Warrington Bank Quay railway station

Warrington Bank Quay
Warrington Bank Quay Station, August 2008
Location
Place	Warrington
Local authority	Warrington
Operations
Station code	WBQ
Managed by	Virgin Trains
Platforms in use	4
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	1.055 million
2005/06 *	1.262 million
2006/07 *	0.830 million
2007/08 *	1.043 million
History
Opened 1853 (1853)
History
Original company	London & North Western Railway
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Warrington Bank Quay from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Warrington Bank Quay railway station is a mainline railway station serving the UK town of Warrington. The town centre has two stations on opposite sides of the main shopping area, Warrington Central operating a more frequent service to the neighbouring cities Liverpool and Manchester. A bus shuttle service operates every 20 minutes Monday to Friday daytime between the two, also linking the offices of the North West Development Agency on the Centre Park business park. Nevertheless Bank Quay suffers from a lack of bus links to other parts of Warrington. It does, however, have a large car park and a taxi rank. In 2009 the station was identified as one of ten 'worst' major stations on the network and is set to receive a share of £50m funding for improvements.^[1]

Layout

The station consists of two island platforms. The easternmost one has 19th century buildings, but the western platform has buildings dating from the 1950s. Passengers enter the station at street level through a functional modern entrance containing an information office and ticket office, and proceed through a subway, reaching the elevated platforms by stairs or a lift. There is a buffet on the eastern platform.

The outer platforms (1 and 4) are used for Liverpool terminating services and services between Manchester and North Wales, the trains from either direction can use either platform. Platform 2 is generally used for southbound intercity services to Birmingham New Street and London Euston while platform 3 is used for northbound intercity services to Edinburgh and Glasgow Central.

The station's best known landmark is the huge Unilever detergent manufacturing plant which stands overlooking the site.

The station has suffered from years of neglect, and because of this, Virgin Trains have announced improvements to the station are to be made. In 2009, an extension to the existing car park, a first class lounge and a new taxi rank are expected to be built, along with improvements to the platforms and a new ticket office and travel centre. ^{[2] [3]}. The new entrance hall is now complete, with ticket office and newsagent. The buffet on the London bound platforms has been modernised.

Low Level

Until 1967 additional platforms 5, 6 and 7 were situated on what had been the St Helens Railway lines which pass beneath the WCML here. Although not the official name, this was referred to as the Bank Quay Low Level. The track remains albeit for freight use only.^[4]

Services

It lies on the West Coast Main Line, operated by Virgin Trains, with regular services to London, Birmingham, and Scotland. A regular regional express service operates between Manchester, Chester and North Wales operated by Arriva Trains Wales. There are also local services to Liverpool operated by Northern Rail, with a couple of these services per day extending to Ellesmere Port via Runcorn East.

Normal weekday service consists of:

• Hourly to London Euston operated by Virgin Pendolino calling at:

London Euston only.

• Hourly to Birmingham New Street operated by Virgin Voyager calling at:

Crewe, Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street

• Hourly to Glasgow Central operated by Virgin Pendolino calling at:

Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Penrith, Carlisle, Motherwell and Glasgow Central

Late services terminate at Preston

• Every 2 hours to Edinburgh operated by Virgin Voyager calling at:

Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Penrith, Carlisle, Lockerbie, Haymarket and Edinburgh Waverley

• Hourly to Manchester Piccadilly operated by Arriva Trains Wales calling at:

Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly

• Hourly to Llandudno operated by Arriva Trains Wales calling at:

Runcorn East, Frodsham, Helsby, Chester, Shotton,Flint, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Abergele and Pensarn, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction, Deganwy and Llandudno

• Hourly to Liverpool Lime Street operated by Northern Rail calling at:

Earlestown, St Helens Junction, Lea Green, Rainhill, Whiston, Huyton, Roby, Broad Green, Wavertree Tech Park, Edge Hill and Liverpool Lime Street

• Hourly operated by Northern Rail terminates here from Liverpool Lime Street

There is also a limited services:

• Twice daily to Ellesmere Port operated by Northern Rail calling at:

Runcorn East, Frodsham, Helsby, Ince & Elton, Stanlow & Thornton and Ellesmere Port.

One train starts at Warrington, one train extends from the Liverpool service.

Kissing ban

The station received media coverage in February 2009 due to a sign recently erected prohibiting kissing from its drop-off point. The reason stated is to avoid queues as the station becomes busier. Colin Daniels, chief executive of the Warrington Chamber of Commerce originally suggested the idea light-heartedly, but Virgin Trains have included it as part of their regeneration of the station.^[5]

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Warrington Bank Quay railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 53°23′10″N 2°36′11″W / 53.386°N 2.603°W / 53.386; -2.603