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Hooton–Helsby line

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Hooton–Helsby line
Wirral Line train (left) and train to Helsby (right) at Ellesmere Port.
Overview
StatusOperational
OwnerNetwork Rail
ELRHHJ
LocaleCheshire
North West England
Termini
Service
SystemNational Rail
Services
Operator(s)
History
Opened1863
Technical
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Route map

(Click to expand)
Ellesmere Port
to Warrington Line
Legend
Wirral Line
to Hooton
0:00
 Ellesmere Port
Merseyrail
M53 motorway
0:02
Ellesmere Port
East Sidings
0:04
 Stanlow and Thornton
0:07
 Ince and Elton
M56 motorway
West Cheshire Railway
to Mouldsworth
Chester to Manchester Line
to Chester
0:10
 Helsby
0:15
 Frodsham
Halton Curve to Runcorn
Sutton Tunnel
1565 yd
1431 m
0:20
 Runcorn East
West Coast Main Line
to Crewe
0:28
 Warrington Bank Quay
West Coast Main Line
to Carlisle

Timings are from Ellesmere Port

The Hooton–Helsby line is a railway line in the north-west of England that runs from Hooton on the Chester–Birkenhead line to the village and junction station at Helsby where it joins the Chester–Warrington line.

History

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Hooton–Helsby line and surrounding lines in 1886
Helsby station on a 1914 Railway Clearing House map

The line from Hooton to Helsby was opened in 1863. The line was built by the Birkenhead Railway which had been taken over by the LNWR and the Great Western Railway (GWR) jointly in 1860.

The section west of Ellesmere Port has been part of the Merseyrail network since 1994. This part of the line is electrified. There are no longer through train services to Liverpool's city centre via Birkenhead.

A branch at Helsby connected the line to the former West Cheshire Railway to Northwich via Mouldsworth Junction. The line closed in 1991 and tracks were lifted in 1995.

Passenger services

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Former services

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Services previously used to operate from Hooton to Helsby. This service was relatively frequent (every half-hour until 1993), operating via Ellesmere Port. It was withdrawn after the line was electrified west of Ellesmere Port. Station signs at Ince and Elton railway station still display signage relating to services to/from Hooton.

Hooton–Ellesmere Port

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Services are operated by Merseyrail as part of the Wirral Line network with trains running every 30 minutes. From Hooton services continue to Liverpool via the Chester–Birkenhead line.[1]

Ellesmere Port–Helsby

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Northern did, until May 2019, operate a Department for Transport-set minimum service[2] of three trains daily in each direction between Ellesmere Port and Helsby, Cheshire.

There were 6 passenger services each day (except Sunday):[3]

05:10 Liverpool Lime Street to Ellesmere Port
06:33 Helsby to Ellesmere Port
18:50 Helsby to Ellesmere Port

06:19 Ellesmere Port to Helsby
06:53 Ellesmere Port to Warrington Bank Quay
19:10 Ellesmere Port to Manchester Victoria

In previous years, services have operated towards Hooton via Ellesmere Port and Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Bank Quay.

A Class 142 Pacer train terminates at Ellesmere Port from Helsby.

Since the May 2019 and the introduction of the "Northern Connect" Chester to Leeds services the Ellesmere Port line timetable was altered.

There still are 6 services per day excluding Sunday.

Services are:

05:10 Liverpool Lime Street to Ellesmere Port

06:17 Ellesmere Port to Helsby

06:34 Helsby to Ellesmere Port

07:15 Ellesmere Port to Leeds

All of the above are operated by the same unit.

Another unit operates the below services:

15:38 Leeds to Ellesmere Port

18:23 Ellesmere Port to Manchester Victoria - Unit then goes to Newton Heath Depot just north of Manchester Victoria.

Freight services

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Ellesmere Port saw frequent freight traffic until 1996 with branches to several wharves as well as Eastham Oil Terminal.[4] In 2005 a single track line to Manisty Wharf in Ellesmere Port was reopened for a regular coal flow to Fiddlers Ferry power station.[5][4][6] This freight route enters Ellesmere Port from Helsby.[7] Freightliner Heavy Haul currently operates the service, with two trains per day.[5][8]

In 2008 Quinn Glass was planning expansion and wanted to serve their 205 acres (0.83 km2; 0.320 sq mi) site at Elton which outputs 1.2 billion glass containers per year for the food and beverage industry[9] near the Ince & Elton railway station by rail. Network Rail Route Strategy states that Quinn Glass is interested in additional passenger and freight services on this line. It is also thought that planning permission requires Quinn Glass to maximise upon existing public transport links.[10] A trial service ran on 7 April 2011 and a twice-weekly service every Wednesday and Friday commenced on 13 April 2011.[11][12] Those services were operated by Freightliner Heavy Haul and transported sand from Sibelco's Middleton Towers Quarry in Middleton, Norfolk.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

