Back at the start of June I took a trip to the north-west of England to take a ride on some trains, do some plane spotting and generally have a couple of days exploring. One of the things I had added to my to-do list was to visit the newest station on the Merseyrail network which had in fact been open for almost nine months by the time of my visit. That station is Headbolt Lane and this blog will have gone live to coincide with the station’s first anniversary.
Its taken a few years to get Headbolt Lane open, with a station in the area first being added to the Merseyside Passenger Travel Authority’s (predecessor to Merseytravel) Transport Plan in the early 1970s. Development of a plan started in earnest in 2013 and over the following decade these were tweaked with Headbolt Lane’s construction starting in March 2022. Opening on 5th October 2023, Headbolt Lane replaced Kirkby as the terminus of one of Merseyrail’s Northern Line branches, as well as the terminus of hourly Northern services from Wigan and Manchester. Kirkby station remains as a stop for Merseyrail services, however Headbolt lane opens up easier access to the network for eastern Kirkby with a large car park also providing park and ride access to the city.
The new station is well served by Merseyrail’s new class 777s, with a service every 15 minutes to Liverpool Central where connections can be made to the Wirral Line as well as to Northern Line services to other Liverpool suburbs. Headbolt Lane is a bit of an anomaly on the Merseyrail network as it is the only station without electrified tracks and is served by the dedicated sub-fleet of seven class 777/1s which have onboard batteries. These trains operate the same as the rest of the Merseyrail fleet as far as Kirkby, where they switch to battery power for the short run to Headbolt Lane and back. This allowed Headbolt Lane to be built and the Merseyrail network extended at a lower price than if the line had needed to be electrified.
My visit to the station lasted a bit longer than planned with the Northern service I’d been planning to take ending up cancelled and with only an hourly service, I had about an hour and 20 minutes before I was able to continue on to Wigan. This did give me the opportunity to make a Headbolt Lane YouTube video, which you can find here, and also fully explore the station before I continued on my adventures. Thankfully it was nice weather as the only inside area was the ticket office, so I enjoyed the sunshine whilst waiting.
Headbolt Lane has three platforms, two dedicated to Merseyrail services and the third used by Northern services from Wigan, with these constructed to allow further expansion of the Merseyrail network towards Rainford and Skelmersdale if desired. As well as the car park providing park and ride opportunities, Headbolt Lane also has footpath connections from both sides of the line, bike racks and a bus interchange allowing plenty of active travel and public transport connections to the station. There’s also a ticket office that’s open from first to last trains and a number of ticket machines.
Whilst a fairly basic commuter station, Headbolt Lane does have an element of uniqueness with the layout of its three platforms and divide between Northern and Merseyrail services. I did notice some delays creeping into arrivals caused by the section of single line at Kirkby station, however the turnaround time at Headbolt Lane usually ensure right time departures. Obviously any new station is a good thing, opening up or providing easier access to the railway for an area, and Headbolt Lane certainly seems to do that for this bit of Kirkby with the station very well used during my visit. Here’s to many more new stations for both Merseyside and the UK as a whole!
Flights & Times 