Kirkby branch line

The Liverpool and Bury Railway built the first line into Liverpool from the north. It ran from Bury via the towns of Bolton and Wigan, reaching the city of Liverpool in 1848. Soon afterwards, the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway's route to Preston was built sharing the L&BR line as far as Walton.{{cite web|url=http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/l/liverpool_exchange/index.shtml|title=Liverpool Exchange|last=Wright|first=Paul|date=1998–2008|publisher=Disused Stations/Subterranea Britannica|access-date=4 December 2010}} Mergers meant that the Bury route was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, which had taken over the Liverpool and Bury Railway company. The opening ceremony took place on 20 November 1848.

With the creation of the Merseyrail metro and the closure of the route's former terminus at Liverpool Exchange in 1977 through trains to Liverpool from the Wigan direction ceased. It had originally been intended that the line be electrified all the route from Liverpool to Wigan creating a terminal of the Merseyrail Northern Line at Wigan Wallgate. Wigan North Western is a terminal of Merseyrail's City Line. Only the section between Liverpool and Kirkby was electrified in 1977 as a part of the Merseyrail scheme. Kirkby station was reconstructed as a terminus for Merseyrail's Northern Line Kirkby branch and the Manchester to Kirkby line. Services between Wigan and Kirkby were provided by diesel-powered trains. Passengers from the Manchester direction continuing beyond Kirkby into Liverpool change at Kirkby joining a Merseyrail-operated electric metro train. It is a long-term aspiration of Merseyrail to complete the electrification of the Northern Line to Wigan.{{Cite web |url=http://moderngov.merseytravel.uk.net/documents/s12878/Enc.%201%20for%20Long%20Term%20Rail%20Strategy.pdf |title=Merseytravel Long Term Rail Strategy, P.25 |access-date=10 June 2016 |archive-date=7 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907165144/http://moderngov.merseytravel.uk.net/documents/s12878/Enc.%201%20for%20Long%20Term%20Rail%20Strategy.pdf |url-status=dead }} Merseytravel also hope to use the route as part of rail link to the town of Skelmersdale, which has been cut off from the national network since 1956 and is now one of the largest towns in North West England without a passenger rail service.[http://www.railfuture.org.uk/A+Station+Back+in+Skelmersdale "A Station Back in Skelmersdale"]Railfuture; Retrieved 10 June 2016

Proposals to extend Merseyrail's Northern Line to a new terminal station at Headbolt Lane, between Kirkby and Rainford, were announced in 2007{{cite news|url=http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/tm_headline=millions-to-be-spent-on-mersey-rail-network&method=full&objectid=18852321&siteid=50061-name_page.html|title=Millions to be spent on Mersey rail network|date=3 April 2007|work=Liverpool Daily Post|publisher=Trinity Mirror|access-date=4 December 2010}} but did not receive funding until 2019.{{cite news |last1=Tyrrell |first1=Nick |title=Merseyside set to get two new train stations and replacement ferries |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/merseyside-set-two-new-train-16838844 |access-date=31 August 2019 |work=Liverpool Echo |date=30 August 2019}} Headbolt Lane station became the new terminal interchange between trains from Liverpool and Wigan/Manchester when it opened on 5 October 2023.{{Cite web |title=Wigan Wallgate to Kirkby line closure |url=https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/headbolt-lane |access-date=2023-06-26 |website=www.northernrailway.co.uk |language=en}}

The former main line is now "something of a backwater", with the appearance of a rural branch line in places.

