Roby railway station serves the village of Roby,

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, England. It is located east of

Liverpool Lime Street 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 ...

on the former

Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...

, and west of Huyton. It is operated by

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) ...

, as part of

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's electrified City Line to Manchester and Wigan North Western.

History

Roby station was opened in 1830 as part of the

, and is one of the oldest passenger railway stations in the world. These early intermediate stations were often little more than halts, usually positioned where the railway was crossed by a road or

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

. This probably accounts for variations in the names of these stopping places, Roby station was originally known as ''Roby Lane Gate'', or just ''Roby Gate'' before finally becoming ''Roby'' at an unknown date. Originally Roby station had four platforms, but the two platforms on the northern side of the station (Platforms 3 and 4) were closed in the 1970s, and the track was lifted. As part of the electrification of the Liverpool-Manchester Line, Platforms 3 and 4 have been re-instated. The station has also received new customer information screens and a P.A system as part of this work.

Facilities

It is staffed throughout the day (as is the norm for

-sponsored stations), with the ticket office (located in the main building on platform one) open from 05:30 until 00:10 Mondays to Saturdays and 09:45 to 17:45 on Sundays. Shelters are available on the other three platforms, along with digital information screens, timetable poster boards, automatic train announcements and customer help points. Full step-free access is offered to the platforms (to 2, 3 and 4 via lifts).

Services

During the daytime, Monday to Saturday, the station is served by four trains per hour in each direction. All Westbound trains run to

. Eastbound trains serve

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Belle Vale, and the neighbouring village of Roby, with which it f ...

, then continue to Wigan North Western (two trains per hour), Warrington Bank Quay (1 train per hour) or via

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 ...

and (one train per hour). Services are less frequent in the evenings and the service to Manchester starts/terminates at . For many years, Roby was closed on Sundays. However, from December 2006, the station gained a Sunday service, with two trains per hour to Liverpool, one train per hour to Manchester and one train per hour to Blackpool North via Wigan. A second hourly stopping service to and from Wigan began at the spring 2018 timetable change.

Gallery

Image:142036 departs Roby.JPG, A

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated th ...

Class 142 departs towards Liverpool. Engineering work for the reinstatment of platforms is visible. Image:Booking office, Roby railway station (geograph 3795695).jpg, The station booking office, from the platform. Image:Ticket office, Roby railway station.jpg, The station booking office, from the street. Image:End of platform, Roby railway station (geograph 3795703).jpg, The engineering work for the reinstatement of track between Roby and Huyton.

References

External links

{{coord, 53.410, N, 2.856, W, type:railwaystation_region:GB, display=title Railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley DfT Category E stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1830 Northern franchise railway stations 1830 establishments in England