Stanlow and Thornton, one of the intermediate stops on the line

At present the sand is transported by road the final five miles to the Quinn Glass plant from a former Cawoods siding in Ellesmere Port beside the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manisty Wharf, but from November 2011 trains were due to begin using a dedicated terminal at the plant itself.[11][19][20] It was announced during this month that construction work had been delayed due to the discovery of a badger sett on the proposed site. Completion of the new line was set back to the end of June 2012 with a reported total cost of more than £2 million.[21] In November 2012 it emerged that Quinn Glass had broken a planning condition requiring the rail terminal to be operational by November 2011.[22] The company cited additional demands by Network Rail and the Environment Agency's decision to switch off the Frodsham Marshes pumping stations as causes of delay. Quinn Glass have since been granted an extended period by Cheshire West and Chester council during which to complete the project.[23]

Stations

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  • Hooton; opened October or November 1840; still open;
  • Sutton; opened 1 July 1863; renamed Little Sutton 1886; still open;
  • Overpool; opened 15 August 1988; still open;
  • Whitby Locks; opened 1 July 1863; renamed Ellesmere Port 1870; still open;
  • Stanlow & Thornton; opened 23 December 1940 for refinery workers; opened to public 24 February 1941; (service suspended since 3 February 2022)
  • Ince; opened 1 July 1863; renamed Ince and Elton 1884; still open;
  • West Cheshire Junction; divergence of line to Mouldsworth;
  • Helsby; opened September 1852; still open;

Three of the four stations between Helsby and Ellesmere Port are unstaffed. Two of them, Ellesmere Port and Ince and Elton, are accessible for those in wheelchairs. Stanlow and Thornton and Helsby both have footbridges as their only means of exit. Facilities at Ince and Elton and Stanlow and Thornton are basic, comprising little more than covered waiting areas and timetable information. Ellesmere Port has full ticket-selling capabilities, including a Ticket Vending Machine and a staffed ticket office, along with real-time information displays and help points. Helsby has real-time information displays and a Ticket Vending Machine.

References

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  1. ^ "Train times. Wirral Line. Valid from 15 December 2019 to 16 May 2020" (PDF). Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Northern TSR Table. December 2017 Monday to Friday". gov.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
  3. ^ Timetables Summer 2018 rackcdn.com [dead link]
  4. ^ a b Brightley, John (29 July 2010). "Manchester Ship Canal Railway at Ellesmere Port". Geograph Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  5. ^ a b "Route Plan O - Merseyside" (PDF). Route Plans 2010. Network Rail. 30 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  6. ^ "Route Plan N West Coast" (PDF). Route Plans 2010. Network Rail. 1 April 2010. p. 9. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
  7. ^ "Network Capability – Baseline Declaration : (1) Line-speeds : (2) London North Western Route (North)" (PDF). Network Rail. 31 March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  8. ^ "Manisty Wharf, Ellesmere Port - Film & TV Locations". MediaCityUK. 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  9. ^ "Quinn Glass Bottle Production Facility, Elton, Cheshire". Packaging Gateway. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  10. ^ "Quinn Glass Planning Application" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 October 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2008.
  11. ^ a b "Peel Ports and Quality Freight Re-open Ellesmere Port Rail Head" (Press release). Manchester: The Peel Group. 20 April 2011. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  12. ^ Hulme, Charlie (11 April 2011). "Notice Board". North Wales Coast Railway. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  13. ^ "Freightliner begin new contract with Quinn Glass". The Aggregates & Recycling Information Network. 15 April 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  14. ^ "Ellesmere Port rail head re-opens". Rail Professional. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  15. ^ Hodgson, Neil (27 April 2011). "Peel Ports Mersey joint venture re-opens Ellesmere Port rail facility". Liverpool Daily Post. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  16. ^ Stocks-Moore, Laurie (27 April 2011). "Peel Ports and Quality Freight Group reopens rail tracks in Ellesmere Port after 20 years". Ellesmere Port Pioneer. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  17. ^ Samuel, A. (14 April 2011). "Freightliner Heavy Haul wins transportation contract". Rail.co. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  18. ^ "Freightliner Heavy Haul begins new contract with Quinn Glass". Multimodal. 15 April 2011. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  19. ^ O'Boyle, Mary-Clare (14 April 2011). "Freightliner Heavy Haul new contract with Quinn glass" (Press release). Freightliner Group. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  20. ^ "New glass flow for Freightliner". Norfolk Railway Society. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  21. ^ Flint, Rachel (23 November 2011). "Quinn Glass starts work on long-awaited railway line in Helsby". Ellesmere Port Pioneer. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  22. ^ Holmes, David (22 November 2012). "Boss at Elton-based Quinn Glass admits rail head 'not ready'". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  23. ^ "Cheshire glass firm gets more time to open rail link". Ellesmere Port Pioneer. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
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