• After leaving Wigan Wallgate station, trains pass under the West Coast Main Line almost immediately, after which the Southport-bound Manchester to Southport Line diverges to the west.
• A series of bridges take the branch line over the River Douglas and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal this includes the Adam Viaduct - the first prestressed concrete railway bridge in Britain.{{NHLE| num=1061327|desc=Adam Viaduct | access-date=17 August 2018}}
• The line reaches Pemberton station, where a now removed loop line came in on the east side. This rejoined the line to Bolton east of Wigan, avoiding the latter town.{{Cite web |last1=Brownbill |first1=J |last2=Farrer |first2=William |year=1911 |title=A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4. Townships: Pemberton |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp78-83 |access-date=3 December 2010 |work=Victoria County History of Lancashire |publisher=British History Online |pages=78–83}}
• The line then passes under the M6 motorway and the {{convert|959|yd|m|adj=on}} Upholland Tunnel, between which is Orrell station. The tunnel is situated at the highest point of the line, and is the only major structural work on the route.
• Upholland station is next, followed by Rainford—until the 1950s, a junction for two passenger lines. One, the Skelmersdale branch, ran northwestwards towards Skelmersdale and Ormskirk; the other ran to St Helens via Crank. The lines were both opened in 1858, although not at the same time, and were usually operated as a through route. The Ormskirk line was built by the East Lancashire Railway, while the St Helens Railway was responsible for the line to that town.{{cite web|url=http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/c/crank/index.shtml|title=Crank Halt|last1=Wright|first1=Paul|last2=Price|first2=Bevan|date=1998–2008|publisher=Disused Stations/Subterranea Britannica|access-date=4 December 2010}} Both survived until the 1960s for freight traffic.
• The line becomes single-track after Rainford, and continues for {{convert|5+1/4|mi|km}} to the single platform at Kirkby, but from October 2023 is now double tracked from just north of Kirkby Station to Headbolt Lane station (inclusive). There is a rail-connected freight terminal on this section, serving the Potter Logistics depot at the Knowsley Industrial Park near Kirkby. Regular traffic from this facility resumed in July 2016, after a prolonged period of disuse (services having previously ceased in 2006).[http://www.lloydsloadinglist.com/freight-directory/news/Potter-Logistics-reopens-Knowsley-rail-freight-terminal/66848.htm#.V6MkrFUrKUk "Potter Logistics reopens Knowsley rail freight terminal"] Waters, Will;Lloyds Loading List 4 July 2016; Retrieved 4 August 2016

Trains originate at Blackburn and join the Kirkby branch at Wigan Wallgate, having travelled via {{stnlnk|Todmorden}}, Manchester Victoria, Atherton and Hindley, and change direction at Headbolt Lane. Services are scheduled to take around 140 minutes end-to-end. There is no weekday evening (after 20:00) or Sunday service.{{cite web|url=http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/eNRT/Dec15/timetables/Table%20082.pdf|title=Network Rail Table 82 - Manchester - Bolton - Wigan, Kirkby, Southport, Preston, Blackpool North and Barrow-in-Furness 13 December 2015 to 14 May 2016|date=December 2015|publisher=Network Rail|access-date=25 March 2016}} In the May 2023 timetable, trains mainly continue beyond Manchester to/from {{rws|Blackburn}} via {{rws|Todmorden}} and {{rws|Accrington}}.{{NRtimes|May 2023|101}}

As of 2023, the standard service on the Kirkby branch is hourly, with trains starting from Blackburn and terminating there on the return journey. These service frequencies have been unchanged since the 1980s however the high-level output specification for 2014-2019 envisaged the service being cut back to a simple shuttle between Kirkby and Wigan Wallgate. Services are operated by Northern Trains.{{cite web|url=http://www.northernrail.org/travel/networkmap|title=Network Map|year=2010|publisher=Northern Rail|access-date=4 December 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129080239/http://www.northernrail.org/travel/networkmap|archive-date=29 November 2010|df=dmy-all}} Network Rail has considered the effects of electrification.{{cite web |url= http://www.networkrail.co.uk/networkrus_electrification.pdf |title= Network RUS Electrification |date= October 2009 |access-date= 20 October 2013 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141012195531/http://www.networkrail.co.uk/networkrus_electrification.pdf |archive-date= 12 October 2014 |df= dmy-all }}

{{commons category|Kirkby Branch Line}}

{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|last1=Macfarlane|first1=Andrew|editor-last=Young|editor-first=Tim|title=Lancashire and Cumbria by Rail|series=Britain By Rail (Railway Development Society)|date=January 1987|publisher=Jarrold and Sons|location=Norwich|isbn=0-7117-0297-7}}

{{Railway lines in North West England}}

Category:Rail transport in Lancashire

Category:Rail transport in Greater Manchester

Category:Rail transport in Merseyside

Category:Railway lines in North West England