Moorfields railway station

Moorfields
General information
Location	Liverpool
Managed by	Merseyrail
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	MRF
Fare zone	C1
Key dates
9 May 1977	Opened

Moorfields station is an underground railway station in Liverpool, England. It is situated on both the Northern and Wirral Lines of the Merseyrail network and is one of two stations on the network which has services to all other Merseyrail stations.

Description

The station was built in the 1970s, partly as a replacement for Liverpool Exchange railway station, opening on 9 May 1977. It is accessed via entrances at Moorfields and on the corner of Old Hall Street and Tithebarn Street (the latter being open only from 5.30am until 7pm on weekdays).

Services from the north which had previously terminated at Liverpool Exchange were diverted to Moorfields, and continued via a new tunnel to Liverpool Central, with some continuing south to Garston (later extending to Hunts Cross); these services form the Northern Line. At the same time, another new tunnel was built, carrying the Wirral Line in a loop from James Street via Moorfields, Lime Street, and Liverpool Central before returning to James Street.

There are three platforms (two for the Northern Line and one for the Wirral Line) in two levels of tunnel. The Wirral Line platform is at a much deeper level; this is because the Northern Line tunnels pass over the Queensway road tunnel whilst the Wirral Line passes beneath it.

Passengers must, curiously for an underground station, go up an escalator from the Moorfields entrance to reach the ticket office - the station was originally intended to connect with a pedestrian walkway system, designed to separate pedestrians from traffic. Only a small section of the system was constructed in the 1970s, and the scheme eventually fell by the wayside. From the ticket office, another escalator leads down to the main passenger tunnel which links the Northern and Wirral Line platforms and the Old Hall Street entrance. A new 'M to Go' shop opened at the Old Hall Street entrance in 2006, acting as a combined snack shop/ticket counter.

The Moorfields entrance of the station will soon be refurbished for the new Liverpool Commerce Centre. The Moorfields entrance will have the esclators there now going to part of the new 8 story 4 Liverpool Commerce Centre.

The usage of the station Monday to Friday is much greater than the statistics show, since they credit "Liverpool" passengers to Lime Street station, and do not include day or season ticket holders. The station is however significantly quieter at weekends, since it is primarily used by city centre workers and is less convenient for most of the city centre retail areas than Central.

Services

Northern Line

Northbound trains run every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to each of Southport, Ormskirk and Kirkby.

Southbound trains run every five minutes to Liverpool Central. Trains originating from Southport continue to Hunts Cross, every 15 minutes.

Wirral Line

Services run every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to each of New Brighton, West Kirby and Hooton. From Hooton, trains continue every 30 minutes to each of Chester and Ellesmere Port. These services give a combined frequency of five minutes around the loop and through the Mersey Railway Tunnel to Hamilton Square station in Birkenhead. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes to each of the four destinations.

External links

• Train times and station information for Moorfields railway station from National Rail
• Station information from Merseyrail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Liverpool Central		Merseyrail Northern Line		Sandhills
James Street		Merseyrail Wirral Line		Liverpool Lime Street