Wirral line

The Wirral line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern line. The Wirral line connects Liverpool to the Wirral Peninsula via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, with branches to New Brighton, West Kirby, Chester and Ellesmere Port. Beneath Liverpool, the line follows a clockwise circular route in a single-track tunnel called the Loop, built in the early 1970s. The Wirral line has carried its present name since the opening of the Merseyrail network by Queen Elizabeth II on 25 October 1978, during the British Rail period. The Wirral line is fully electrified with a DC third rail, and has existed in its current form since May 1994 with the start of electric services to . A total of 34 stations are served, with connections available to mainline services at and . The line also connects with the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network at and . The Wirral line was not originally conceived as a single route, but uses several railway lines built by individual private railway companies. Even after the Grouping Act of 1921, three of the Big Four companies were active on the Wirral Peninsula until the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, when all four were absorbed into British Railways. During the 1970s, under British Rail, the Merseyrail network was developed. privatisation during the 1990s has resulted in services once again being run by private operators. Chester and Birkenhead Railway and Birkenhead Railway Part of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway forms the oldest section of today's Wirral line. The route between the two settlements was surveyed by George Stephenson in 1830, but the railway company itself was not incorporated until 12 July 1837, after a previous bill had been rejected a few months earlier. Between 1830 and 1837, an alternative route was surveyed by Francis Giles, but Stephenson's plans were favoured. Construction work started in May 1838 and was allocated to three different contractors.