Southport services need to serve the stations on their own line at Meols Cop, Burscough Bridge, Parbold, Appley Bridge and Gathurst and obviously have to stop at Wigan Wallgate. After all that the Atherton line with all its stops and 50mph line speed is really too slow. It makes sense for the larger towns along the route of Southport, Wigan and Bolton (leaving services from Kirkby and Wigan to serve the Atherton line) and I have no objection to stopping at the very pleasant Hindley and Westhoughton if it means a direct service to Bolton, but under no circumstances should any train from Southport that has already been travelling for an hour by the time it reaches Bolton have to stop anywhere else before it reaches the Manchester destination stations and should always run fast to Salford Crescent, preferably at 100mph if Network Rail will let the 769s run at their design speed. There really needs to be something else serving Moses Gate/Farnworth/Kearsley/Clifton because serving them eliminates the time advantage of not going via Atherton.
Local journeys are not made at present because there are no cross-Bolton services. It makes sense to me to link south Bolton stations (Moses Gate/Farnworth/Kearsley/Clifton) to north Bolton stations (Bromley Cross/Hall-i’-th’-Wood) but the argument for putting them in Preston/Blackpool services is that a 331 with fast acceleration and 100mph top speed will not be slowed down anywhere near as much by them as a Southport/Clitheroe Sprinter. Horwich Parkway is not on the Blackburn/Clitheroe line it is on the Chorley/Preston line, but you can’t tell me that there wouldn’t be significant football traffic from Moses Gate/Farnworth/Kearsley/Clifton to Horwich Parkway, so that seems to settle it. I should add that they are likely to be served by the Wigan - Stalybridge 323s in a few years.
I don’t understand why the Harrogate line needs 350s instead of 333s or 331s, but it doesn’t really matter since they are all good EMUs and only all DMUs are completely unsuitable for the line as it should have been electrified throughout for 30 years and arguably needs doing with priority over the main TransPennine route from Leeds to York.
The Kirkby/Headbolt Lane services will terminate where they presently do in the Northern line platforms at Liverpool Central because Kirkby is on the Northern line and there is no access to the loop if not coming to the Wirral. The Kirkby services will be extended over the unelectrified line to Headbolt Lane and so will have to be run exclusively by battery 777s. Only the battery equipped 777s will be capable of running to Headbolt Lane and so will be dedicated entirely to it. There is no specific reason why a battery unit couldn’t run round the loop but because they will all be needed for Headbolt Lane services you will never find one on the Wirral Line. This means the rest of the fleet will receive disproportionately more wheel wear and they will be unable to cycle the entire fleet through the loop as they currently do without removing the batteries and fitting them to other units.
If the Borderlands line is also served by battery 777s with a charger at Wrexham, that would solve this issue because battery units could be shared between Headbolt Lane and Wrexham services. It would also increase the service to Birkenhead North from 8tph to 10tph unless the Wrexham service runs non-stop to Bidston because you couldn’t cut the frequency to West Kirkby or New Brighton in favour of Wrexham and I am not saying this frequency is excessive. It should be mirrored on the other side of the river, with something like 8tph to Bootle and Aintree and 6tph to Kirkby and Hunts Cross.
Central needs 4 platforms since the 2 platforms at Central currently get more passengers than the 10 platforms at Lime Street and Central to Bootle needs to be 4 tracks as it originally was. You would have to open out the 2 single bore tunnels through Moorfields to the same diameter as at Farnworth for 4 track running with clearances for potential future conversion to overhead power and removal of the third rail. As far as Bootle and Walton the trackbed is already 4 tracks wide and a few platforms just need reopening.
I’m glad you agree with me about the Burscough Curves because obviously with 4tph to Ormskirk, extend 2tph to Southport and 2tph to Preston which would also provide 4tph to Burscough Junction which is very much justifiable and then even more importantly run 2tph Southport - Preston all with battery 777s. Don’t move any stations around north of Ormskirk. You would need to resignal Southport - Burscough Bridge to allow 6tph, or in reality about 8tph for resiliency/sandite/deicing and obviously remove the partition at Ormskirk because it would be stupid having 777s at both ends both laying over when they could just continue. It would be most sensible to redouble Ormskirk - Preston but you could run the service on the single line with a certain signalling arrangement. Ormskirk definitely needs 2 platforms even without any new services, but not expensive lifts because there has always been step free access to the disused northbound platform via the existing road bridge, the same arrangement that exists at Burscough Bridge and Burscough Junction.
