page_title: Liverpool–Manchester lines
section_title: Southern route (old Cheshire Lines Committee line)
hierarchical_section_title: Liverpool–Manchester lines / Southern route (old Cheshire Lines Committee line)
caption_attribution_description: Manchester Central Station
context_page_description: There once were four direct railway routes between Liverpool and Manchester in the North West of England, however only two remain, the two centre routes of the four. The most northerly and the most southerly of the four routes are no longer direct lines. Of the remaining two direct routes, the northern route of the two is fully electric with the now southern route a diesel-only line. The most northerly of the four, has been split into two routes, with the western section operated by Merseyrail electric trains and the eastern section by diesel trains, requiring passengers to change trains between the two cities. The fourth route, the most southerly of the four, has been largely abandoned east of Warrington, with the remaining section mostly catering for freight trains.
  The remaining two direct routes are:
  The northern route from Liverpool Lime Street terminus station via Earlestown and Newton-le-Willows to either Manchester Victoria, Manchester Piccadilly or Manchester Airport. This line follows the route of the original 1830 Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
context_section_description: The southern route runs from Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Central to Manchester Piccadilly. There are four passenger trains per hour (tph) in each direction between Liverpool and Manchester, which are usually operated by a variety of Class 185, Class 150, Class 156, Class 158 and Class 142 Diesel Multiple Units. These services are run by a number of rail companies and the time intervals are not evenly spaced out; there are large gaps between some services, and at other times trains leave within minutes of each other. TransPennine Express uses modern Class 185 trains, while other operators run a mixture of older rolling stock. While TransPennine Express' once per hour service generally take 45 minutes to reach Manchester from Liverpool Lime Street, some Northern services take an hour and ten minutes to cover the 35 miles. This route is busier than the northern route in terms of service frequency (2 express & 2 stopping trains per hour each way over the entire route, compared to 1 express, 1 semi-fast and 1 through stopping train via Earlestown, though additional Transport for Wales and TransPennine Express services use the eastern end of the northern route).
  The line's newest station is Liverpool South Parkway which opened in June 2006 after its estimated construction cost of £16 million had doubled to £32 million by the time it was completed.  This station replaced Allerton and Garston stations and has frequent bus links to Liverpool John Lennon Airport. Warrington West railway station was opened in December 2019.
  Originally this line ran from Liverpool Central High Level terminus station to Manchester Central terminus station built by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) in 1873. Liverpool Central High Level station was demolished in 1973 due to all the long haul distance services on Merseyside being concentrated at Liverpool Lime Street with Merseyrail operating the local urban services with underground stations in Liverpool and Birkenhead centres. Manchester Central closed in 1969 and is now the Manchester Central Convention Complex.
  At the Liverpool end, the line from Hunts Cross to Central High Level station—which accessed the station via a tunnel—was given over to the Northern Line of the electric Merseyrail services and the line from Hunts Cross diverted in 1966 onto the short section of the West Coast Main Line to Lime Street station. The divergence is at Allerton Junction to the immediate south east of Liverpool South Parkway.
  In 1977-8 the original line in the tunnel approaching Liverpool Central High Level terminus was dropped into a new lower level tunnel immediately south of the station to enter Liverpool Central underground station becoming a through line continuing underground to the north of Liverpool and onto Southport. The Low Level underground station and tunnel was built in 1890 to align with the approach tunnel to the High Level station if in the future the need was there. Victorian foresight was utilised nearly 80 years later.
  At the Manchester end the line was diverted to Manchester Oxford Road and Manchester Piccadilly after Manchester Central was closed.
  The Liverpool to Warrington section of this line was initially scheduled to be on the Merseyrail electric urban network. The Strategic Plan for the North West, the SPNW, in 1973 envisaged that the Outer Loop which was to be an orbital line circling the city of Liverpool, the Edge Hill Spur which is a tunnel connecting the east of Liverpool to the central underground sections, and the lines to St. Helens, Wigan and Warrington would be electrified and all integrated into Merseyrail by 1991.  This meant that trains from Warrington would access Liverpool city centre's underground stations via the Northern Line and Liverpool Central underground station, giving access to Liverpool's shopping and business quarters. This never transpired, however is a long-term aspiration of Merseytravel.
caption: The original Manchester Central terminus station
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