Hooton–Helsby line

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.

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]

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]

Three of the four stations between Helsby and Ellesmere Port are unstaffed.

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.

Only 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.

In February 2015 the Department for Transport issued an Invitation to Tender for the new Northern franchise which began April 2016[24] which was awarded to Arriva Northern, operating under the name Northern. The Train Service Requirement (TSR) for the new franchise required that from December 2017, two trains per day between Ellesmere Port and Helsby, 6 days a week.

Mondays to Fridays, one train in the morning will run from Ellesmere Port to Manchester Victoria via Warrington Bank Quay, arriving in Manchester between 08:00 and 08:59, with a second service in the evening departing Ellesmere Port between 18:30 and 19:29. In the reverse direction, the TSR specifies a morning train from Warrington Bank Quay to Ellesmere Port, arriving at the latter station between 06:30 and 07:29, and an evening service to Ellesmere Port departing from Manchester between 17:00 and 17:59. All these services would call at Ince & Elton and Stanlow & Thornton.[25]

On Saturdays, the TSR specifies two trains in each direction between Ellesmere Port and Helsby, which must run through to/from Manchester or provide a connection of no more than 15 minutes at Helsby with a train to/from Manchester.[26] There is no requirement for the new franchisee to provide any Sunday service.[27]

These trains, if introduced, would provide a limited service to/from Manchester, timed for commuters.