page_title: Liverpool James Street railway station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Liverpool James Street railway station / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Entrance sign from the Mersey Railway Water Street entrance to James Street station, post electrification.
context_page_description: Liverpool James Street railway station is a railway station located in the centre of Liverpool, England, situated on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network. James Street is an underground station with access to the platforms via lifts from the James Street booking hall. At certain times the booking hall is accessed via a pedestrian tunnel from the India Buildings on Water Street. As of 2013/14, James Street was the fifth-busiest station on the Merseyrail network.
context_section_description: The station opened as the original Liverpool terminus of the Mersey Railway Tunnel in 1886. James Street Station and Hamilton Square underground station in Birkenhead are the oldest deep-level underground stations in the world. The only other underground railway in 1886, London Underground, had stations just below the street surface, built using the cut-and-cover method. The stations are so deep they required lifts to access, and were the world's first lift-accessed stations. The lifts were initially hydraulically operated. There were originally two platforms, either side of a twin-track tunnel.
  The Mersey railway tunnel was extended under dry land to Liverpool Central station in 1892, changing James Street's status to a through station. By this time, there were trains from Liverpool branching from Hamilton Square station terminating at Birkenhead Park and Rock Ferry stations in Birkenhead. The line was electrified in 1903. Through trains to West Kirby and New Brighton commenced in 1938, when the former Wirral Railway routes were electrified.
  In 1941, during the Liverpool Blitz, the Luftwaffe bombed the surface building of the station, damaging the then famous James Street hydraulic accumulator tower so badly it required demolition. A new surface building was built in the 1960s.
  The station was rebuilt in the 1970s, opening in 1977, as a creation of the Merseyrail network. A new single-track tunnel known as the Loop was constructed being a part of the Wirral Line under Liverpool's city centre. The Loop ran west from the Mersey Railway tunnel via a newly constructed third platform at James Street, then onto Moorfields, Liverpool Lime Street and Liverpool Central, and back to James Street rejoining the Mersey railway tunnel just to the east of the station.
  The eastern section of the original tunnel between Liverpool Central and James Street is used by the Northern Line. The remaining western section of the tunnel, which is not used by either the Wirral Line or Northern Line, was retained to provide a connection between the two for moving empty electric trains between depots at Birkenhead North and Kirkdale. Of the original two platforms at James Street, only the westbound remains in regular use. Platform 2, the original eastbound platform, is kept in near-original condition, being used only when trains are prevented from using the loop itself.
  The station and surrounding area were subject to a £2million package of improvements during 2007–8. Further refurbishment of platforms, concourses and the booking hall were undertaken in 2012–13, as part of a £40 million investment from Network Rail which saw all Merseyrail underground stations (excluding Conway Park) refurbished. Work to improve the little-used Platform 2 and the Water Street entrance were completed during 2015.
caption: Water Street entrance sign for James Street station from just after electrification of the Mersey Railway.
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