From next Monday, 22th August, Merseyrail trains from Green Lane and Bromborough Rake stations in the Wirral on the lines between Liverpool and Ellesmere Port and Liverpool and Chester will be reduced to a 30 minutes frequency, but all other stations on those routes will be unchanged.

Green Lane and Bromborough Rake have the lowest footfall on the lines. By reducing services from these stations, Merseyrail hopes that by eliminating stops on some services from those stations, the punctuality of services on the lines will be improved.

Earlier this year, Merseyrail increased services in February, increased services to a 15-minute frequency in May, and made other timetable changes in June, whilst earlier this month the company gave away thousands of gifts to its passengers to say sorry for recent problems with its services.

A more-frequent service of six trains per hour Monday to Saturday from 07:30 to19:00 will be available at other stations nearby. Alternatives to Bromborough Rake are stations at Bromborough or Spital, both 1km away, whilst alternatives to Green Lane are from Birkenhead Central 630m distant or Rock Ferry 1.2m distant.

For further information about the changes, passengers should speak to a member of station staff or visit the Merseyrail website at https://www.merseyrail.org/plan-your-journey/bromborough-rake-green-lane.aspx.

Andy Heath, Managing Director of Merseyrail, said:

“We know that customers on the Chester line have been affected by an increasing number of trains running semi-fast and therefore not calling at some stations as planned.

“We are making this change to our timetable to ensure that we can provide the most reliable service possible for our passengers on this part of the network. Making decisions like this is never easy and in doing so we have sought to inconvenience the smallest number of people possible, whilst considering the available nearby stations as an alternative option.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience this will cause. I would encourage those who may need a more frequent service to travel from one of the nearby stations which are not affected by this change.”