Liverpool Lime St remodelling

[fowler9]

Mine did yesterday.
Late running LNWR into P8 on the DF waited at signals in the tunnel for VT to depart from P9 on the UF.
But generally the layout looks a lot more flexible.
On the slows, arrivals were often held at every signal from Bootle Branch Jn.
I see they seem to put 319s into P3/4/5 now, instead of the old P1/2/3.
There's also a better distribution between the two halves of the station.

Indeed, everything from Parkway I've seen (so far) goes in to 6-10, no more crossing the entire station throat.

 

[LowLevel]

Indeed, everything from Parkway I've seen (so far) goes in to 6-10, no more crossing the entire station throat.

So it would seem. Annoying in many ways though as the scum dissuaded by the barriers can now just get on our trains willy nilly again and refuse to pay.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

So it would seem. Annoying in many ways though as the scum dissuaded by the barriers can now just get on our trains willy nilly again and refuse to pay.

Careful. It's an unwritten rule on here that "ticket gates are a Bad Thing". Though those of us with front-line experience would beg to differ.

 

[fowler9]

So it would seem. Annoying in many ways though as the scum dissuaded by the barriers can now just get on our trains willy nilly again and refuse to pay.

True, on the other hand though most of the services that come from the Parkway direction are long distance and have been checked on board or passed through barriers already. A lot more stopping services come from the Huyton direction.

 

[urbophile]

Are there any plans to install barriers on the southern side of the station?

 

[peter166]

Mine did yesterday.
Late running LNWR into P8 on the DF waited at signals in the tunnel for VT to depart from P9 on the UF.
But generally the layout looks a lot more flexible.
On the slows, arrivals were often held at every signal from Bootle Branch Jn.
I see they seem to put 319s into P3/4/5 now, instead of the old P1/2/3.
There's also a better distribution between the two halves of the station.

My train yesterday was also delayed in the tunnel approaching Lime Street. Nothing has changed !
1F26 (19.07 from Euston) was 3mins early at Wavertree Jct. and then took a further 12 mins to reach platform 9 at Lime Street stopping at signals in the tunnel along the way.
According to Realtime Trains Platform 9 was empty, but it seems 5F25 departed platform 10 early at 21.05, when its scheduled to do so at 21.13, and this caused the delay !!

 

[sd0733]

Are there any plans to install barriers on the southern side of the station?

Apparently not. None of the Tocs wanted to pay for it to be installed or staff it we were told.
Crazy, a huge mistake.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Apparently not. None of the Tocs wanted to pay for it to be installed or staff it we were told.
Crazy, a huge mistake.

Ticket barriers are a pain in the backside when you only have a few minutes to make a tight connection with a Wirral line train.

 

[B&I]

Apparently not. None of the Tocs wanted to pay for it to be installed or staff it we were told.
Crazy, a huge mistake.

And why would they ? They'll continue to be subsidised by the government regardless of how many people actually pay their fares

 

[Geeves]

I would imagine Automatic route setting is the order of the day now at Lime St so expect the usual fun and games when it comes to letting class 5 trains out in front of class 1s even though supposedly its the be all and end all.

As for barriers on the high number platforms the majority of the departures are usually the longer distance trains, or at least that is how I remember before the works. Perhaps the thinking is the guard will have more time to get through on those types of journeys anyway so it isn't worth spending 10s of thousands on barriers?

 

[fowler9]

Getting the passengers from an 11 car Pendolino through barriers on any of those platforms would be interesting.

 

[frodshamfella]

Travelled through Lime Street today, using platform 7...that end looks less cluttered and you can clearly make out longer platforms. Will there be some concourse improvements ....it's all a bit dated and short of space ?

 

[B&I]

Travelled through Lime Street today, using platform 7...that end looks less cluttered and you can clearly make out longer platforms. Will there be some concourse improvements ....it's all a bit dated and short of space ?

Don't think any are planned, except a new supermarket.

Platform-wise, the increased width of the new platforms, especially the new 5, is very welcome. The old 6 in particular felt dangerously cramped

 

[frodshamfella]

Don't think any are planned, except a new supermarket.

Platform-wise, the increased width of the new platforms, especially the new 5, is very welcome. The old 6 in particular feltndangerously cramped

It did feel more open to be sure.

