There are two direct Liverpool–Manchester lines, the railway routes between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North West England. A northern Chat Moss line via , and a southern CLC line via . Historically, there were a total of four railway lines between the two cities, with a further northern direct route via Wigan and a further southern route via Ditton Junction. These two other lines can no longer operate direct services, with only the middle two of the four remaining as complete direct lines.
The northern route, the Chat Moss line, is fully electric, and spans from terminus station via , and to and . This line follows the route of the original 1830 Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
The southern route, the CLC line, is mostly diesel-only, though it shares its westernmost section with the electrified West Coast Main Line. It stretches from Liverpool Lime Street terminus via to Manchester Piccadilly operates on lines formerly owned by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC).
The two other historical lines that no longer operate trains directly between the two are:
The former northernmost route via Wigan, which has been split into two services, with its western section part of the electrified Merseyrail Northern line services up to , and the eastern section used by diesel services from Headbolt Lane to Manchester, therefore passengers require a change at Headbolt Lane (or before 2023). The former southernmost route via Ditton Junction, which has been largely abandoned east of Warrington; with a section from into Manchester being part of the Altrincham Line, a Metrolink tram line, while the remaining western section caters mainly for freight trains.
Northern route (Chat Moss line)
The northern route runs from , via and , and continues to either Manchester Victoria or Manchester Piccadilly. The line follows George Stephenson's original 32-mile (51.5 km) Liverpool and Manchester Railway of 1830, which was the world's first inter-city passenger railway and the first to have run 'scheduled' services. Many early steam locomotives were initially used on this line including Stephenson's Rocket, which won the Rainhill Trials in 1829 (see List of Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotives). The line also includes listed structures including stations and bridges, particularly the Rainhill Skew Bridge and the nine-arch Sankey Viaduct.
Current services Following completion of electrification in May 2015, services to and Manchester Victoria are operated by Class 323 three-car and three-car and four-car electric multiple units (EMUs).
Northern Trains operates two trains per hour on the Chat Moss line, an hourly all-stops service from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport operated by Class 323 and 331 EMUs and an hourly service from to via which calls at Earlestown and Newton-le-Willows, operated by Class 195 diesel multiple units (DMUs).
During weekday peak times, two daily return trains operate between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Victoria: one service in the morning and one in the evening, calling at all stations. Six daily return trains also operate between Manchester Victoria and Wigan North Western: three services in the morning and three in the evening at hourly frequency via Eccles, although only morning services towards Manchester and evening services towards Wigan call at the station.
A limited service operates between and Liverpool via the western section of the Chat Moss route, calling at all stations between Earlestown and Lime Street.
Between Earlestown and Manchester Airport, there are additional hourly services operated by Transport for Wales, which originate from via the North Wales Coast Line and Chester.
Northern Trains is the dominant operator on the route, and its services are operated with Class 323 three-car EMUs, Class 331 three-car or four-car electric multiple units or Class 195 two-car or three-car DMUs. Transport for Wales services between Earlestown and Manchester Piccadilly are usually operated by Class 197 DMUs, but Class 158 units may be substituted on occasions.
TransPennine Express operates an hourly service between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle Central via Manchester Victoria and York, calling at Lea Green and Newton-le-Willows, operated by Class 802 bi-mode units.
A similar service operates on a Sunday; however the Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport service is extended to Wilmslow and the Llandudno service terminates at Chester.
The northern Liverpool to Manchester route is also used by East Midlands Railway for empty coaching stock (ECS) movements, and as a diversionary route when the southern route is closed.
In past years, the line has been used by many express services which included through trains to , and Newcastle (via ), and to , and Edinburgh (diverging on to the West Coast Main Line at Newton-le-Willows). Local trains also ran to Manchester via Leigh, but these services ceased in 1969 when the Eccles-Tyldesley-Leigh-Kenyon branch was closed as a result of the Beeching Axe. The northern Liverpool to Manchester line has also seen regular use over the years for diverted services from the West Coast Main Line when parts of the latter have been closed for engineering work, but diversions via Manchester instead have now become more common as they do not involve the train reversing, as would be necessary at Edge Hill, following the electrification of the route.
Work to four-track the line between Huyton and Roby was completed in October 2017.
