THE FIRST stage of upgrades at Liverpool Lime Street station have been completed.

Part of an eight week programme to remodel station platforms and upgrade signalling, platforms 1 and 2 reopened on Monday, June 11 and will remain open until Friday, July 13.

By reopening these platforms, services have been able to run between Lime Street, Manchester Victoria and Wigan for connections to Preston, Blackpool, Yorkshire and the North East.

The work to overhaul the station began on June 2 and are on track to be completed by July 28.

This final phase of work is similar to the 23-day upgrade which was completed in autumn last year and will include a full and partial closure of lines into Lime Street to allow the remodelling of station platforms, bringing two new platforms into use and completing signalling upgrades.

Network Rail’s London North Western route managing director Martin Frobisher said: “The Liverpool Lime Street upgrade is an integral part of the Great North Rail Project, a team effort across the rail industry to transform train travel for customers across the North by 2020 through track and train improvements.

“While we’re sorry for short-term disruption we’d ask customers not to lose sight of the transformative improvements that the wider Great North Rail Project will bring by 2020.

“Lime Street station’s major upgrade will significantly boost capacity, enabling longer trains, with more passengers, running more reliably.”

Many mainline services will continue to start and terminate at Liverpool South Parkway.

Passengers will be able to access Merseyrail lines into the city centre from Liverpool South Parkway and rail replacement buses will be on hand.

Work will also take place on Sunday, September 2 to complete further key upgrades outside of the summer works.

Transport portfolio holder for Liverpool City Region Liam Robinson said: “We’re really pleased to see the first stage of the upgrade at Lime Street Station completed on time and would like to thank passengers for their patience and remind them to plan ahead before they travel, while the rest of the essential work takes place.”

Lime Street’s transformation is a key part of the £340m railway investment in the Liverpool City Region, which sits within the Great North Rail Project.

The upgrades will mean an extra three services can come in or out of Lime Street every hour including new direct services to Scotland.

Passengers are advised to continue to check the National Rail website before travelling at www.nationalrail.co.uk