 

[B&I]

In an ideal world, I'd like to see

- the whole glass monolith 2001 thing swept away and the north shed opened up to the light like the south one.

- station facilities knocked through into the adjacent part of the North Western Hotel (the floor below at street level could be used as well)

- an open mezzanine installed with unintrusive coffee places, bars etc along the wall of the hotel building continuing into the south shed

- the passage between the (new) platforms 5 and 6 opened up and re-used for passenger facilities

- the area of and alongside the former platform 1 (including the void alongside the cutting wall), the old travel centre, the old taxi rank beside Lord Nelson Street, and the space under the multi-storey car park freed up for passenger facilities

- the taxi rank moved out onto Skelhorne Street (the taxis don't need to be under cover, as long as there's a covered space at the edge of the station adjacent to there they pull up), and the space inside used for something more useful

- a much less cluttered concourse

- a better-lit and less shabby subway down to the Merseyrail station entrance

- staff facilities and offices moved to the office block on Lord Nelson Street.

There's maybe not the space for facilities on the scale of Piccadilly, but there's no reason why Lime Street couldn't be as attractive and well-served as, say, Glasgow Central or Newcastle

 

[frodshamfella]

In an ideal world, I'd like to see

- the whole glass monolith 2001 thing swept away and the north shed opened up to the light like the south one.

- station facilities knocked through into the adjacent part of the North Western Hotel (the floor below at street level could be used as well)

- an open mezzanine installed with unintrusive coffee places, bars etc along the wall of the hotel building continuing into the south shed

- the passage between the (new) platforms 5 and 6 opened up and re-used for passenger facilities

- the area of and alongside the former platform 1 (including the void alongside the cutting wall), the old travel centre, the old taxi rank beside Lord Nelson Street, and the space under the multi-storey car park freed up for passenger facilities

- the taxi rank moved out onto Skelhorne Street (the taxis don't need to be under cover, as long as there's a covered space at the edge of the station adjacent to there they pull up), and the space inside used for something more useful

- a much less cluttered concourse

- a better-lit and less shabby subway down to the Merseyrail station entrance

- staff facilities and offices moved to the office block on Lord Nelson Street.

There's maybe not the space for facilities on the scale of Piccadilly, but there's no reason why Lime Street couldn't be as attractive and well-served as, say, Glasgow Central or Newcastle

cool....when's it happening : -)

Must admit I'm looking forward to day I can travel from Frodsham directly into Lime Street.

 

[urbophile]

- a better-lit and less shabby subway down to the Merseyrail station entrance

It's better than it used to be, but yes.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

With a major refurb for the VT lounge going on, there's clearly no plan to alter the "black cube", ugly though it is.
The 2 platform faces without any tracks are an obvious opportunity, but the mid-station empty platform face is where the builders have left all their junk for now.
It also seems to be where large maintenance equipment gets stored.
After Virgin moves upstairs, the temporary lounge space will be available on the concourse.
We also need the cash machines back somewhere.
As a Low Level user, the comedy lift needs quadrupling in size, but the cost would be enormous.
You can only get one bike and a buggy in there at the moment, never mind 8 passengers.
Nothing whatever was done to improve access during the recent long loop line/station closures.

 

[frodshamfella]

With a major refurb for the VT lounge going on, there's clearly no plan to alter the "black cube", ugly though it is.
The 2 platform faces without any tracks are an obvious opportunity, but the mid-station empty platform face is where the builders have left all their junk for now.
It also seems to be where large maintenance equipment gets stored.
After Virgin moves upstairs, the temporary lounge space will be available on the concourse.
We also need the cash machines back somewhere.
As a Low Level user, the comedy lift needs quadrupling in size, but the cost would be enormous.
You can only get one bike and a buggy in there at the moment, never mind 8 passengers.
Nothing whatever was done to improve access during the recent long loop line/station closures.

Yes quite , you do need cash machines at a major station.
I'd like to see doddy and bessie back too.

 

[bramling]

Careful. It's an unwritten rule on here that "ticket gates are a Bad Thing". Though those of us with front-line experience would beg to differ.

