Rice Lane railway station

Rice Lane
A view of the ticket office, from the footbridge.
Location
Place	Walton
Local authority	Liverpool
Coordinates	53°27′27″N 2°57′46″W / 53.4576°N 2.9628°WCoordinates: 53°27′27″N 2°57′46″W / 53.4576°N 2.9628°W
Grid reference	SJ361960
Operations
Station code	RIL
Managed by	Merseyrail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.103 million
2005/06	0.117 million
2006/07	0.118 million
2007/08	0.134 million
2008/09	0.331 million
2009/10	0.307 million
2010/11	0.323 million
2011/12	0.290 million
2012/13	0.281 million
2013/14	0.297 million
2014/15	0.314 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Merseytravel
Zone	C1
History
20 November 1848	Opened as Preston Road
14 May 1984	Renamed Rice Lane
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Rice Lane from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Rice Lane railway station is a railway station in Liverpool, England, located to the north of the city centre in the Walton district. It is on the Kirkby branch of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line.

The station was opened on 20 November 1848, and was known as Preston Road until 14 May 1984.^[1]

Services

Trains operate every 15 minutes between Kirkby and Liverpool Central, and every 30 minutes at other times.

The station's name was changed in the 1980s not because of any changes in the road network, which had remained unchanged for over 50 years but because the name harked back to when it was opened in 1848. The station was built in open country side where the railway line crossed the Liverpool to Preston Turnpike Road "the Preston Road". With the coming of the railway, came residential development and commuting into Liverpool. Even then that part of turnpike road was called Rice Lane, after a local land owner.

In the 1980s the local Rice Lane Community Association persuaded Ken Swallow, the Director General of the local Passenger Transport Executive, that it would be sensible to have a station name that reflected the actual street name. Rice Lane Community Association sponsored the renaming of the station, and had a commemorative plaque erected, which sadly was stolen a few years later.

Gallery

• 

  The A59 road bridge, at the end of the platform.

• 

  The station footbridge.

• 

  A Merseyrail Class 508 arrives with a service.

• 

  A view from the footbridge.

References

1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. pp. 191, 197. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.

External links

• Train times and station information for Rice Lane railway station from National Rail

• Station information for Rice Lane railway station from Merseyrail