Sandhills railway station is
a railway station in Kirkdale, Liverpool
, UK
, located to
the north of the city centre on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network. It was built by the
Liverpool,
Crosby and Southport Railway Company and now stands at the
junction between the branch to Southport
and the branch to Ormskirk
and Kirkby
.
The usage figures for the station underestimate the actual usage as
it is a busy interchange station. 71,953 interchange passengers are
recorded for 2004-5, but passenger statistics do not include
travellers using Saveaway or other multi-mode tickets.
The two platforms form
a single island, overlooking the River Mersey
on one side, and the former industrial area of
Commercial Road on the other. It is also used by
football fans heading for
Liverpool F.C. and
Everton F.C. matches: a
bus
service called Soccerbus runs between the station and the football
stadiums on match-days only.
Passengers have to walk up a ramp to reach the ticket office, then
through a subway and up ramps to reach the platform.
The
station was closed for refurbishment on 17 November, 2007, and
reopened on 7 July, 2008 - with the refurbishment still largely
incomplete - in order to cater for passengers travelling to
Birkdale
for the
2008 Open Championship, and
Liverpool for the 2008 Tall Ships Race. The refurbishment
work at the station will be fully completed in early 2009.
History
Sandhills
opened in 1850 as an intermediate station when the Liverpool, Crosby and
Southport Railway was extended from its previous terminal at
Waterloo
to Liverpool Exchange
. It became part of the
Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway in 1904, who took over from the LCSR. The Lancashire
and Yorkshire Railway amalgamated with the
London and North Western
Railway on 1 January 1922 and in turn was
Grouped into the
London, Midland and
Scottish Railway in 1923.
Nationalisation followed in 1948 and in 1978
the station became part of the Merseyrail Network's Northern Line
(operated by
British Rail until
privatised in 1995). The station had 4
platforms until it was rationalised in the 1970s.
An extensive refurbishment plan for the station was suggested in
2006 which involves the building of a completely new booking hall
and greatly improved facilities on the platform. A new overall roof
is under construction - originally intended to cover the entire
length of the platform, but now only covers approximately half. In
addition, the station's entrance will be moved from Sandhills Lane
to Dunes Way, a little used industrial road.
This will allow a
dedicated bus-rail interchange point to be built, improving
transport beyond the station to localities such as Kirkdale, Anfield
and Everton
. On 24 April 2007, improvement works to the
station at a cost of £6million were agreed. In November 2007, it
was announced that the station would be closed from 17 November
2007 until March 2008 for refurbishment. The refurbishment work was
extended until July 2008, when the station reopened in a partly
completed state. The full completion of the work at the station
will be finished in early 2009 and a second phase of works to
develop a bus turnaround facility in front of the station is
planned in 2010.
Services
Off-peak service frequency is as follows:
During late evenings and on Sundays, frequencies are reduced to 2
tph on the Ormskirk and Kirkby lines. On Sundays, frequencies are
reduced to 2 tph beyond Liverpool Central to Hunts Cross. On winter
Sundays, frequencies are also reduced to 2 tph on the Liverpool
Central to Southport section, giving a total 6 tph from all lines
between Sandhills and Liverpool Central.
Trivia
- The station is named after the road, Sandhills Lane, which the
main entrance is located on. There is no locality in Liverpool
named Sandhills, the lane taking its name from Sandhills, a large
house on the site of the station belonging to local solicitor and
property speculator John Shaw Leigh.
References
External links
via Liverpool Central
Wikis
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