Ellesmere Port railway station is located in the town of

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, south of Birkenhead, southwest of Runcorn and south of ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The station was an intermediate though station on the Hooton–Helsby line. Now all passenger services terminate at the station from both directions. It is both a terminus of the

Wirral Line 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 Wirral line connects Liverpool to the Wirral Peninsula via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, with ...

, a commuter rail system operated by

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...

and of

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

services to Warrington Bank Quay. Departures and arrivals of Merseyrail services are on platform 1 with departures and arrivals to Warrington Bank Quay on platform 2.

History

The station is situated on the branch of the

Birkenhead Railway The Birkenhead Railway was a railway company in North West England. It was incorporated as the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway (BL&CJR) in 1846 to build a line connecting the port of Birkenhead and the city of Chester with ...

from Hooton to

Helsby Helsby is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Overlooking the Mersey estuary, it is approximately north east of Chester and south we ...

which opened in 1863. The station itself opened on 1 July 1863, as Whitby Locks.Butt (1995). It was renamed Ellesmere Port on 1 September 1870. The station building is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Ellesmere Port became part of the

network in 1994, when the line from Hooton was

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

and through train services to Liverpool's city centre via

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

commenced. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Long Term Rail Strategy document of October 2017, page 37, states that a trial of new

battery trains will be undertaken in 2020, in view to extend the Wirral Line branch terminal to Helsby. If successful, Helsby will be one of the terminals of the

Wirral line 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 Wirral line connects Liverpool to the Wirral Peninsula via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, with ...

superseding Ellesmere Port.

Facilities

The station is staffed from Monday to Friday, between 06:05 and 14:00, and is unstaffed otherwise. The station has platform

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

, a 109-space

car park A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surfac ...

and a cycle rack with 10 spaces and secure storage for 14 cycles. Each platform has a waiting shelter. There are live electronic departure and arrival screens, on the platform, for passenger information. There is a

payphone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debit ...

, next to the entrance, on platform 1. The station has

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...

s, within the station concourse, next to the booking office. Platform 1, for Merseyrail services, can be accessed by ramp, for passengers with

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

s or prams. Platform 2, for Northern services, can be accessed by a passage alongside the staircase on Whitby Road. Cross-platform access, within the station, is by staircase only. Outside of the ticket office opening hours passengers must purchase tickets from the Ticket Vending Machine located on the platform. This machine can issue tickets to any destination on the rail network. Passengers failing to purchase a ticket will be liable for a

Penalty fare A penalty fare, standard fare, or fixed penalty notice is a special, usually higher, fare charged because a passenger using public transport did not comply with the normal ticket purchasing rules. It should not be confused with an unpaid fares n ...

if they board a

service without obtaining a valid ticket. In 2014 the station office buildings were improved on Platform 1, to include a new and improved ticket office, a new toilet, a new café and retention of most of the building's classic features and works.

Services

Merseyrail Wirral Line services operate every 30 minutes each day (including Sunday) towards

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Monday to Friday (except during the leaf-fall season in autumn), a few extra services run towards Liverpool in the morning and from Liverpool in the evening, giving a 15 minutes frequency in the peak direction only. These services are all provided by Merseyrail's fleet of Class 507 and Class 508

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. As of May 2019,

operates a limited service (three trains per day each way, Mondays to Saturdays only) to

via Stanlow & Thornton and Ince & Elton, two of which continue on weekdays to Warrington Bank Quay and

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was ...

and one return working to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

via

Todmorden Todmorden ( ; ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It is north-east of Manchester, south-east of Burnley and west of Halifax, West Yorkshire, Hal ...

. On Saturdays, all three trains terminate at Helsby. *Platform 1 serves the westbound

electric services. *Platform 2 serves the infrequent eastbound Northern Trains diesel train services to Warrington Bank Quay via Helsby.

Gallery

Image:Ellesmere_Port_Station_-_geograph.org.uk_-_34831.jpg, The footbridge and exterior of the station. Image:Ellesmere Port Railway Station (geograph 2987143).jpg, A Merseyrail Class 507 waits at the station. Image:Ellesmere Port railway station building (1).JPG, The station building viewed from the drop-off point. Image:Ellesmere Port railway station (5).JPG, The view towards Stanlow.

References

Notes

Sources

External links

Uk mapping via yahoo
{{Railway stations served by Merseyrail Railway stations in Cheshire DfT Category E stations Grade II listed buildings in Cheshire Former Birkenhead Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863 Railway stations served by Merseyrail Northern franchise railway stations Grade II listed railway stations Ellesmere Port