Depends on your perspective. No doubt many on here with front-line experience as passengers quite reasonably hold the view that gates can be a nuisance if you have luggage or your valid ticket gets rejected (especially if one then has to wait an age for a member of staff to assist, as can often be the case). I can understand the argument that they keep many problem people out, if operational and properly staffed, however this isn't really something the average passenger should have to worry about.

 

[Elecman]

Yes quite , you do need cash machines at a major station.
I'd like to see doddy and bessie back too.

Daddy and Bessie are to return in September I think

 

[peter166]

Why is the approach to Lime Street still so slow, often with increasing delays, despite the re-modelling ?
For example yesterday evening the 20.53 arrival from Euston was 1min late at LSP & 1min late at Lime Street.
But the 21.00 arrival from Man. Ox. Rd. was 5 mins late at LSP, was 8 late at Edge Hill & 10 late at Lime Street.
Then the 21.03 arrival from Man. Airport was 5 mins late at LSP, was 8 late at Edge Hill & 11 late at Lime Street.
Finally the 21.08 arrival from Euston ( which I was on ) passed LSP 1.5 mins early yet took 17.5 mins to get to Lime Street arriving 6 mins late.

 

[B&I]

Why is the approach to Lime Street still so slow, often with increasing delays, despite the re-modelling ?
For example yesterday evening the 20.53 arrival from Euston was 1min late at LSP & 1min late at Lime Street.
But the 21.00 arrival from Man. Ox. Rd. was 5 mins late at LSP, was 8 late at Edge Hill & 10 late at Lime Street.
Then the 21.03 arrival from Man. Airport was 5 mins late at LSP, was 8 late at Edge Hill & 11 late at Lime Street.
Finally the 21.08 arrival from Euston ( which I was on ) passed LSP 1.5 mins early yet took 17.5 mins to get to Lime Street arriving 6 mins late.

I don't think the project so far has been designed to address anything south or east of Edge Hill, so it may be unavoidable that any delays incurred by the time.trains get there compound themselves further as trains are stacked into.Lime Street

 

[urbophile]

Daddy and Bessie are to return in September I think

Doddy is back already. Don't know about Bessie but I hope they end up within sparring range again.

 

[driver_m]

The major problem is Allerton Jn. Its still a major bottleneck and will continue to cause trouble until it's radically altered there. Lime St still has one platform to come back in yet so it will still get better in there in time. However you'll always have the conflict of moves across flat junctions so you'll never eliminate that

 

[Up_Tilt_390]

Just a wonder, but has the old platform 7 (now P6) been shortened in length or something since work was done? Because from what I seem to remember was that what is now Platform 9 was actually too short to hold an 11-car Pendolino during the initial work where platforms were knocked out to make way for new tracks. They had to use the old platforms 7 and 9 instead, yet now it seems the same too-short platform is the designated spot for the London trains. Was some work done or something?

 

[B&I]

The major problem is Allerton Jn. Its still a major bottleneck and will continue to cause trouble until it's radically altered there. Lime St still has one platform to come back in yet so it will still get better in there in time. However you'll always have the conflict of moves across flat junctions so you'll never eliminate that

The whole Allerton-Hunt's Cross area sorely needs improvement. I'd suggest making use of the width of.the formation to install 4 tracks (if necessary, taking a bit of land from the depot), 2 for Lime Street-bound trains on the north side, and 2 on the south for Merseyrail trains terminating on the south side at Hunt's Cross (with a crossover to the east to enable them to turn), and 3 / 4 tracks continuing as far east as there is space for. Sadly, any of this will probably have to wait for CLC electrification, which will.probably fail to address the problem completely and set the conflicts at Allerton in stone.

 

[Vinnym]

Travelled out and in to LimeStreet last week from St Helens got to say never travelled so quickly Lime Street to Edge Hill and vive versa, although both journeys were off peak. Edge Hill to Lime Street was non Stop. First time ever!!!

 

[DJH1971]

Travelled out and in to LimeStreet last week from St Helens got to say never travelled so quickly Lime Street to Edge Hill and vive versa, although both journeys were off peak. Edge Hill to Lime Street was non Stop. First time ever!!!

The trains now certainly seem to less prone to being stuck in the tunnels.

 

[fowler9]

I've had a good few clear runs in following the reopening. That pretty much never used to happen. Had one just now in fact.