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Liverpool St James - reopening - new name will be Liverpool Baltic

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Bletchleyite

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In Gdansk in Poland there's around 20 stations prefixed with "Gdansk". The same in other cities (though not always so many).

On the mainline. Less so on SKM, which is the equivalent of Merseyrail. Similarly Germany doesn't prefix S-Bahn stations unless also served by the mainline or there is a specific benefit to doing so in that case.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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(For what it's worth, Liverpool Central is the only Merseyrail station signed with the prefix, to highlight that if you want the centre and you're not sure then that's the one you want - Lime St is just signed Lime St, or at least it always used to be)
It's Liverpool Lime St in the on-train announcements.
 

urbophile

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The problem with "University" is twofold:
  • Lots of cities have universities and the name doesn't tell you that it means Birmingham
  • Unlike random bits of suburbia, there are plenty of people unfamiliar with the system who will want to go to a university.
I bet a lot of people arriving at Manchester Airport have accidentally been sold tickets to University when they actually wanted Manchester Oxford Road, for example (which is the station which is actually where you'd go if you wanted the university area in Manchester)
More to the point, lots of cities have more than one university.
 

D821

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I've just voted, from the responses I could see, over 90% of them were for Liverpool - Baltic.
 

alistairlees

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On the mainline. Less so on SKM, which is the equivalent of Merseyrail. Similarly Germany doesn't prefix S-Bahn stations unless also served by the mainline or there is a specific benefit to doing so in that case.
No, that is incorrect. The Gdansk prefix is used on both SKM and the mainline. On station signs, timetables and on-train electronic displays (and automated announcements). The same for the Gdynia prefix.
 

urbophile

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Why has no-one suggested Toxteth as a name for the station? Admittedly it is right at one corner of the district, but it is unambiguous. Otherwise, Park Road is easier to say than Parliament Street and just as accurate.
 

Djgr

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Why has no-one suggested Toxteth as a name for the station? Admittedly it is right at one corner of the district, but it is unambiguous. Otherwise, Park Road is easier to say than Parliament Street and just as accurate.
I think Baltic Triangle has positive future facing connotations whilst Toxteth offers too many memories of the bad times.
 

alistairlees

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I think Baltic Triangle has positive future facing connotations whilst Toxteth offers too many memories of the bad times.
I would agree. What's Toxteth known for? Riots.

Even if this is unfair (and the riots were 40 years ago), someting more forward thinking is needed. Times (and places) change.
 

D821

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The article says there is currently no funding for construction- is the station certain to be built? If it is I probably favour it being called Baltic Triangle
At the November meeting of the LCR travel committee, they said:

"The GRIP3 work was completed and GRIP4 work would commence early in the New Year with a possible delivery date of around 2025 and therefore we would look to use some of the transport settlement money to fund that."

Interestingly, the same meeting also discussed the funding for the Liverpool Central proposals, saying:

"The GRIP3 design was currently underway and that took into account the basic option selection and what was happening with AUGUR, the development site alongside Liverpool Central as they owned much of the land, and we were in discussion with the Department for Transport regarding the GRIP4 funding which would be the single option development."

These quotes are taken from the minutes here:
 

urbophile

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I would agree. What's Toxteth known for? Riots.

Even if this is unfair (and the riots were 40 years ago), someting more forward thinking is needed. Times (and places) change.
Grossly unfair. As you say, times and places change. The only reason not to call it Toxteth is a geographical one - it's on the edge of the district. (Anyway the word 'riot' is contentious in this context)
 

Bletchleyite

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Grossly unfair. As you say, times and places change. The only reason not to call it Toxteth is a geographical one - it's on the edge of the district. (Anyway the word 'riot' is contentious in this context)

Brunswick should arguably be called Toxteth (it's named after a dock, not the area) - I suspect it isn't for the exact reason of that association, being a 1990s opening.
 

WAO

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It should be "George Place" or "Great George Place", even if there's not much left of it at street level.