Technical details The key junctions on this route are: Edge Hill West Junction (to CLC line via Warrington Central) Edge Hill East Junction (to Edge Hill CS) Bootle Branch Junction (to Canada Dock Branch, leading to the docks) Olive Mount Junction (Olive Mount Junction Chat Moss to Regent Rd) Huyton Junction (to Wigan line) Earlestown West Junction (West Coast Main Line Southbound via Warrington Bank Quay) Earlestown East Junction (West Coast Main Line Southbound via Warrington Bank Quay) Newton-le-Willows Junction (for daily Wigan via Golborne Junction services) Parkside Junction (for daily Wigan via Golborne Junction services) Eccles Station Junction (to the Weaste branch towards the Manchester Ship Canal) Ordsall Lane Junction (separates Chat Moss line (to Victoria) from Bolton lines (to Piccadilly). With assistance from:
During a journey trains are controlled by: Lime Street control (LS) (Lime Street and the Lime Street tunnels) - now dedicated desk at new Manchester Rail Operating Centre (LL) Edge Hill signal box (LE) (Edge Hill to Edge Hill junction) Sandhills IECC (ML) (Olive Mount Jn To Regent Rd) Huyton signal box (HN) (Edge Hill to Huyton) - now dedicated desk at new Manchester Rail Operating Centre (LL) Warrington signal box (WN) Astley signal box (AY) Eccles signal box (ES) Manchester Piccadilly control (MP) The above is likely to change in the future as various sections are migrated over to the control of the new Manchester Rail Operating Centre at Ashburys.
Electrification From 5 March 2015, trains started electric operation on this route from Liverpool to Manchester Airport via the Oxford Road viaduct. Manchester Victoria station is now electrified and at the new timetable changeover on 17 May 2015 Liverpool to Manchester Victoria stopping services also began electric operation using the same rolling stock.
As a result of completion of the Manchester Castlefield Junction to Newton-le-Willows Junction electrification, TransPennine Express services between Manchester Airport and / now use new Class 350 EMUs and are re-routed along a portion of the northern Liverpool to Manchester route before joining the West Coast Main Line at Golborne Junction. TransPennine Express Class 185 DMUs, which formerly operated the Manchester Airport - Glasgow/Edinburgh service are now being redeployed to other routes.
The Department for Transport initially announced in July 2009 that the northern route of the Manchester to Liverpool line was to be electrified with 25 kV, 50 Hz AC, overhead line. The electrification process was originally due to be completed by 2013 but following a change of government in 2010, the work was delayed meaning that, while the Manchester to Newton-le-Willows section was completed by December 2013 to enable Manchester - Scotland electric services, the remaining section to Liverpool was not completed until 5 March 2015. Now that the electrification of the line is complete and electric services are running, the journey time between Liverpool and Manchester has been reduced from around 45minutes to 30minutes due to the greater acceleration achieved by electric trains and the raising of the speed limit along the line from . Class 319 EMUs have been fully refurbished and transferred from the Thameslink route to operate between Liverpool and Manchester, while Thameslink services will be operated by new energy-efficient trains, which were originally due to be delivered between 2011 and 2013. Electrification also offers electric haulage options for freight trains, giving a secondary route to the West Coast Main Line from Liverpool.
Southern route (CLC line)
The southern route is the old Cheshire Lines Committee line running from Liverpool Lime Street via to Manchester Piccadilly. There are three passenger trains per hour (tph) in each direction between Liverpool and Manchester, which are usually operated by a variety of Class 150, Class 156 and Class 158 DMUs. TransPennine Express used to use modern Class 185 trains, before their services were diverted via the northern route. These services are run by various 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. While East Midlands Railway's once per hour service generally take 50 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 less busy than the northern route in terms of service frequency (1 express & 2 stopping trains per hour each way over the entire route.)
The line's newest station is Warrington West, which opened in December 2019. Liverpool South Parkway station opened in June 2006 after its estimated construction cost of £16million had doubled to £32million by the time it was completed. This station replaced and Garston stations and has frequent bus links to Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Originally this line ran from terminus station to 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 no longer used by Warrington trains from 1966; these were diverted from Hunts Cross 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 .
In 1977–1978, 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.
At the Manchester end the line was diverted to and Manchester Piccadilly after Manchester Central was closed.