Hooton–Helsby line

The Hooton–Helsby line is a railway line in the north-west of England that runs from Hooton on the Chester–Birkenhead line to the village and junction station at Helsby where it joins the Chester–Warrington line.

Hooton–Helsby line
Wirral Line train (left) and train to Helsby (right) at Ellesmere Port.
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
ELR	HHJ
Locale	Cheshire North West England
Termini	Hooton Helsby
Stations	5
Service
System	National Rail
Services	Wirral Line Ellesmere Port–Helsby(–Warrington)
Operator(s)	Merseyrail Northern Trains
Depot(s)	Allerton TMD Birkenhead North TMD
Rolling stock	Class 777 Class 150
History
Opened	1863
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	60 mph (95 km/h) (except Hooton and Helsby)
Route map (Click to expand) Show geographic map Legend mi+ch Chester & Birkenhead Rly to Rock Ferry North Junction Hooton 0+02 Hooton South Junction Chester & Birkenhead Rly to Chester West Junction 1+47 Little Sutton 2+28 Overpool West End Sidings, Eastham Oil Terminal 3+44 Ellesmere Port East End Sidings 5+67 Stanlow & Thornton 6+66 Ince & Elton West Cheshire Railway to Northwich Chester–Warrington line to Chester 8+60 Helsby 8+67 Helsby Junction Chester–Warrington line to Warrington Bank Quay Show route diagram Legend Wirral Line to Hooton 0:00 Ellesmere Port M53 motorway 0:02 Ellesmere Port East Sidings 0:04 Stanlow and Thornton 0:07 Ince and Elton M56 motorway West Cheshire Railway to Mouldsworth Chester to Manchester Line to Chester 0:10 Helsby 0:15 Frodsham Halton Curve to Runcorn Sutton Tunnel 1565 yd 1431 m 0:20 Runcorn East West Coast Main Line to Crewe 0:28 Warrington Bank Quay West Coast Main Line to Carlisle Timings are from Ellesmere Port Show passenger service

History

Hooton–Helsby line and surrounding lines in 1886

Helsby station on a 1914 Railway Clearing House map

The line from Hooton to Helsby was opened in 1863. The line was built by the Birkenhead Railway which had been taken over by the LNWR and the Great Western Railway (GWR) jointly in 1860.

The section west of Ellesmere Port has been part of the Merseyrail network since 1994. This part of the line is electrified. There are no longer through train services to Liverpool's city centre via Birkenhead.

A branch at Helsby connected the line to the former West Cheshire Railway to Northwich via Mouldsworth Junction. The line closed in 1991 and tracks were lifted in 1995.

Passenger services

Former services

Services previously used to operate from Hooton to Helsby. This service was relatively frequent (every half-hour until 1993), operating via Ellesmere Port. It was withdrawn after the line was electrified west of Ellesmere Port. Station signs at Ince and Elton railway station still display signage relating to services to/from Hooton.

Hooton–Ellesmere Port

Services are operated by Merseyrail as part of the Wirral Line network with trains running every 30 minutes. From Hooton services continue to Liverpool via the Chester–Birkenhead line.^[1]

Ellesmere Port–Helsby

Northern did, until May 2019, operate a Department for Transport-set minimum service^[2] of three trains daily in each direction between Ellesmere Port and Helsby, Cheshire.

There were 6 passenger services each day (except Sunday):^[3]

05:10 Liverpool Lime Street to Ellesmere Port
06:33 Helsby to Ellesmere Port
18:50 Helsby to Ellesmere Port

06:19 Ellesmere Port to Helsby
06:53 Ellesmere Port to Warrington Bank Quay
19:10 Ellesmere Port to Manchester Victoria

In previous years, services have operated towards Hooton via Ellesmere Port and Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Bank Quay.

A Class 142 Pacer train terminates at Ellesmere Port from Helsby.

Since the May 2019 and the introduction of the "Northern Connect" Chester to Leeds services the Ellesmere Port line timetable was altered.

There still are 6 services per day excluding Sunday.

Services are:

05:10 Liverpool Lime Street to Ellesmere Port

06:17 Ellesmere Port to Helsby

06:34 Helsby to Ellesmere Port

07:15 Ellesmere Port to Leeds

All of the above are operated by the same unit.

Another unit operates the below services:

15:38 Leeds to Ellesmere Port

18:23 Ellesmere Port to Manchester Victoria - Unit then goes to Newton Heath Depot just north of Manchester Victoria.

Freight services

Ellesmere Port saw frequent freight traffic until 1996 with branches to several wharves as well as Eastham Oil Terminal.^[4] In 2005 a single track line to Manisty Wharf in Ellesmere Port was reopened for a regular coal flow to Fiddlers Ferry power station.^[5][4][6] This freight route enters Ellesmere Port from Helsby.^[7] Freightliner Heavy Haul currently operates the service, with two trains per day.^[5][8]

In 2008 Quinn Glass was planning expansion and wanted to serve their 205 acres (0.83 km²; 0.320 sq mi) site at Elton which outputs 1.2 billion glass containers per year for the food and beverage industry^[9] near the Ince & Elton railway station by rail. Network Rail Route Strategy states that Quinn Glass is interested in additional passenger and freight services on this line. It is also thought that planning permission requires Quinn Glass to maximise upon existing public transport links.^[10] A trial service ran on 7 April 2011 and a twice-weekly service every Wednesday and Friday commenced on 13 April 2011.^[11][12] Those services were operated by Freightliner Heavy Haul and transported sand from Sibelco's Middleton Towers Quarry in Middleton, Norfolk.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]}

Stanlow and Thornton, one of the intermediate stops on the line

At present the sand is transported by road the final five miles to the Quinn Glass plant from a former Cawoods siding in Ellesmere Port beside the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manisty Wharf, but from November 2011 trains were due to begin using a dedicated terminal at the plant itself.^[11][19][20] It was announced during this month that construction work had been delayed due to the discovery of a badger sett on the proposed site. Completion of the new line was set back to the end of June 2012 with a reported total cost of more than £2 million.^[21] In November 2012 it emerged that Quinn Glass had broken a planning condition requiring the rail terminal to be operational by November 2011.^[22] The company cited additional demands by Network Rail and the Environment Agency's decision to switch off the Frodsham Marshes pumping stations as causes of delay. Quinn Glass have since been granted an extended period by Cheshire West and Chester council during which to complete the project.^[23]

Stations

• Hooton; opened October or November 1840; still open;
• Sutton; opened 1 July 1863; renamed Little Sutton 1886; still open;
• Overpool; opened 15 August 1988; still open;
• Whitby Locks; opened 1 July 1863; renamed Ellesmere Port 1870; still open;
• Stanlow & Thornton; opened 23 December 1940 for refinery workers; opened to public 24 February 1941; (service suspended since 3 February 2022)
• Ince; opened 1 July 1863; renamed Ince and Elton 1884; still open;
• West Cheshire Junction; divergence of line to Mouldsworth;
• Helsby; opened September 1852; still open;

Three of the four stations between Helsby and Ellesmere Port are unstaffed. Two of them, Ellesmere Port and Ince and Elton, are accessible for those in wheelchairs. Stanlow and Thornton and Helsby both have footbridges as their only means of exit. Facilities at Ince and Elton and Stanlow and Thornton are basic, comprising little more than covered waiting areas and timetable information. Ellesmere Port has full ticket-selling capabilities, including a Ticket Vending Machine and a staffed ticket office, along with real-time information displays and help points. Helsby has real-time information displays and a Ticket Vending Machine.