Hillside railway station

For other uses, see Hillside railway station (disambiguation).

Hillside railway station serves the southern half of the Birkdale area of Southport, England. It is located on the Northern Line of the Southport branch of the Merseyrail network's.

Hillside
General information
Location	Birkdale, Sefton England
Coordinates	53.622°N 3.025°W / 53.622; -3.025
Grid reference	SD323144
Managed by	Merseyrail
Transit authority	Merseytravel
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	HIL
Fare zone	D1
Classification	DfT category E
History
Opened	May 1926
Passengers
2018/19	0.686 million
2019/20	0.761 million
2020/21	0.187 million
2021/22	0.475 million
2022/23	0.508 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

It is the closest station to the Royal Birkdale golf course, and is extremely busy when major events (such as the Open Championship) are held there.

History

Hillside opened in May 1926^[1] as an intermediate station on the ex-Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) after the 1923 grouping into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and long after the railway had originally opened in 1848. By this time, the area had developed into a sizable residential suburb of Southport.

Nationalisation followed in 1948 and in 1978 the station became part of the Merseyrail network's Northern Line (operated by British Rail until privatised in 1995).

Facilities

Safety and security features at this station include CCTV, an induction loop is installed, shelters and seats and a public telephone. There is no wheelchair access at this station, as the only access to the platforms is by stairs; the nearest stations with disabled access are Birkdale and Ainsdale. The ticket office is always staffed by at least one member of staff from before the start of train services until 00:30 each evening.^[2] There is cycle storage for 6 cycles and secure storage for 40 cycles.^[3]

Merseytravel announced in April 2019 that they had been successful in a bid for funding lifts being installed at the station under the Department for Transport's ‘Access for All’ programme. The lifts are expected to be installed at some point over the following five years.^[4] The lifts had their official opening on 21 October 2022.^[5]

Services

Trains operate every 15 minutes throughout the day from Monday to Saturday to Southport to the north, and to Hunts Cross via Liverpool Central to the south. Sunday services are every 30 minutes in each direction.^[6]

Gallery

• 
  The station ticket office, viewed from the road.
• 
  The waiting room on the Southport-bound platform.
• 
  The booking office and footbridge, viewed from the platform.
• 
  A Merseyrail Class 507 waits at the station.

References

1. Gell, Rob (1986). An Illustrated Survey of Railway Stations between Southport & Liverpool 1848–1986. Crosby: Heyday Publishing Company. ISBN 0-947562-04-4.
2. Hillside station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 13 December 2016
3. "Hillside train station | timetable | ticket prices & facilities". www.merseyrail.org. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
4. McDonough, Tony (5 April 2019). "Merseytravel secures funding for passenger lifts at six Merseyrail stations". Liverpool Business News. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
5. "Rail users set to benefit as Hillside becomes latest station to go step-free". Merseytravel. 21 October 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
6. Table 82 National Rail timetable, May 2023

External links

• Train times and station information for Hillside railway station from National Rail
• Station information for Hillside railway station from Merseyrail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Birkdale towards Southport		Merseyrail Northern Line|Southport - Hunts Cross		Ainsdale towards Hunts Cross