to be served by the local service from Liverpool Lime Street to Warrington and Manchester.

In 1983, Merseyrail's electrified Northern Line from Liverpool Central was extended to Hunts Cross from its previous terminus at Garston. One of the former Gateacre line platforms was reinstated as a bay platform for terminating electric services. Northern Line trains originally ran through to Kirkby, but in 1984 the timetable was altered and trains continued to Southport instead.

When the Merseyrail service was introduced, the service from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester was cut back to terminate at Hunts Cross. Passengers from Manchester wishing to continue to Liverpool had to change to a Merseyrail train. This arrangement was short-lived and ended in 1989 when the through trains to Lime Street were restored.

From 11 June 2006, the number of Manchester-bound trains stopping at Hunts Cross was reduced from two trains per hour to one. However, during morning and evening peaks the half-hourly frequency is still maintained.

From 11 December 2006, the Monday-Saturday evening Northern Line service was increased to run every 15 minutes. Previously, services had reduced to a half-hourly frequency after 7.30pm.

In the May 2013 'Network News' section of the Northern Line timetable, it was announced that Hunts Cross would shortly receive funding in order to develop improvement schemes at the station.[2]

Facilities

The station is in a cutting and is reached by stepped ramps from the ticket office (so is not fully accessible).[3] A building on the Southport/Manchester-bound (island) platform (platforms 2&3) contains an accessible toilet, a snack shop and waiting room. The former main station building has been converted into a bar/restaurant and has been replaced by a modern ticket office (which is staffed throughout the day until end of service, seven days a week). A small car park is available, and bus stops are nearby. Train running information is offered via digital display screens and automated announcements.

Merseytravel announced in April 2019 that they had been successful in a bid for funding lifts being installed at the station under the Department for Transport's ‘Access for All’ programme. The lifts are expected to be installed at some point over the following five years.[4]

Services
Northern Rail unit 142031 in Platform 2 on a Manchester Oxford Road service.

Hunts Cross is served by diesel Northern Trains services on the City Line between Liverpool Lime Street and Warrington Central and Manchester Oxford Road This service has one train per hour with additional calls during peak hours.[5] Merseyrail electric Northern Line services operate from Southport via Liverpool Central every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday, reducing to half-hourly on Sundays.[6]

In addition, a limited number of peak-hour services operated by East Midlands Railway additionally stop here between Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham/Norwich.

Hunts Cross station currently has three operational platforms.

  1. Northern Trains and East Midlands Railway services bound for Liverpool Lime Street (Liverpool to Manchester Line).
  2. Northern Trains services bound for Warrington Central and Manchester Oxford Road (Liverpool to Manchester Line).
  3. Merseyrail services bound for Liverpool Central and Southport (Merseyrail Northern Line).

The track serving platform 2 is also electrified and can be used by Merseyrail EMUs if the usual platform is blocked. This facility is used rarely, as any terminating train in this platform will block the through line towards Manchester, with potential delays to other services.

  • The Waiting Room bar and restaurant, formerly the station building.
  • A Merseyrail Class 508 arrives with a service from Liverpool.
  • The modern station building.
  • A view of the station, from the street.
gollark: Perhaps this pandemic will lead to people wearing masks more often if they're sick, or maybe people will get bored of it and forget about it in a year.
gollark: I would be worried if someone with ebola was just wandering around randomly.
gollark: I mean, none of those are pandemics right now, so the political will to do anything about it doesn't exist.
gollark: And after just 20ish months and hundreds of millions of doses administered!
gollark: It seems like it's already quite bad, and this would presumably be good for the booster shots some places are talking about.

References
  1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 125. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. "Merseyrail Northern Line Timetable May 2013" (PDF). Merseytravel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  3. Plan Your Journey - Hunts Cross station Merseytravel; Retrieved 12 December 2016
  4. McDonough, Tony (5 April 2019). "Merseytravel secures funding for passenger lifts at six Merseyrail stations". Liverpool Business News. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  5. GB eNRT May 2017 Edition, Table 89 (Network Rail)
  6. GB eNRT 2017 Edition, Table 103 (Network Rail)
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Liverpool South
Parkway
towards Southport		   Merseyrail
Northern Line		   Terminus
Liverpool South
Parkway		   Northern Trains
Liverpool to Manchester Line		   Halewood
Liverpool South
Parkway		   East Midlands Railway
Liverpool - Norwich		   Widnes
  Historical railways  
Garston
Line open, station closed		   Merseyrail
Northern Line		   Terminus
Disused railways
Garston
Line open, station closed		   Cheshire Lines Committee
North Liverpool Extension Line		   Gateacre
Line and station closed
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