Other lines that need doing are the North Mersey Branch from Bootle to Aintree via Linacre Road and Captian’s Lane and the CLC North Liverpool Extension from Hunts Cross to Aintree which is the outer circle you describe, although you shouldn’t run a circular service on it. All structures along the route were built to 4 track width so it’s possible to reopen it as a railway and retain the valuable parallel cycleway. It should be reopened in 3 phases. First to Gateacre, then to Knotty Ash for Alder Hey via aBroad Green Low Level and finally to Aintree. Put 4 platforms at Aintree and have services terminate from Bootle and Hunts Cross directions with the main Preston/Southport via Ormskirk services using the existing platforms.
What I would do is run 2tph Liverpool - Southport all stops via Hightown, 2tph Liverpool - Hall Road all stops, 2tph Liverpool - Southport express first stop Hightown, 2tph Liverpool - Southport via Ormskirk, 2tph Southport - Preston, 2tph Liverpool - Preston via Ormskirk, 2tph Liverpool - Aintree via Bootle and 4tph Liverpool - Headbolt Lane with some continuing to Skelmersdale and some continuing to Wigan. Then 1tph Southport - Wigan - Bolton - Piccadilly - Manchester Airport and 1tph Southport - Wigan - Bolton - Victoria - Rochdale - Halifax - Bradford - Leeds, neither stopping anywhere between Bolton and Salford Crescent and the service to Leeds via Batley terminating at Victoria.
There is an important need for a direct service between Rainford and Upholland. I’m not sure you would have to omit stops from the Liverpool - Southport via Ormksirk because it would only take at most 5 minutes longer than the main all stops service and the fast service can be provided via the main route. If you did you would have to provide something else terminating at Aintree to compensate and I don’t know how much terminal capacity there would be. There is also the issue that while Hall Road is both the turnback and the end of the continuous conurbation of Liverpool, you can’t currently reverse a train at Aintree and Old Roan is the end of the continuous conurbation of Liverpool. When the Kirkby line was closed after the crash and 6tph ran to Aintree, half of them ran empty to Old Roan and reversed there. It would make sense to run something to there, but there isn’t space for 4 platforms there.
South of Liverpool Central some services should continue to Warrington or Birchwood and some to Gateacre/Knotty Ash/Aintree. Then your CLC service from Lime Street to Manchester wouldn’t need to stop at every station but if you’re only having separate services from both ends, at least make them overlap at Warrington because of the even greater need for cross-Warrington services than cross-Bolton services. I’ve noticed that there is a bus from Bootle to Wavertree so there might actually be a lot of journeys between them. You would either have to go to Aintree and either reverse or go over the footbridge, get off at Broad Green Low Level and either change again, walk or go on one of the electric scooters or something, or build a tunnel from south of your 4 platform Central to connect with the Wapping tunnel to Edge Hill and run services from Central to St Helens, Newton-le-Willows and Runcorn, putting the proper Wavertree station on the WCML by the swimming pool back in as well as Sefton Park while you’re at it. These services no longer running into Lime Street will free up capacity for HS2 and NPR.
Wigan to Alderley Edge makes more sense than Clitheroe, buses will always do cross-Bolton connections better because the stations aren't particularly well located for large parts of Bolton and also the buses are quite well integrated with other forms of transport using the get me there card, this is only set to increase with Andy Burnham's bus reforms.
If the train in GM was integrated with the get me there, then maybe these stations may merit a direct connection with other stations than Bolton and perhaps Horwich Parkway, but very few will go to the bother of buying a train ticket plus a bus fare to get where they're going, when there's a more direct bus at a cheaper combined price.
I know it's on the Preston line, which is why I suggested putting the 4 stops on the Preston to Vic stopper, run once an hour.
Even with the great acceleration of the 331, Blackpool North and Preston are major destinations that need direct services.
Stick a 319 on the Vic as it is currently and that will do your stopper just fine.
There aren't enough 331/333s for any more electrification, the 350s will be up for grabs very soon and a 5 car 350 is the perfect length to run services and get out of the way on the main line into York and section of the Harrogate line east of Knaresborough. They would also work well on the Transpennine stoppers on the Hudds/Calder Valley line, whether TPE or Northern, especially for TPE as a Desiro like their Class 185.
