St Helens Central is on the Liverpool-Wigan line and is part of the Merseyrail City Line network.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Merseyrail City Line)
Station code:
SNH
Opened:
1858
Platforms:
2
St Helens Central wasn't the town's first station though, it was built by the St Helens Canal & Railway as St Helens in 1858 to replace two earlier stations built in 1833 and 1849.
Once the station was a busy junction with a number of different routes and lines but these were gradually closed in the post-war period to leave just the Liverpool-Wigan (and Preston-Liverpool) routes. The station had an overall roof but this was demolished in the 1960s and the number of platforms reduced to two.
The station was renamed St Helens Shaw Street in 1949 with the current name change in 1987 (a different station called St Helens Central station closed in 1952). The station was rebuilt in 1961 with a further rebuild including the striking current station building and a new footbridge being completed in 2007.
The Liverpool-Wigan line was electrified in the early 2010s and since 2015 St Helens Central has been served by electric services operated by Northern.
Northern 319 378 and 319 367 meet
View of the station (and the roof of a 319) from the footbridge
Station building
Platform sign advertising local attractions
Northern 319 362 arrives with a Wigan bound service
