Report outlines ambitions for station relaunch
● WORK is continuing to assess the possibility of a train station in Widnes re-opening with one vision outlining the facility being up and running again in just a few years.
Ditton Station has been closed for more than 20 years, but Halton Borough Council has the ambition for the facility to be used once again.
A study has taken place considering different scenarios based on the station opening again in 2021.
Councillors on the environment and urban renewal policy performance board were due to be updated on the findings of this at a meeting yesterday.
The report said demand figures for the station at Ditton are low compared to others in the area and is put down to ‘the limited local catchment and the presence of other stations in the area with overlapping catchments’.
As part of future feasibility work and to ‘strengthen the likely economic case’ for the station re-opening, at least two trains serving Ditton per hour is advised, as well as adequate parking in a bid to attract park and ride users and speaking with bus operators to serve it. Further work will take place to give a better understanding of the station re-opening and will include cost estimates and which train operators could serve it.
The report said: “As development work progresses the assumptions and calculations developed for this study can be refined to give a more accurate picture of the likely economic case for the station.
“This will also need to be supplemented by wider feasibility work, including operational and engineering elements, to give an indication of the likely capital and operating costs.
“Merseytravel have submitted a request to the Combined Authority to fund this next piece of work. In the event that the CA cannot fund then there will be a discussion between HBC and Merseytravel as without this next piece of work we will not be able to conclude if the re-opening of the station is viable.”
The station opened in 1871 but the line itself was operated by the St Helens And Runcorn Gap Railway in July 1852 as an extension to a network which gave access to Garston Docks.
Between 1960 and 1961 the station was rebuilt in a modern style to accommodate the electrification of the Crewe to Liverpool line.
The station was eventually left with an hourly electric service between Crewe and Liverpool and by the late 1980s most trains on the service had started to omit Ditton from their scheduled stops.
By the early 1990s only a couple of trains called at the station at peak times. It was known as Ditton Junction until 1993, and closed a year later.