As for Kirkby, that makes sense. Maybe the battery units could be given a run on the Wirral Line ECS at night, cut back any engineering possessions once a week to make sure they don't wear out unevenly.
The Borderlands plan sounds good and it would be silly to run fast to Bidston as you cut out half the benefits of serving all those intermediate stations then.
Adding platforms at Central is certainly a good idea, but it's a case of waiting for funding and I think it will take a long time for such a major infrastructure project, definitely a plan should be produced though.
In response to your Burscough plan, 2tph to Preston and 2tph to Southport definitely works, just need to find paths.
I think the bus corners the Preston to Southport market for now, but provision being made for the northern curve being opened should be done at the same time the western curve is reopened. A change at Burscough Bridge on the Southport to Liverpool onto a Liverpool to Preston is a good alternative.
Agreed on signalling, Ormskirk and stations north of it, but Preston to Ormskirk definitely needs redoubling to fit in the timetable, the trackbed is all there, should be very few issues with reinstating platforms and the conversion of the single lead junction onto the Fylde Lines at Farington Curve Jcn.
It should be possible to reopen the Outer Circle as an extension of services from Hunts Cross to terminate in Bootle, maybe you could have platforms for the Outer Circle at approx. right angles to the main Aintree station like Liskeard? Or further down the road at Ealing Rd, with a short sharply curved tunnel towards the Bootle branch. Why not terminate that service at Bootle, then there would a direct change from all branches to the north-eastern and eastern part of the loop avoiding the city centre? Rice Lane's platforms could be moved a bit closer to the intersection of both lines, serves Archbishop Beck College better too. As to your Merseyrail service plan, mostly decent, except the Southport via Hightown express, which would take up too much capacity. I would extend your Bootle terminators to Aintree via the branch in the short term to serve the inner Liverpool/Sefton market.
Southport to Leeds seems a little time consuming, don't see what the point is when you could run Southport to Staly and still have the same links to Yorkshire, much faster in the case of Leeds.
Southport to Picc takes up too much capacity as the Mcr Recovery Task Force have told Southport passengers, Southport to Mcr Oxford Rd would do fine, where you can make onward connections to most places in Mcr.
I don't dispute that Rainford and Upholland need a direct service, I don't know how you inferred that I'd cut their direct service. My Kirkby line plan is 2tph to Skem and 2tph to Wigan,all stops.
Rainford would be the last stop before a Skem line junction, so certainly possible.
The 2tph I would run to Bootle then Aintree provides for the fast dropping some inner stations, maybe stop the fast at Old Roan and Aintree. The fast would be great for inter Sefton connectivity, a common complaints of Sefton residents because it would give Maghull a direct and reasonably timed public transport link to Southport.
I think I'd split services going to Hunts Cross to the loop and Warrington Central. This is where the 777s need their pantographs fitting, or at least some of them because the whole line needs electrifying for NPR/HS2 as well and you could still terminate the stoppers at Warrington from either end (tram train from Mcr), but run an electrified version of the Lime St to Mcr Oxford Rd stopper through twice an hour.
Reopen the Bootle Dock Branch and electrify at 25kv, run services into the other end of those 2 new Oriel Rd platforms, then open Tuebrook, Walton (proper), Clubmoor and Newsham Park stations. Build a flyunder and interchange at Wavertree Technology Park, reopen Wavertree, run through to Chester all stops via the Halton Curve. Then you've got a half-decent regional network that Merseyrail should be.
My personal preference for NPR/HS2 in the area is for it to follow the old line through Warrington to Liverpool South Parkway as planned, then a tunnel under the alignment for there to Edge Hill under the depot, surfacing briefly to join the Wapping Tunnel to a station on the site of the old Park Lane station. It would further the revitalisation of that section of the waterfront and there's enough room to build a decent sized station and course on the huge car park there currently. It's right next to an arena, the Tate Liverpool, several Museum and not too far from the Ferry terminal and James St station/ Liverpool One. No room at Lime St without spending billions.
If you want to run St Helens/NLW stations into Liverpool Central, you should reopen the Waterloo/Victoria tunnels and build connecting tunnels as there's nothing to serve at the end of those, doubt they're ever going to be reopened.
Everton have been saying for years they'll move to Bramley Moore Dock, but that would be better served by a dockside tram from the city centre to Bootle as there's too much in the way to serve the stadium properly.
