Services to be increased at Merseyrail station

A train station on the Wirral will see services increase to four trains an hour after cuts to services last year.

In August 2022, services at Green Lane train station were reduced to every half an hour in order to cut down the number of delays. Services were also reduced at Bromborough Rake station.

The increase in services to every 15 minutes from June 26, comes after the issue had been raised by campaigners in Wirral's Labour and Green parties who had both called for services to be reinstated.

When services at Bromborough Rake were restored in March, the Green Party accused it of being “a nakedly political decision ahead of the local elections."^[2] However Labour said Cllr Pat Cleary had not raised the issues at Green Lane with them and that it was calling for a review of services there too.

In April, Birkenhead's Labour MP Mick Whitley met with Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram. He previously said^[3]: "I was encouraged to hear that we could soon get a full service returned to Green Lane by running a hybrid service with the new and old Merseyrail trains running together until the new trains can be fully rolled out."

Cllr Steve Foulkes, vice chair of the combined authority’s transport committee, said: “We’ve been keeping these arrangements under close review as people have told us how important these services are to them and I’d like to thank them for their patience.

“I’m pleased to report there has been a consistent improvement in performance since the original changes were put in place by Merseyrail and as a result some services can be re-instated for the benefit of passengers. This follows an earlier return of some services to Bromborough Rake.

“It is important to note that the original changes were designed to help contain disruption and drive an improvement in the overall reliability of rail services on the South Wirral line.

“Our guarantee that all services to both Green Lane and Bromborough Rake will return once the new fleet of trains are running still stands. As part of our roll out plan we will be letting passengers know when to expect their new trains."

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References

1. ^{^} 70 incredible photos that capture life in Liverpool in the 1970s (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
2. ^{^} “a nakedly political decision ahead of the local elections." (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
3. ^{^} previously said (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
4. ^{^} our newsletter here (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)