Work has begun this week on the construction of a new railway station at Maghull North, which will give increased travelling options to rail users in the area.



The new Maghull North station will be located just off School Lane adjacent to the former Ashworth Hospital site, between the existing Maghull and Town Green stations on the Ormskirk branch of Merseyrail’s Northern Line.

The station is a key piece of infrastructure in the Sefton Local Plan, supporting demand from an adjacent new housing development which will include 370 homes, with more homes planned for the area in the near future. It will also offer relief for the existing station in the town.



Facilities at the new station will include:-
• Staffed station building and ticket office with passenger toilet.
• Passenger waiting facilities on platform
• Step-free access with lifts and a bridge to, from and between both platforms and the station building.
• 156-space car park with blue badge, motorcycle parking and cycle storage.
• Pedestrian and cycle routes from School Lane and Park Lane to the station and bus stops on School Lane.
• Future provision for electric vehicle charging points.

The new station, which will be operated by Merseyrail, is expected to be open to the public in May 2018.
The £13m scheme is being funded through the Government’s Local Growth Fund (LGF), Merseytravel and the Homes and Communities Association, which previously owned the land on which the station will be built. It will form part of the wider £340m investment by Network Rail and the Liverpool City Region in rail improvements over the next three years.

Network Rail are undertaking the scheme on behalf of Merseytravel, using the contractor Buckingham Group. Initial work has begun on clearing the vegetation on the existing railway cutting to allow construction work to begin.

To help progress the work further, Network Rail require two weekend “possessions”, which will see the closure of the railway between Maghull and Ormskirk on the weekends of 27-28th October and 4-5th November.

A rail replacement bus service will be in place during this period. A further possession will be required towards the end of the year, with full details to be confirmed nearer the time.

Cllr John Fairclough, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member Locality Services, said:

“Now that Planning permission has been granted, it is great to see work commencing on this important piece of infrastructure promoting public transport in Maghull.”

“Not only does the new station provide some of the infrastructure needed to support our Local Plan, it also complements other transport schemes like the improvements to junction 1 on the M58 and the A59 making Sefton even more accessible.

“I look forward to the scheme progressing with the station planned to open next year.”

So all this can be done because this is within Sefton. However when it comes to resolving in conjunction with West Lancs, issues that affect transportation in Southport ie re-instatement of the Burscough Curves and improvements to the A570 then nothing but talk seems to happen.