Over the course of the first six months of 2017, Network Rail will carry out essential renewal work on the city centre underground sections of the Wirral line. This means that Wirral line trains will not be able to serve Moorfields, Lime Street and Liverpool Central stations. At certain times, trains towards Liverpool will be unable to travel beyond Birkenhead Central and Birkenhead North.
Northern line services will remain unaffected throughout and will call at Moorfields and Liverpool Central as normal.
The track in the underground ‘loop’, which forms the one way section of the Wirral line under Liverpool city centre, was built in the 1970s, and has been well maintained by Network Rail and its predecessors. But 40 years on, the concrete that supports the track in the single bore tunnels needs to be replaced. To minimise disruption, Network Rail is also taking the opportunity to replace the track under the riverbed between James Street and Hamilton Square at the same time.
When the work is finished, passengers will be assured that the railway infrastructure is reliable for the next decades of intensive use by our train services.
Merseyrail, working with Merseytravel and Network Rail, will do everything possible throughout the work to ensure that Wirral line passengers can continue to travel into Liverpool city centre, using alternative transport, such as replacement bus services and Mersey Ferry services. Full details on the alternative travel arrangements will be available in the autumn.
The work will be carried out in three phases:
Phase 1
From Tuesday 3 January 2017 till Sunday 12 February 2017, there will be no Wirral line trains beyond Birkenhead Central and Birkenhead North towards Liverpool.
Phase 2
From Monday 13 February 2017 till Monday 29 May 2017, Wirral line trains will run as far as James Street on weekdays. At the weekends, trains will run only as far as Birkenhead North and Birkenhead Central, as in phase 1. However, on bank holidays weekends, and the Saturday of the Grand National, they will run to James Street.
Phase 3
From Tuesday 30 May 2017 till Sunday 18 June 2017, there will again be no Wirral line trains beyond Birkenhead Central and Birkenhead North towards Liverpool.
Demand for Merseyrail services is higher in the summer than in the winter, and while we understand there is never a good time to carry out this sort of work, the dates have been chosen to affect the minimum number of journeys possible. By undertaking all the work in one go, Network Rail can complete the track renewals quicker, and avoid a situation where time is wasted moving heavy machinery into and out of the narrow city centre tunnels.
Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, Merseyrail’s managing director, commented: ‘The Wirral line track renewal work will involve the closure of the loop for six months from January 2017, as well as the partial closure of the stretch of track along the riverbed for six weeks at the start and a few weeks at the end of this period. Our focus now is ensuring that we put in place robust alternative transport arrangements, and while this work will be disruptive, the onus will be on keeping inconvenience to a minimum so that people can continue travelling to and from the Wirral. In the autumn, we will be in a position to say exactly what these plans are.’