Kirkby railway station

Kirkby
A Class 508 occupies the Liverpool portion of the platform.
Location
Place	Kirkby
Local authority	Knowsley
Coordinates	53°29′11″N 2°54′09″W / 53.4864°N 2.9025°W / 53.4864; -2.9025Coordinates: 53°29′11″N 2°54′09″W / 53.4864°N 2.9025°W / 53.4864; -2.9025
Grid reference	SJ402992
Operations
Station code	KIR
Managed by	Merseyrail
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2011/12	1.891 million
2012/13	1.750 million
2013/14	2.358 million
2014/15	2.409 million
2015/16	2.356 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Merseytravel
Zone	A3/C2/C3
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Kirkby from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Kirkby railway station is situated in Kirkby, Merseyside, England. The station is an interchange between Merseyrail services from Liverpool Central and Northern services from Manchester Victoria via Wigan Wallgate. It is situated 7.5 miles (12km) north-east of Liverpool Central and is the operational terminus of both the Kirkby branch of Merseyrail's Northern Line and the Kirkby Branch Line from Wigan.

The original station was built in 1848, as part of the Liverpool and Bury Railway (later part of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway system). The station was situated on the western side of the bridge that bisects the site and consisted of two platforms. The L&BR subsequently became part of the main L&YR route between Manchester Victoria & Liverpool Exchange and prior to the 1923 Grouping carried fast expresses between the two cities in addition to sizeable volumes of local passenger traffic and freight. After the nationalisation of the railway network in 1948, the use of the line as a through Liverpool to Manchester route declined but local commuter traffic levels remained significant (19 trains per day each way ran along the line in 1965, though a few ran non-stop between Liverpool & Wigan). This nevertheless didn't stop the station & line from being listed for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report (along with the neighbouring Liverpool to Southport commuter line). The closure plans were subsequently rejected by the government in December 1967 and the station then became part of the newly created Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive's rail network in 1969. From the following year, the line through the station was singled to reduce track maintenance costs, with the Wigan-bound platform being taken out of use.