All aboard for new Merseyrail service to Kirkby’s £80m Headbolt Lane station

Liverpool’s newest rail station, Headbolt Lane, in Kirkby, will open for service tomorrow (October 5)

As part of an £80m investment, the station adds an extra stop on the Kirkby-Liverpool line and will be served by Liverpool City Region’s new £500m 777 Class train fleet, operating on batteries to power the trains on the new stretch of line.

It is the first stop battery-powered trains will operate on, with plans to extend the Merseyrail network further, without the need to install a third electric rail on the lines.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “As a Kirkby native, I know how long local people have been talking about a station at Headbolt Lane. Thanks to devolution and the power it gives us to shape our own destiny, we’ve turned that talk into reality.

“We’ve invested £80m in this fully accessible, state of the art train station – and it will be the first to be served by our new battery-powered trains.

“These trains are the first of their kind in the country and will help us to significantly reduce our carbon footprint, paving the way for a cleaner, greener integrated London-style transport network.”

He added: “Headbolt Lane station sets a new standard for public transport in this country – and it’s the very least that our residents deserve. We’re incredibly grateful to local people and passengers on the Kirkby line for their patience and understanding throughout this project – I hope they’ll agree with me that it’s been worth the wait.”

In a phased roll-out to ease in the new technology, the station will initially be served by one Merseyrail service per-hour to Liverpool Central, then services will gradually increase to four trains per hour.

Network Rail and its delivery partners will be working to complete some outstanding works including the car park, caused by issues with Buckingham Group, the construction business that collapsed into administration last month. The station will, therefore, open with limited spaces before reaching full capacity in the coming weeks.

Headbolt Lane will be the second new station opened by the Mayor since his election, and the first delivered under Merseyrail for All, a commitment to expanding the local rail network across the city region.

The battery technology removes the need for a live third rail, which could enable the Merseyrail network to run to places previously inaccessible, including as far as Manchester, Wrexham, Warrington, Preston and Runcorn.

Both the new station and the region’s publicly-owned trains are central to the Mayor’s plans to deliver a London-style transport network, which aims to make the region’s public transport quicker, cheaper, greener and more reliable.

More than 20,000 people in the Northwood and Shevington areas of Kirkby are set to benefit from having the new rail service on their doorstep – particularly important as 60% of households do not own a car in these areas.

With a bus interchange providing services to Skelmersdale, cycle parking and links to active travel networks, the fully accessible station will provide smoother connections to public transport services, encouraging greater use.