Halton

Halton Curve (now formally known as the Frodsham Single Line) is a short bi-directional railway line which links the Chester–Warrington line to the Weaver Junction–Liverpool line within the borough of Halton, Cheshire.

Halton Curve (now formally known as the Frodsham Single Line) is a short bi-directional railway line which links the Chester–Warrington line to the Weaver Junction–Liverpool line within the borough of Halton, Cheshire. The route, which is 1 mile 54 chains (2.7 km) long, is between Frodsham Junction (north of Frodsham) and Halton Junction (south of Runcorn). After having no regular services for more than four decades, the line has been upgraded and reopened by Network Rail for hourly passenger trains between Chester and Liverpool.

The route, which was opened by the London and North Western Railway on 1 May 1873, created a direct link between the industries in North Wales and the factories of south Lancashire and the Port of Liverpool. Passenger services also used the route. However, the Great Depression in the 1930s began the steady decline in heavy industry and manufacturing in southern Lancashire. Although the route escaped the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, all passenger services were withdrawn by the mid 1970s. The double-tracked line was reduced to a single track in the early 1990s. A concerted campaign was launched to improve services on the line after it was nearly closed by Network Rail in the early 2000s.

In 2014 work began to upgrade the line so that it could be reopened for daily rail services. In May 2019, the first regular passenger trains restarted betweenLiverpool Lime Street and Chester via Liverpool South Parkway, Runcorn, Frodsham and Helsby.

The LNWR built the Halton Curve to create a connection with the line from Chester to Frodsham that was built by the Birkenhead Joint Railway partnership. The double-tracked branch was built to link the mineral industries of North East Wales with the commercial and industrial areas of south Lancashire. Passenger services would also operate between Chester, Runcorn and Liverpool Lime Street. By the 1960s services using the curve had greatly reduced. In the early 1970s, the track was nearly abandoned when the M56 motorway was built as the route cut through the curve. However, a concrete and steel Bowstring arch truss bridge was built to keep the curve open.On 5 May 1975 the local passenger service was withdrawn from the line. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the line was used by a scheduled summer Saturdays-only return service between Liverpool Lime Street and Llandudno. But this ended when the double track was reduced to a single track in 1994 following the privatisation of British Rail. At the same time, the associated double points and diamond crossings for southbound trains were removed from both junctions. Only northbound trains (Frodsham ? Runcorn) were able to use the line; it was re-classed as a single-line working. Railtrack's decision was based on reducing maintenance costs and, by removing the crossings and points on the Weaver Junction–Liverpool line, increase through-train speeds between Liverpool Lime Street and Crewe.

To avoid the expense and inconvenience of a statutory closure process of the Halton Curve, an early morning parliamentary train operated in the summer months every Saturday. Other services would include occasional freight, engineers trains and charter specials that did not require going via Crewe. Occasionally traffic between Liverpool and Crewe would also be diverted via the Halton Curve when the main line via Winsford was closed for engineering work. The Royal Train has used the branch line when Queen Elizabeth II has visited Liverpool.Network Rail took over the ownership and management of the curve in 2002. The maximum speed on the line was 40 mph (64 km/h). Traffic using the Frodsham Junction was limited to 20 mph (32 km/h). This same speed limit applied to trains rejoining the 90 mph (140 km/h) West Coast Main Line near Runcorn. Signalboxes at Frodsham and Manchester continue to control the junctions at their respective ends of the curve.

The only timetabled service on the line was a summer-only parliamentary train: 07:53 Chester to Runcorn (2F80) operated by Northern. The service, which was non-stop between Chester and Runcorn, was only on certain Saturdays during the summer until September. A Class 150 or Class 156 two-carriage diesel multiple unit was used.

Due to the rarity of rail traffic using the Halton Curve, the parliamentary train became a popular service among local people and railway enthusiasts.