Allerton Junction is an at grade junction signal box just east of Liverpool South Parkway, Allerton, Merseyside. It takes its name from the former Allerton station that South Parkway replaced.
The junction is where the Liverpool to Manchester line branches off the Liverpool branch of the West Coast Main Line. Services operating over the junction are East Midlands Railway (to Nottingham & Norwich), TransPennine Express (Leeds & Scarborough), West Midlands Trains (Birmingham New Street), Northern (stopping services to Manchester Victoria) and Avanti West Coast (London Euston).
It has only existed in current form since 1966, as prior to this the former Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) main line from Manchester Central passed beneath the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) main line and continued on to Liverpool Central High Level. However the 1963 Beeching Report recommended that all mainline rail services into Liverpool be concentrated at the ex-LNWR Liverpool Lime Street station and that the CLC Central High Level station be closed. Accordingly, a new connection to Hunts Cross West Junction (known as the Hunts Cross chord) was built by British Rail in 1965/66 to link the two routes and allow services from the Warrington and Manchester direction to join the LNWR line from Crewe and so reach Liverpool Lime Street. This re-routeing took effect from 5 September 1966 - thereafter the former CLC line west of here was only used by local trains between Central and Gateacre. These were withdrawn in 1972, but the line was later reopened as part of the Merseyrail network in January 1978 as far as Garston and then extended to Hunts Cross in May 1983.
Though there are two pairs of lines through South Parkway station on the main line, only the fast (eastern) ones are linked to the Hunts Cross route - any on the western (slow) pair must be crossed over to the fast lines north of the station if heading towards Manchester. Allerton Junction signal box (a flat roofed BR standard structure built at the same time as the chord) is located immediately beyond the junction, operating it and the connections into the nearby Allerton TMD. [1]
The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow along with Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of intercity rail, regional rail, commuter rail and rail freight traffic. The core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow for 399 mi (642 km) and was opened from 1837 to 1869. With additional lines deviating to Northampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, this totals a route mileage of 700 miles (1,127 km). The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line connects the WCML to Edinburgh, however the main London–Edinburgh route is the East Coast Main Line. Several sections of the WCML form part of the suburban railway systems in London, Coventry, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing links to more rural towns.
Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving Liverpool, England, the surrounding Liverpool City Region, the Wirral Peninsula and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire, including a number of underground stations. The core of the network is formed by two dedicated electrified lines known as the Northern Line and the Wirral Line, which run underground in central Liverpool and Birkenhead. The third line, separate from the electrified network, is named the City Line. The City Line is a term used by the governing body Merseytravel referring to local Northern services it sponsors serving in its area operating on the Liverpool to Manchester Lines and Liverpool to Wigan Line. Many of the City Line stations are branded Merseyrail using Merseyrail ticketing.
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsby. It pursued a policy of expanding its area of influence, especially in reaching west to Liverpool, which it ultimately did through the medium of the Cheshire Lines Committee network in joint partnership with the Great Northern Railway and the Midland Railway.
The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed in the 1860s and became the second-largest joint railway in Great Britain. The committee, which was often styled the Cheshire Lines Railway, operated 143 miles (230 km) of track in the then counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. The railway did not get grouped into one of the Big Four during the implementation of the 1923 grouping, surviving independently with its own management until the railways were nationalised at the beginning of 1948. The railway served Liverpool, Manchester, Stockport, Warrington, Widnes, Northwich, Winsford, Knutsford, Chester and Southport with connections to many other railways.
Liverpool Central Low Level railway station in Liverpool, England, forms a central hub of the Merseyrail network, being on both the Northern Line and the Wirral Line. The station is located underground on two levels, below the site of a former mainline terminus. It is the busiest station in Liverpool, though considerably smaller than Lime Street station, the mainline terminus, and the busiest station to operate fully the Merseyrail network. The station is the busiest underground station outside London serving 40,000 people daily. The station in passengers per platform is the busiest underground railway station in the United Kingdom at 5,217,547 per platform per annum and laying third in all stations, underground or overground.