WAO
 

Fokx

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Why has no-one suggested Toxteth as a name for the station? Admittedly it is right at one corner of the district, but it is unambiguous. Otherwise, Park Road is easier to say than Parliament Street and just as accurate.

Because of:
- The negative connotations the area had and still has. Toxteth isn’t really the sort of place tourists or locals want to visit or spent much time in
- The fact it’s almost not in Toxteth
- Toxteth is an area of social-economic decline, and doesn’t have the marketing appeal of either the association with the River (although I’d argue James Street is a better candidate for ‘Liverpool Riverside) or the Baltic Triange, Liverpool’s ‘place to be and be seen’ for both bars, food, adult entertainment and the cultural quarter
 

185

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Baltox.

Represents both the area, and it's shipping connections.

.

*runs for cover*
 

Starmill

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Botanic as a station name did not seem too unnatural it has to be said. Adjectives do stand on their own like that in some applications.
 

Bletchleyite

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Botanic as a station name did not seem too unnatural it has to be said. Adjectives do stand on their own like that in some applications.

Sounds odd to me in a way "Botanic Gardens" does not.

I have had a comment on Twitter that many people now describe going there as "going up the Baltic" - it does sound less odd with "the" (well, classic Scouse "de", I guess), but then that is the norm in Liverpool anyway - people shop at such supermarkets as Deasda, Dealdi etc, just as people elsewhere shop at "Tesco's" despite the possessive never having appeared in their branding. (J. Sainsbury of course added it to their branding, recognising that that was what people called them anyway, as did F. W. Woolworth and Company).

So anyway, all that waffle aside, "The Baltic" sounds a bit less odd than just "Baltic", but "Liverpool Baltic" not only sounds odd but also breaks Merseyrail's existing naming convention. There are already two other stations starting "The" so it is not ground breaking.
 

Starmill

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Interestingly, sticking with Northern Ireland briefly, the announcement convention definitely appears to be "Belfast Lanyon Place" but just "Great Victoria Street", "City Hospital" and "Botanic".

In Liverpool, Liverpool James Street is actually used in several places. I've never once seen Liverpool Moorfields. No more than "Manchester Deansgate".
 

BeijingDave

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It is within walking distance and view of the Cathedral - a popular visitor attraction - why not just Liverpool Cathedral or simpler "Cathedral"

Personally I don't like this use of 'Cathedral', or 'University' in Birmingham, as though there is only one of renown in the whole area/country. Ridiculous.
 

plugwash

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I bet a lot of people arriving at Manchester Airport have accidentally been sold tickets to University when they actually wanted Manchester Oxford Road, for example (which is the station which is actually where you'd go if you wanted the university area in Manchester)
I'd have thought the price (£50 for an off peak return) would raise an eyebrow, but maybe some visitors are so unfamiliar with the country that it wouldn't.
 

The exile

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It's usual that local stations for local people (tm) don't have city prefixes - even in Germany
At least for Germany, that doesn’t apply everywhere on the mainline railway - even on the Berlin S-Bahn some surprising stations have the Berlin prefix or did until recently (unsurprisingly haven’t been able to look for a couple of years)
 

scragend

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It is the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and so two Liverpool cathedrals.

Officially it is the "Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King", without reference to the city. Its web site is liverpoolmetrocathedral, while the logo on said web site states "Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King Liverpool" (no punctuation), despite calling it "Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral" on the site itself.

Nothing like being consistent...
 

Neptune

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On the mainline. Less so on SKM, which is the equivalent of Merseyrail. Similarly Germany doesn't prefix S-Bahn stations unless also served by the mainline or there is a specific benefit to doing so in that case.
On the Rhine Rhur S1 line most stations have the city prefix in both Dortmund and Düsseldorf. I stayed at a hotel in Derendorf 5 minutes walk from Düsseldorf-Derendorf station which is only stopped at my S-bahn trains.
 
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