Network Rail prepares passengers for Lime Street closure

Liverpool Lime Street station will be closed for three weeks in October, as Network Rail remodels platforms and completes track upgrades to support a doubling of passenger numbers by 2043.

Journeys through Lime Street will be affected for 23 days, from 30 September to 22 October.

Part of a £340m railway investment programme by Network Rail and Liverpool City Region from now until 2019, the Lime Street station upgrade comes after a six-month renewal of the Wirral line concludes.

Network Rail said a transport plan will involve keeping people on the rail network wherever possible, diverting many mainline services to Liverpool South Parkway and getting people to and from the city on the Merseyrail network. Where rail replacement buses are offered, every attempt has been made to procure the best quality buses.

Martin Frobisher, Network Rail’s London North Western route managing director, said: “Our Liverpool Lime Street work is the biggest upgrade of the station since the 19th century.

“It will enable faster, more frequent and reliable train services by 2019. As Liverpool’s economy grows the railway is growing too.

“We are working with rail industry and the Liverpool City Region colleagues to keep the people of Merseyside on the move throughout the Lime Street closure.

“The short-term pain of re-routed commutes will be worth the long-term gain of transformed train travel in future.”

During the Lime Street works this autumn, engineers will be remodelling station platforms, adding two and taking one out of use, and increasing the length of existing platforms. Work will also take place to install overhead line equipment to power electric trains, and remodel the concourse.

This is the first of two phases of work at Liverpool Lime Street, with a further station closure planned in 2018.

Once work is complete, there will be an additional three services per hour in and out of Lime Street station, including new direct services to Scotland.

Meanwhile the Wirral loop line reopens on Monday 19 June. Network Rail has been on site 24/7 since January, replacing 1.2km of concrete slab, repairing and realigning track and upgrading 1,100 yards of track below the river bed.