Kirkby branch line
| Kirkby branch line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A Northern Rail Class 150 at Orrell railway station
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| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| System | National Rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Operational | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | North West England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini |
Wigan Wallgate Kirkby |
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| Stations |
Pemberton, Orrell, Upholland, Rainford |
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| Operation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 20 November 1848 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Network Rail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator(s) | Northern | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 12.25 miles (19.71 km) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Kirkby branch line is a railway line in England, running from Wigan in Greater Manchester to Kirkby in Merseyside. Now a partly single-track route with an hourly diesel service operated by Northern, the line was once part of a mainline route from Manchester to Liverpool operated by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and had several branch lines of its own until the 1960s.
The Liverpool and Bury Railway built the first line into Liverpool from the north. It ran from Bury in Lancashire (now Greater Manchester) via the towns of Bolton and Wigan, and reached the city of Liverpool in 1848. Soon afterwards, the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway's route to Preston was built and shared the L&BR line as far as Walton. Mergers meant that the Bury route was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, which had taken over the Liverpool and Bury Railway company. The opening ceremony took place on 20 November 1848.
With the creation of Merseyrail and the closure of the route's former terminus at Liverpool Exchange in 1977 through trains to Liverpool from the Wigan direction ceased. It had originally been intended that the line be electrified all the way from Liverpool to Wigan. The section between Liverpool and Kirkby was electrified in that year, and Kirkby station was reconstructed in a way which severed the line. Services between Wigan and Kirkby are provided by diesel-powered stock; passengers continuing beyond Kirkby change there and join a Merseyrail-operated electric train. It is a long term aspiration of Merseyrail to complete the electrification of the line. Merseytravel also hope to use the route as part of rail link to the town of Skelmersdale, which has been cut off from the national network since 1956 and is now one of the largest towns in North West England without a passenger rail service.
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Wikipedia