The Anonymous Widower

It’s A Privilege To Work Here!

I was speaking to a young station assistant at Liverpool Lime Street station, who I suspect could have been a trainee or an apprentice, when he came out with the title of this post.

These pictures show the platforms at the station, since the recent remodelling.

Note.

1. The platforms are wide and can take an eleven-car Class 390 train.
2. TransPennine Express’s five-car Class 802 trains are easily handled in the shorter platforms of the Western train shed.
3. I suspect Avanti West Coast’s new Class 807 trains, which are fifty-two metres longer than the Class 802 trains, could fit into the Western train shed, if needed.

It is certainly a station with a large capacity and I believe, with a few tweaks the station will be able to handle High Speed Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Train Lengths Into Liverpool Lime Street

These are the lengths of the various trains that will be terminating at the station.

• Class 350 train – eight cars – 160 metres
• Class 350 train – twelve cars – 240 metres
• Class 390 train – nine cars – 217.5 metres
• Class 390 train – eleven cars – 265.3 metres
• Class 730 train – five cars – 120 metres
• Class 730 train – ten cars – 240 metres
• Class 802 train – five cars – 130 metres
• Class 802 train – ten cars – 260 metres
• Class 807 train – seven cars – 182 metres
• High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train – 200 metres

That looks like future-proofing to me!

An Almost Absence Of Red

I have looked at arrivals into Liverpool Lime Street over the last couple of days on Real Time Trains and nearly all trains seemed to be on time.

So has all the work to improve the track and signalling on the approaches to the station,  over the last couple of years, resulted in better time keeping?

Certainly, train and passenger flows seemed to be smooth.

Conclusion

Wikipedia says this about Liverpool Lime Street station.

Opened in August 1836, it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world.

I’ve used Lime Street station for fifty-five years and finally, it is the station, the city needs and deserves.

I’ve been to grand termini all over the world and Lime Street may be the oldest, but now it is one of the best.

August 21, 2020 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Class 390 Train, Class 802 Train, High Speed Two, HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail, Liverpool Lime Street Station, Stations