Calling at... British railway stations: Liverpool James Street (LVJ)

One of the underground stations at the core of the Merseyrail system, Liverpool James Street (usually referred to as just James Street) is the oldest deep level underground station in the world along with Hamilton Square on the other side of the Mersey.

Information
Type:	National Rail (Merseyrail)
Station code:	LVJ
Opened:	1886
Platforms:	3

Originally James Street was the Liverpool side terminus of the line that ran through the railway tunnel under the Mersey. Later James Street became a through station as the network grew under Liverpool with the building of the loop (opening in 1977) [1] which linked the Wirral Line with the Northern Line. The station has three platforms though only two are in regular use, the other platform (platform 2) is only used if the loop under central Liverpool is closed, in these occaisions it is used for trains terminating from the Wirral.

Services from the Wirral stop at Platform 1, the trains then head onto the loop via Moorfields, Liverpool Central and Liverpool Lime Street (Low Level) before arriving back at James Street at Platform 3. From here services cross over to the Wirral and go to New Brighton, Ellesmere Port, Chester and other destinations [2].

The current surface building dates from the 1960s with major work on the station occuring in the 1970s (see above) and 2000s. Access to the platforms from the surface is via 4 lifts.