Northern Rail, working in partnership with Merseytravel, has made special arrangements for the weekly Chester to Runcorn train service to be extended to Liverpool South Parkway for a one-off journey on Saturday 26 June.
This will be the first scheduled passenger service to run between Chester and Liverpool South Parkway and is a contribution to the North Cheshire Rail Users’ Group’s (NCRUG) 20th anniversary celebrations.
The train, which normally runs between Chester and Runcorn only, will also make additional stops at Helsby and Frodsham before running over the Halton Curve to Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway.
Janet Briggs, Chairman of NCRUG, said: “We welcome the initiative which represents a positive step forward in the group’s 20 year campaign to restore services over the Halton Curve. These would provide a direct link between Chester and Liverpool South Parkway with a bus connection to Liverpool airport.”
Mark Barker, Client and Stakeholder Manager at Northern Rail, said: “We are always happy to support partners where we can in their aspirations to improve rail services and are delighted that we could assist on this occasion.”
Councillor Mark Dowd, chair of Merseytravel, said: “We’re delighted with this one-off service. We hope it is the prelude to a regular service, something which has been a long term aspiration for Merseytravel.”
The train will leave Chester at 07.53 and make additional stops at Helsby (08:02), Frodsham (08:07) and Runcorn (08:17), arriving at Liverpool South Parkway at 08:26. Refreshments will be available at Liverpool South Parkway before a special vintage bus leaves at 10:30am to take passengers back to where they boarded the train.
For anyone from Merseyside wanting to travel on the train they can catch the 06.45 from Liverpool Central to Chester and there are frequent trains back from Liverpool South Parkway to Liverpool Central and Liverpool Lime Street.
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