| Box Width: | auto |
| Kirkby branch line | |
| System: | National Rail |
| Status: | Operational |
| Locale: | North West England |
| Start: | Wigan Wallgate |
| End: | Headbolt Lane |
| Stations: | 6 |
| Open: | 20 November 1848 |
| Owner: | Network Rail |
| Operator: | Northern Trains |
| Linelength: | 12.25miles[1] |
| Map: | (Click to expand) |
| Map State: | expanded |
The Kirkby Branch Line is a branch railway line from Wigan to Headbolt Lane. The line's original route was from Liverpool to Bury and later the most northern of the Liverpool to Manchester lines. The line was split at Kirkby in 1977 with the western section forming a high frequency branch of the electrified Merseyrail Northern Line, also referred to as the Kirkby branch line. The Kirkby branch to Wigan remained a low frequency (one train per hour) diesel operated service by Northern Trains from Headbolt Lane to Manchester.
The Liverpool and Bury Railway built the first line into Liverpool from the north. It ran from Bury via the towns of Bolton and Wigan, reaching the city of Liverpool in 1848. Soon afterwards, the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway's route to Preston was built sharing the L&BR line as far as Walton.[2] Mergers meant that the Bury route was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, which had taken over the Liverpool and Bury Railway company.[2] The opening ceremony took place on 20 November 1848.[2]
With the creation of the Merseyrail metro and the closure of the route's former terminus at Liverpool Exchange in 1977 through trains to Liverpool from the Wigan direction ceased. It had originally been intended that the line be electrified all the route from Liverpool to Wigan creating a terminal of the Merseyrail Northern Line at Wigan Wallgate. Wigan North Western is a terminal of Merseyrail's City Line. Only the section between Liverpool and Kirkby was electrified in 1977 as a part of the Merseyrail scheme. Kirkby station was reconstructed as a terminus for Merseyrail's Northern Line Kirkby branch and the Manchester to Kirkby line. Services between Wigan and Kirkby were provided by diesel-powered trains. Passengers from the Manchester direction continuing beyond Kirkby into Liverpool change at Kirkby joining a Merseyrail-operated electric metro train. It is a long-term aspiration of Merseyrail to complete the electrification of the Northern Line to Wigan.[3] Merseytravel also hope to use the route as part of rail link to the town of Skelmersdale, which has been cut off from the national network since 1956 and is now one of the largest towns in North West England without a passenger rail service.[4]
Proposals to extend Merseyrail's Northern Line to a new terminal station at Headbolt Lane, between Kirkby and Rainford, were announced in 2007[5] but did not receive funding until 2019.[6] Headbolt Lane station became the new terminal interchange between trains from Liverpool and Wigan/Manchester when it opened on 5 October 2023.[7]
The former main line is now "something of a backwater", with the appearance of a rural branch line in places.
Trains originate at Blackburn and join the Kirkby branch at Wigan Wallgate, having travelled via, Manchester Victoria, Atherton and Hindley, and change direction at Headbolt Lane. Services are scheduled to take around 140 minutes end-to-end. There are no weekday evening (after 20:00) or Sunday service.[11] In the May 2023 timetable, trains mainly continue beyond Manchester to/from via and .
As of 2023, the standard service on the Kirkby branch is hourly, with trains starting from Blackburn and terminating there on the return journey. These service frequencies have been unchanged since the 1980s however the high-level output specification for 2014-2019 envisaged the service being cut back to a simple shuttle between Kirkby and Wigan Wallgate. Services are operated by Northern Trains.[12] Network Rail has considered the effects of electrification.[13]