Kirkby Branch Line

Kirkby Branch Line

A Northern Rail Class 150 at Orrell railway station
Overview
System National Rail
Status Operational
Locale North West England
Termini Wigan Wallgate
Kirkby
Stations Pemberton, Orrell,
Upholland, Rainford
Operation
Opened 20 November 1848[1]
Owner Network Rail
Operator(s) Northern
Technical
Line length 12.25 miles (19.71 km)[2][3]
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map

The Kirkby Branch Line is a railway line in England, running from Wigan in Greater Manchester to Kirkby in Merseyside. Now a partly single-track route[3] with an hourly diesel service operated by Northern, the line was once part of a mainline route from Manchester to Liverpool operated by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway,[4] and had several branch lines of its own until the 1960s.

History

The Liverpool and Bury Railway built the first line into Liverpool from the north. It ran from Bury in Lancashire (now Greater Manchester) via the towns of Bolton and Wigan, and reached the city of Liverpool in 1848. Soon afterwards, the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway's route to Preston was built and shared the L&BR line as far as Walton.[1] Mergers meant that the Bury route was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, which had taken over the Liverpool and Bury Railway company.[1][4] The opening ceremony took place on 20 November 1848.[1]

With the creation of Merseyrail and the closure of the route's former terminus at Liverpool Exchange in 1977 through trains to Liverpool from the Wigan direction ceased. It had originally been intended that the line be electrified all the way from Liverpool to Wigan. The section between Liverpool and Kirkby was electrified in that year, and Kirkby station was reconstructed in a way which severed the line.[3] Services between Wigan and Kirkby are provided by diesel-powered stock; passengers continuing beyond Kirkby change there and join a Merseyrail-operated electric train.[3] It is a long term aspiration of Merseyrail to complete the electrification of the line.[5] Merseytravel also hope to use the route as part of rail link to the town of Skelmersdale, which has been cut off from the national network since 1956 and is now one of the largest towns in North West England without a passenger rail service.[6]

Proposals to extend Merseyrail's electric network to a new station at Headbolt Lane, between Kirkby and Rainford, were announced in 2007.[7]

Route description

The former main line is now "something of a backwater",[4] with the appearance of a rural branch line in places.[3] After leaving Wigan Wallgate station, trains pass under the West Coast Main Line almost immediately, after which the Southport-bound Manchester to Southport Line diverges to the west. Bridges take the branch line over the River Douglas and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal before Pemberton station, where a now removed loop line came in on the east side.[3] This rejoined the line to Bolton east of Wigan, avoiding the latter town.[8] The line then passes under the M6 motorway and the 959-yard (877 m) Upholland Tunnel, between which is Orrell station. The tunnel is situated at the highest point of the line, and is the only major structural work on the route.[3] Upholland station is next, followed by Rainford—until the 1950s, a junction for two passenger lines. One, the Skelmersdale Branch, ran northwestwards towards Skelmersdale and Ormskirk; the other ran to St Helens via Crank.[3] The lines were both opened in 1858, although not at the same time, and were usually operated as a through route. The Ormskirk line was built by the East Lancashire Railway, while the St Helens Railway was responsible for the line to that town.[9] Both survived until the 1960s for freight traffic.[3] The line becomes single-track after Rainford, and continues for 5.25 miles (8.45 km) to the single platform terminus at Kirkby.[2][3] There is a rail-connected freight terminal on this section, serving the Potter Logistics depot at the Knowsley Industrial Park near Kirkby. Regular traffic from this facility resumed in July 2016, after a prolonged period of disuse (services having previously ceased in 2006).[10]

Services

Trains start from and terminate at Manchester Victoria and join the Kirkby branch at Wigan Wallgate, having travelled via Atherton and Hindley, and change direction at Kirkby. Services are scheduled to take between 69 and 75 minutes end-to-end. There is no weekday evening (after 19.30) or Sunday service.[11]

As of 2016, the standard service on the Kirkby branch is hourly, with trains starting from Victoria but continuing through to Blackburn via Todmorden on the return journey. These service frequencies have been unchanged since the 1980s[4] however the high-level output specification for 2014-2019 envisages the service being cut back to a simple shuttle between Kirkby and Wigan Wallgate. Services are operated by Northern.[12] Network Rail has considered the effects of electrification.[13]

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kirkby Branch Line.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Wright, Paul (1998–2008). "Liverpool Exchange". Disused Stations/Subterranea Britannica. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Electronic National Rail Timetable (eNRT): Winter 2010/2011" (Zipped PDF). Network Rail. 12 December 2010. p. 1541. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Macfarlane 1987, p. 43.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Macfarlane 1987, p. 42.
  5. ↑ Merseytravel Long Term Rail Strategy, P.25
  6. ↑ "A Station Back in Skelmersdale"Railfuture; Retrieved 10 June 2016
  7. ↑ "Millions to be spent on Mersey rail network". Liverpool Daily Post. Trinity Mirror. 3 April 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  8. ↑ Brownbill, J.; Farrer, William (eds.) (1911). "A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4. Townships: Pemberton". Victoria County History of Lancashire. British History Online. pp. 78–83. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
  9. ↑ Wright, Paul; Price, Bevan (1998–2008). "Crank Halt". Disused Stations/Subterranea Britannica. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  10. ↑ "Potter Logistics reopens Knowsley rail freight terminal" Waters, Will;Lloyds Loading List 4 July 2016; Retrieved 4 August 2016
  11. ↑ "Network Rail Table 82 - Manchester - Bolton - Wigan, Kirkby, Southport, Preston, Blackpool North and Barrow-in-Furness 13 December 2015 to 14 May 2016" (PDF). Network Rail. December 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  12. ↑ "Network Map". Northern Rail. 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  13. ↑ "Network RUS Electrification" (PDF). October 2009. Retrieved 20 October 2013.

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.