Merseyrail - Merseyrail The Loop and Link Project - J

Merseyrail - J

Merseyrail The Loop and Link Project

The major engineering works required to create the Northern and Wirral lines became known as the 'Loop' and 'Link' Project, consisting of two tunnels. The 'Loop' was the Wirral Line tunnel and the 'Link' the Northern Line tunnel, both under Liverpool's city centre. The main works were undertaken between 1972 and 1977.
A further project, known as the Edge Hill Spur, would have integrated the City Lines into the city centre underground network. This would have meshed the eastern section of the city into the core underground city centre section of the electric network, releasing platforms at mainline Lime Street station for mid to long haul routes. The Edge Hill Spur was not completed due to budget cuts.

Merseyrail The Loop Line (Wirral Line)

The Loop Line is a single-track loop tunnel under Liverpool's city centre serving the Wirral Line branches. It was built to allow both greater capacity and a wider choice of destinations for Wirral Line users, which included the business and shopping districts of Liverpool city centre and the mainline Lime Street station. The loop extension offered direct mainline station access to Wirral residents after the decommissioning of the mainline Woodside terminal station in Birkenhead.

Trains from Wirral arriving via the original Mersey Railway tunnel enter the loop beneath Mann Island in Liverpool continuing in a clockwise direction through James Street, Moorfields, Lime Street and Central, returning to the Wirral via James Street station. The loop tunnel gave interchanges for passengers of the Wirral Line to the Northern Line at Moorfields and Central stations.

Merseyrail The Link Line (Northern Line)

The purpose of the Link Tunnel was to link the separate urban lines north and south of the city creating a continuous north–south crossrail, called the Northern Line. A substantial section of the Northern Line had an additional function in completing the western section of a planned double-track electrified suburban orbital line, circling the city's outer suburbs, known as the 'Outer Rail Loop'. However, the eastern section of the Outer Rail Loop was never built due to budget cuts.

The Link Line tunnel is a double-track tunnel that links two lines: One line running south from the city centre to Hunts Cross; another running north from the city centre to Southport, with branches to Ormskirk and Kirkby. One continuous line would be created, the Northern Line.

The line provides direct access from the north and south of Liverpool to the shopping and business districts in the city centre via two underground stations, Liverpool Central and Moorfields, both of which also interchange with the Loop Line, which is an extension of the Wirral Line. The Northern Line effectively creates a north–south crossrail enabling passengers to travel from the south to the north of the city, and vice versa, via Liverpool city centre.

The present Northern Line underground station at Liverpool Central was originally the Mersey Railway terminus at Liverpool Central Low Level. A section of the original 1880s tunnel between James Street and Central stations was used to form the Link Tunnel. The remainder, between Paradise Street Junction and Derby Square Junction, was retained for use as a rolling stock interchange line between the Northern and Wirral Lines and also for a reversing siding for Wirral Line trains terminating at James Street when the Loop Tunnel is inoperative. The rolling stock interchange section of the tunnel is not used for passenger traffic.

Merseyrail Hamilton Square Burrowing Junction

A burrowing junction was constructed at Birkenhead Hamilton Square station, to increase traffic capacity on the Wirral Line by eliminating the flat junction to the west of the station. This included a new station tunnel at Hamilton Square to serve the lines to New Brighton and West Kirby.

Merseyrail Liverpool Central South Junction

To the south of Liverpool Central Low Level Station, a new track layout was constructed as part of the Link Line project. This layout permitted the former Mersey Railway route from the north to be connected to the former Cheshire Lines Committee route running south from the closed Central High Level Station, allowing the Northern Line to be extended in a southerly direction to Garston and, later, Hunts Cross.

It was accomplished by excavating the trackbed of the high-level tunnel to connect to the lower level tunnel of the two routes by means of a tunnelled gradient. As it was still necessary to accommodate a reversing siding to serve Central Low Level, and as the width of the high-level tunnel did not permit a three-track alignment, a new section of single-track tunnel was built for the Central to Garston line. This tunnel starts to the south of the station and rises to join the high-level tunnel.

At the time of construction, the opportunity was taken to construct two short header tunnels for the proposed Edge Hill Spur project (see below). Should the project go ahead, the connecting tunnels could be constructed without the need to obstruct rail services on the existing route. The junction arrangement would be a burrowing junction, as at Hamilton Square (see above), with the grade separation of tracks increasing capacity.

Merseyrail Overview

Owner: Merseytravel, Network Rail

Area Served: Liverpool City Region and surrounding areas

Locale:

Liverpool City Region (Merseyside and Halton)

Cheshire

Lancashire

Transit Type: Commuter rail

Number of Lines: 2 (plus main line commuter services)

Number of Stations: 68 (66 managed)

Annual Ridership:

2019: 30.6 million

2020: 9.0 million

2021: 20.0 million

Chief Executive: Neil Grabham

Headquarters: Rail House, Liverpool

Merseyrail Operation

Began Operation: 1977 - 46 years ago

Operator(s): Serco-Abellio

Infrastructure Manager(s): Network Rail

Character: Commuter rail, National Rail franchise

Number of Vehicles: 57

Train Length: 3 cars, 6 cars during peak times

Headway: 15 minutes (general), 5 minutes (central sections), 30 minutes (Ellesmere Port branch, general in evenings and on Sundays)

Technical Track Gauge: 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

Electrification: 750 V DC third rail

Rail Holidays
Rail Vacations

Luxury Trains
Luxury Tours

International Trains
International Tours