New Brighton railway station

New Brighton
A Merseyrail Class 508 at New Brighton.
Location
Place	New Brighton
Local authority	Wirral
Grid reference	SJ304939
Operations
Station code	NBN
Managed by	Merseyrail
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.344 million
2005/06	0.351 million
2006/07	0.359 million
2007/08	0.373 million
2008/09	1.046 million
2009/10	0.982 million
2010/11	1.026 million
2011/12	1.031 million
2012/13	1.005 million
2013/14	0.911 million
2014/15	0.934 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Merseytravel
Zone	B1
History
1888	Opened
1938	Electrified
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at New Brighton from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

New Brighton on the Wirral Line

New Brighton railway station is situated in New Brighton, Wirral, England. It is situated at the end of the New Brighton branch of the Wirral Line 8.25 miles (13.28 km) west of Liverpool Lime Street on the Merseyrail network.

History

The station was built as the terminus of the Wirral Railway's route from Birkenhead Park station, opening in 1888. Through services via the Mersey Railway Tunnel to Liverpool commenced in 1938, when the London Midland and Scottish Railway electrified the line. The station had a goods yard, which closed on 30 October 1965.^[1]

Between 1960 and 1971, diesel services on the Borderlands Wrexham to Bidston line ran through to New Brighton. This arrangement started when the service was converted to diesel trains and the branch to Seacombe station which was used as the terminus in North Wirral was closed. The service on the last leg from Bidston to New Brighton was very little used, apart from on peak summer days, as most passengers from the west of the Wirral and North Wales were heading for Liverpool or Birkenhead. From 4 January 1971, the service was terminated at Birkenhead North and, from 2 October 1978, the terminus was cut back one more station to Bidston.^[2][3]

From 1960, there was a direct diesel service from Chester Northgate station to New Brighton using mainly the Borderlands Line. The service ceased on 9 September 1968, prior to the closure of Northgate station.^[4] The diesel trains normally used the northern face of the island platform at New Brighton, with the electric services using the southern face.

Incidents

In 1986, Gary Kelly, a 16-year-old boy, died from electrocution at the station after fleeing from Akinwale Arobieke, who was believed to have been intimidating him. Arobieke was convicted of manslaughter, but the conviction was quashed on appeal after it was ruled that Arobieke had committed no crime in "standing and looking into trains".^[5]

Facilities

The station is staffed, during all opening hours, and has platform CCTV.^[6] There is a payphone, a station cafe and a vending machine, as well as a waiting room and toilets. There is, also, a booking office, live departure and arrival screens, for passenger information, and the terminus island platform also has a further sheltered waiting area.^[7] The station has a drop-off point, and a cycle rack with sixteen spaces. However, the station doesn't have a car park.^[8] The station and island platform can be easily accessed by passengers with wheelchairs or prams.^[7]

Services

Current service levels are every 15 minutes to Liverpool during Monday to Saturday daytime, and every 30 minutes at other times.^[9] These services are all provided by Merseyrail's fleet of Class 507 and Class 508 EMUs.

Gallery

• 

  British Rail Class 503s stabled at New Brighton, in 1983.

• 

  The station frontage.

• 

  Another view of the station, on Atherton Street.

• 

  A view of Portland Street road bridge, from the end of the platform.

References

1. Mitchell & Smith 2013, fig. 116
2. Maund 2009, p. 189
3. "Railways at Bidston". Disused Stations. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
4. "Station Name: Chester Northgate". Disused Stations. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
5. "The man who squeezes muscles". Retrieved 2016-11-28.
6. "New Brighton (NBN)". National Rail. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
7. "New Brighton Plan". National Rail. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
8. "New Brighton train station". Merseyrail. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
9. "Wirral Line timetable" (PDF). Merseyrail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.

Sources

• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2013). Wrexham to New Brighton. West Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN 9781908174475. OCLC 859543196.

External links

• Train times and station information for New Brighton railway station from National Rail

• Station information for New Brighton railway station from Merseyrail

Coordinates: 53°26′13″N 3°02′56″W / 53.437°N 3.049°W