Liverpool St James railway station

Liverpool St James station in Liverpool, England, was a railway station situated on the old Cheshire Lines Committee line from Liverpool Central between Central and Brunswick stations. This line is now a part of Merseyrail's Northern Line. The station is located in a deep cutting between two tunnels at the junction of Parliament Street and St. James' Place, opposite St James' Church.

For other stations named St James, see Saint James station (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Liverpool James Street railway station.

Liverpool St James
LocationToxteth, Liverpool
England
Coordinates53.3943°N 2.9764°W / 53.3943; -2.9764
Grid referenceSJ 351 890
Platforms2[1][2]
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyCheshire Lines Committee
Pre-groupingCheshire Lines Committee
Key dates
1 March 1874 (1874-03-01)Opened
1 January 1917 (1917-01-01)Closed

There are plans in place by Merseytravel and local businesses to reopen the station.[3][4]

History

The station opened on 1 March 1874 and closed on 1 January 1917.[5][6]

In 1913 six people lost their lives in an accident at the station when a train ran into the back of a train standing at the southbound platform.[7]

Parts of the station's platforms survive, as do some rooms cut into the rockface. They can be seen on Northern Line trains heading for Southport or Hunts Cross.[8]

Future

The station site's proximity to the M&S Bank Arena, Anglican Cathedral, Kings Waterfront, Cains Brewery Village and other more recent developments in the surrounding area has focused public attention on reopening it.[9]

In 2012 Liverpool's Strategic Investment Framework listed the reopening of St James as important to the success of the Baltic Triangle development. Merseytravel agreed to work with Liverpool Vision in March 2014 to investigate the cost of reopening the station and its projected usage.[3] In January 2015 Merseytravel confirmed that they would be carrying out a study for the station's potential reopening in the 2015-16 financial year.[10] Merseyrail listed the re-opening of the station as a 'top rail project' during a presentation on rail development and delivery in November 2016.[11]

Merseytravel commissioned a report into the reopening of the station which was completed in September 2017.[12] The report compared reopening St James against the construction of a new station in the Chinatown area of Liverpool. Whilst the report found many benefits to opening a station in the Chinatown area, it concluded that: "A new station at St James is feasible and potentially highly beneficial, albeit at a high cost and with correspondingly reduced value for money."[12] Merseytravel's chairman Cllr Liam Robinson stated in an interview with the Liverpool Echo in February 2019 that reopening the station would be a significant task and would involve the construction of new platforms, ticket offices, waiting areas and lift shafts.[13]

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority announced in August 2019 that they were planning to use part of a £172m funding package to reopen the station, subject to the plans being approved.[4] In October 2020, it was announced that £1.2 million of these funds were to be used to commission Network Rail to complete the next stage of design work for the reopening project. A further £300,000 of these funds had been used to purchase a plot of land adjacent to the station site upon which the Combined Authority hopes a future ticket office might be constructed.[14] In 2020, the Combined Authority applied for additional funding for the reopening project from the third round of the Department for Transport's New Stations Fund.[14]

References
  1. "Disused Stations: Liverpool St. James". Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  2. Gell 1985, p. 30.
  3. Davies, Helen (29 March 2014). "Hidden St James's station project back on track". Liverpool Echo.
  4. Tyrrell, Nick (30 August 2019). "Merseyside set to get two new train stations and replacement ferries". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  5. Butt (1995), p. 203.
  6. Quick (2009), p. 249.
  7. Report on the 1913 St James accident, via Board of Trade
  8. "Disused Stations". Subterranea Britannica.
  9. Houghton, Alistair (29 November 2012). "Campaign launched to reopen Liverpool St James's Station". Liverpool Daily Post. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  10. Thomas, Joe (21 January 2015). "Merseytravel plan St James station reopening study in next financial year". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  11. "Merseytravel Committee Rail Development and Delivery" (PDF). Merseytravel. Merseytravel. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  12. "St James / Chinatown Stations - Initial Demand and Benefit Summary - Executive Summary" (PDF). Merseytravel. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  13. Houghton, Alistair (27 January 2019). "Look around abandoned St James station below the Baltic Triangle". liverpoolecho. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  14. "Boost for Liverpool's Baltic Triangle area as a further £1.5m invested by Combined Authority in new railway station scheme | Liverpool City Region Combined Authority - News". Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.

Sources
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Gell, Rob (1985). An Illustrated Survey of Liverpool's Railway Stations 1830-1985. Crosby, Merseyside: Heyday Publishing. ISBN 978-0-947562-03-8.
  • Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Liverpool Central High Level
Line and station closed		   Cheshire Lines Committee   St Michaels
Line and station open
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