Arriving In Liverpool Lime Street Station – 14th October 2021
I took these pictures as I arrived into Liverpool Lime Street station today.
Note.
- The train arrived in Platform 9.
- I arrived in the last coach and took the pictures walking to the front of the train.
- The platform is just long enough for an eleven-car Class 390 train, which is 265.3 metres long. These are the longest trains in Avanti West Coast’s fleet.
- The train was numbered 390130 and named City of Edinburgh.
Network Rail’s platform designers seem to have pulled out all the tricks to fit an eleven-car Class 390 train in Platform 9 at Liverpool Lime Street station.
The new seven-car Class 807 trains will only be 182 metres long, so would appear to fit Platform 9 easily.
In Could Avanti West Coast Run A Lumo-Style Service Between London And Liverpool?, I looked at the various options to run a two trains per hour (tph) service between London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street.
I came to these conclusions.
- The shorter Class 807 trains would be needed to run services that stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, which has shorter platforms.
- If both hourly services were run by new Class 807 trains, there would be a 54 % increase in hourly capacity.
- If one service was run by a Class 390 train and the Liverpool South Parkway service was run by a Class 807 train, this would give a 77 % increase in hourly capacity.
- The Liverpool South Parkway service or both services would be very close to two hours.
Whatever is done, it would be a flagship service between London and Liverpool.
The Anonymous Widower 
Liverpool Lime Street platform length was one factor, may even have been the main factor, in not going for 12 car Pendolinos when they were extended to 11 cars.
Comment by chilterntrev | October 15, 2021 |
But the eleven-car Class 390 trains fit the extended platform with ease.
The platform is also long enough to take a twelve-car train with twenty-metre cars or a High Speed Two Classic-Compatible train, which is 200 metres.
It also looks like, if they lengthened the platforms at Liverpool South Parkway, they could extend the Class 807 trains to nine or even ten cars, if they needed more capacity.
Or they could run a pair of five-car Class 801 or Class 803 trains on the route.
It does seem that the length of the eleven-car Class 390 train has imposed a very convenient length on Platform 9.
Comment by AnonW | October 15, 2021 |