Birchwood station geograph-3262156-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Birchwood railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

opened in 1981 by

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 ra ...

, serving the

Birchwood Birchwood is a town in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England with a population of 11,395 (as at the 2001 census). Although physically and administratively part of Warrington, the civil parish council has named itself a town council. Hi ...

district to the north east of

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

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 tow ...

, in the north west of

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 ...

. The station is East of

Liverpool Lime Street railway station Liverpool Lime Street is a terminus railway station and the main station serving the city centre of Liverpool. Opened in August 1836, it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. A branch of the West Coast ...

and west of

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

on the Liverpool-Manchester line. The station is operated by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail N ...

and is on the southern route of the Liverpool–Manchester Line. It is staffed full-time (between 0610 and 2345 Mondays–Saturdays and 0825 and 2320 Sundays). It is across from the main Birchwood shopping complex and is well served by onward transportation to all parts of Birchwood and further afield.

Facilities

There is sheltered seating on both platforms with a ticket office with seating on the Manchester-bound platform. A footbridge connects the two platforms. Outside the station there is a bus stop and the station is close to the Birchwood shopping mall. The ticket office is open until 22:00, though it does occasionally close during the day whilst staff carry out other duties. During the daytime there are three staff members on the station (station clerk, kiosk and a cleaner), and two of an evening (station clerk and a security guard). When the ticket office is closed there are 2 ticket machines in the station building on platform 1 and 1 in the waiting room on platform 2. Train running information is provided by automated announcements, digital information screens and timetable posters. Step-free access is available via lifts on both platforms (commissioned in the autumn of 2014).Easier access for passengers at Birchwood
''Network Rail Media Centre'' article; Retrieved 12 December 2016

Services

The station sees a general frequency of three to four trains per hour, per direction. As of December 2022, services are provided by

and

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major ci ...

, with limited

East Midlands Railway Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. History In March 2017, the Department for Transport ...

calls at certain points of the day.

Northern

* One train per hour to via (serving most local stations) * One train per hour to via (stopping only at some local stations en route) Most stopping trains originating from Liverpool Lime Street now terminate at Warrington Central.

TransPennine Express

* One train per hour to via , and . * One fast train per hour to , stopping only at and

Liverpool South Parkway Liverpool South Parkway station (Formerly Allerton railway station), is a railway station and bus interchange in the Garston district of Liverpool, England. It serves, via a bus link, Liverpool John Lennon Airport in the neighbouring suburb of ...

, with limited calls at

Warrington West railway station Warrington West is a railway station on the Liverpool–Manchester line. The station, situated east of Liverpool Lime Street, serves the civil parish of Great Sankey, Warrington in Cheshire, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed b ...

East Midlands Railway

* Two morning peak trains to Norwich * One train per day to Liverpool Lime Street area, particularly of those that use the and , TransPennine Express has returned to the route, diverting the service that would terminate at to Liverpool instead.

History

The station was officially opened by

Chairman Sir Peter Parker on 31 July 1981. Constructed at a cost of £750,000, it was the result of cooperation between British Rail, Warrington New Town Development Corporation, Warrington Borough Council and local bus companies. Bus interchange facilities were provided at the station, which served a developing residential and commercial area. The initial service provision was 50 trains per day.

References

External links

{{Railway stations served by TransPennine Express Railway stations in Warrington DfT Category D stations Railway stations opened by British Rail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1981 Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Northern franchise railway stations Railway stations served by TransPennine Express