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.
There once were four direct railway routes between Liverpool and Manchester in the North West of England, however only two remain, the two centre routes of the four. The most northerly and the most southerly of the four routes are no longer direct lines. Of the remaining two direct routes, the northern route of the two is fully electric with the now southern route a diesel-only line. The most northerly of the four, has been split into two routes, with the western section operated by Merseyrail electric trains and the eastern section by diesel trains, requiring passengers to change trains between the two cities. The fourth route, the most southerly of the four, has been largely abandoned east of Warrington, with the remaining section mostly catering for freight trains.
Lichfield Trent Valley is a railway station on the outskirts of the city of Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. It is one of two stations in Lichfield, the other being Lichfield City in the city-centre. It is a split-level station, with low level platforms served by the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line, and a single high level platform which is the northern terminus of the Cross-City Line.
Chinley railway station serves the village of Chinley in Derbyshire, England. The station is 17 1⁄2 miles (28.2 km) south east of Manchester Piccadilly, on the Hope Valley Line from Sheffield to Manchester. It is unstaffed and is managed by Northern Trains.
Hazel Grove railway station is a junction on both the Stockport to Buxton and Stockport to Sheffield lines, serving the village of Hazel Grove, Greater Manchester, England.
Allerton railway station was a railway station on the City Line of the Merseyrail network, located in the suburbs of Liverpool, England.
Garston railway station was a railway station in the Garston district of Liverpool, England. The station was located on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail suburban rail network. The station was closed in 2006 when it was replaced by Liverpool South Parkway, which is a combined bus and rail interchange. The proximity of the stations was so close the platforms of South Parkway nearly merged onto the Garston station's platforms.
Liverpool South Parkway station is a railway station and bus interchange in the Garston district of Liverpool, England. It serves, via a bus link, Liverpool John Lennon Airport in the neighbouring suburb of Speke, as well as providing an interchange between main line services and the Merseyrail rapid transit/commuter rail network.
West Allerton railway station serves the suburb of Allerton, Liverpool in the north west of England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Northern Trains and it is situated 4 1⁄4 miles (6.8 km) southeast of Liverpool Lime Street on the main line to Runcorn and Crewe.
The Northern line is one of the two Cross-city route commuter rail lines operated by Merseyrail, based on Liverpool in Merseyside, England, with the Wirral Line being the other. A third line, the City Line, is not owned or operated by Merseyrail, however stations inside Merseytravel's area are branded as Merseyrail. All three lines are funded by Merseytravel. The Northern Line is a north-south crossrail line running through Liverpool's city centre, from Hunts Cross in the south to three termini in the north at: Southport, Ormskirk and Kirkby.
The North Liverpool Extension Line was a railway line in Liverpool, England in operation between 1879 and 1972. It was at one stage intended to become the eastern section of the Merseyrail Outer Loop, an orbital line circling the city.
The City Line is the name given to local and regional stopping rail services out of the main line platforms of Liverpool Lime Street railway station. It appears on some maps of the Merseyrail network as red, and covers the Liverpool–Wigan line, the two routes of the Liverpool–Manchester lines, the Liverpool-Crewe Line, Liverpool-Chester line via Runcorn and the Liverpool-Blackpool line.
Hunts Cross chord is a section of railway track in Liverpool that was built by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) to connect the LNWR's Edge Hill to Ditton Junction line with the CLC's Liverpool to Manchester Line. Mainline services between Manchester and Liverpool were diverted to Lime Street from their previous terminus at Central High Level over this connection from 5 September 1966.
Northenden railway station in Sharston, Manchester, England, was built by the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham Junction Railway (ST&AJ) and opened for passenger and goods traffic on 1 February 1866.
Urban or suburban rail plays a key role in public transport in many of the United Kingdom's major cities. Urban rail refers to the train service between city centres and suburbs or nearby towns that acts as a main mode of transport for travellers on a daily basis.
Coordinates: 53°21′27″N2°53′16″W / 53.3576°N 2.8877°W
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