Wirral Street Car | |
---|---|
Operation | |
Locale | Wirral |
Open | TBD |
Lines | One |
Routes | Bidston Dock to Woodside Ferry Terminal |
Owner(s) | Wirral Waters, Wirral Council and Merseyrail (project partners) |
Infrastructure | |
Track gauge | Standard |
Website | https://www.wirralwaters.co.uk/projects/wirral-street-car/ Wirral Street Car |
The Wirral Street Car is a proposed tramway from Bidston Dock to Woodside Ferry Terminal to provide transport links for the Wirral Waters development. [1] The line will use pre-existing rolling stock as well as incorporating both the disused Birkenhead Dock Branch and the Wirral Tramway that already operates as a heritage service from the Wirral Transport Museum to Woodside Ferry Terminal. [2] [3]
Plans for the Street Car were first announced in February 2013, intending to redevelop part of the abandoned Birkenhead Dock Branch route into a tram system. [3] The plans involved connecting Wirral Waters to the Merseyrail network at the Birkenhead North and Hamilton Square stations, utilising the stretch of dock branch trackbed along Beaufort Road and Corporation Road, with inner and outer loops around Vittoria Dock and East Float, respectively. [4] [5] Options to connect this new system to Conway Park and Birkenhead Park stations are also available, along with a further extension for the Wirral Tramway to Seacombe ferry terminal. [4]
In November 2018, the details of a consultation by Wirral Council & Peel Land and Property called the 'Streetscape Project' were announced. [6] The consultation is not directly focused on the tramway but the concept of a tram service is featured heavily, with the consultation suggesting that the scheme could be completed "over the next five years."
Merseyside is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Welsh county of Flintshire across the Dee Estuary to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west. All boroughs of the Merseyside area are also part of the Liverpool City Region. The largest settlement is the City of Liverpool.
Birkenhead is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; It was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 88,818.
Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. It was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive. From 1 April 2014, with the creation of the Liverpool City Region, Merseytravel expanded its area of operation from the metropolitan county of Merseyside to also include the Borough of Halton.
The Great Float is a body of water on the Wirral Peninsula, England, formed from the natural tidal inlet, the Wallasey Pool. It is split into two large docks, East Float and West Float, both part of the Birkenhead Docks complex. The docks run approximately 2 miles (3 km) inland from the River Mersey, dividing the towns of Birkenhead and Wallasey. The Great Float consists of 110 acres (45 ha) of water and more than 4 miles (6 km) of quays.
The Wirral Railway was a railway network in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, England. Its route was from Birkenhead Park in the east of the Wirral to West Kirby in the west. A branch off this line at Bidston went north to Secombe and New Brighton. It was incorporated in 1863 as the Hoylake Railway, running from Hoylake to Birkenhead Docks. After changes of name and of ownership, it was purchased by the Wirral Railway Company Limited in 1884. The network was extended to West Kirby, New Brighton, and Seacombe, and to Birkenhead Park station where it joined the Mersey Railway, enabling through trains through the Mersey Railway Tunnel to Liverpool. In the 1923 grouping the Wirral company became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which electrified the line in 1938, allowing passenger services to be integrated with the Liverpool urban system. Most of the Wirral Railway network is still in use today as part of the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail rail network.
Wallasey is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, it is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. At the 2011 Census, the population was 60,284.
The Liverpool City Region is a combined authority area in North West England. It has six council areas: the five metropolitan boroughs of Merseyside and the unitary authority of Halton in Cheshire. The city region had a population of 1,571,045 in 2022. Its largest settlement and administrative HQ is Liverpool.
The Wirral line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern line.
The Chester–Birkenhead line runs from Chester to Birkenhead via Hooton. Today, it forms part of the Wirral Line network, a commuter rail system operated by Merseyrail. The line was built by the Chester and Birkenhead Railway and opened on 23 September 1840. On 22 July 1847 the railway merged with the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway which was later renamed to Birkenhead Railway.
Bidston railway station serves the village of Bidston, in Merseyside, England. It is situated at a junction of the West Kirby branch of the Wirral line, which is part of the Merseyrail network; it also serves as the northern terminus for the Borderlands line to Wrexham Central, with services operated by Transport for Wales.
Birkenhead Woodside was a railway station located at Woodside, in Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire. It served both local services within Cheshire and long-distance services to southern England, including London.
Woodside is an area of Birkenhead in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is situated opposite Liverpool Pier Head across the River Mersey.
Birkenhead Town railway station is a disused railway station in Birkenhead, Wirral, England. It was located near the current entrance to the Queensway Tunnel on Grange Road.
Birkenhead Dock Branch is a disused railway line running from the South junction of Rock Ferry, to the site of the former Bidston Dock on the Wirral Peninsula, England. The branch is approximately 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) in length. Although called a branch, the line was accessible from both ends, from Bidston East junction and from Rock Ferry railway station. The former Mollington Street Rail Depot was branched into the line. A section of the line runs through Haymarket Tunnel and a low-level cutting through the centre of Birkenhead; visible from the road flyovers. The former Canning Street North signal box has now been demolished following fire damage, and the rails across the level crossing there have been removed due to the provision of cycle lanes on the roadway. The non-standard gates remain on the east side, but a fence has been erected on the other side despite the railway being officially out of use, rather than closed. Level crossings are also located at Duke Street and Wallasey Bridge Road. The railway lines are still partially intact.
Wirral Waters is a large scale £4.5bn development currently being built by the Peel Group for Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is the sister programme of the Liverpool Waters project. Since 2012 the two projects have enjoyed enterprise zone status, together forming the Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone.
Wirral Transport Museum is a museum situated approximately 0.5 miles (800 m) from the Mersey Ferry service at Woodside, Birkenhead, England.
Birkenhead Transport was a bus operator in Birkenhead. It commenced operating on 12 July 1919 with a service from Rock Ferry to Birkenhead Park station, this service was extended to Moreton in the August of that year. The buses supplemented an earlier tram service.
Liverpool in North West England, is a major British city with significant road, rail, and ferry networks, in addition to an international airport and a well-known dock system. As with most other major UK cities, Liverpool's transport infrastructure is centred on its road and rail networks. Public transport services within the city are controlled and run by Merseytravel.
Wirral Tramway was a heritage tramway opened in 1995 by the Wirral Borough Council and Hamilton Quarter partnership and was operated by Blackpool Transport Services until 2005 when the council took over the licence to run the tramway.
Dundee and District Tramways operated a tramway service in Dundee between 1877 and 1899.