Bidston Railway Station

Bidston railway station is a railway station near the village of Bidston, Wirral, England. It is situated at the junction of the West Kirby branch of the Wirral Line (part of the Merseyrail network) with the Borderlands Line from Wrexham Central (operated by Arriva Trains Wales).

History

The station was originally built by the Hoylake Railway in 1866 as an intermediate station on their line from Birkenhead to Hoylake. After the extension of this line to West Kirby in 1878 to the west and into a new station to the east at Birkenhead Docks (the current Birkenhead North station), through trains to Liverpool commenced in 1938 when the London Midland and Scottish Railway electrified the line to West Kirby. In 1896 the North Wales and Liverpool Railway opened their line to Hawarden Bridge, which joined the Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway line to Wrexham.

During the earlier half of the twentieth century, Bidston station was known as 'Bidston Dee Junction'. By the 1960s, the Wrexham DMU service ran through Bidston to terminate at New Brighton &, later, Birkenhead North. Several lanes of sidings were situated adjacent to the eastern side of the station, however, these were removed in the 1970s. The station was the nearest to the former Bidston Dock. Although partially disused, Bidston East Junction has trackwork which may be used to access the Birkenhead Dock Branch line.

Services

Current services are every 15 minutes (Monday to Saturday daytime) to West Kirby and Liverpool, and every hour to Wrexham. At other times, trains operate every 30 minutes to West Kirby and Liverpool, every 60 minutes to Wrexham.

Future

Proposals exist to electrify some or all of the Borderlands Line and possibly incorporate it into the Wirral Line services. However nothing has been confirmed so far.

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