The Canada Dock Branch is a 4-mile 59 chain long railway line in Liverpool, England. The line's route is from the large Edge Hill rail junction in the east of Liverpool to Seaforth Dock to the north. The line was originally built by the London and North Western Railway terminating at Canada Dock, with a later branch extension added to Alexandra Dock and links onto the MDHC railway lines. The line is not electrified.
History
The line opened in 1866 between Edge Hill and Canada Dock. Passenger trains ran on the line to Canada Dock from 1870. The initial stations were: Canada Dock, Walton & Anfield, Breck Road, Tue Brook, Stanley and Edge Lane. On 5 September 1881 a sub-branch to Alexandra Dock was opened from the main branch at Atlantic Junction. The branch was in a cutting to the south west of Kirkdale Station. This added the Alexandra Dock and Bootle Balliol Road stations to the line. A further station as added in 1882 at County Road named Spellow. On 1 May 1886 a junction with the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway was opened from the Alexandra Branch. By 31 May 1948 all the passenger stations on the line closed. The line continued to be used by regular Southport to Liverpool Lime Street services, which operated primarily to provide a convenient Southport connection to long haul mainline trains. The service was withdrawn in October 1977. A new Merseyrail underground station below the mainline Lime Street station gave access from Southport via the Merseyrail Northern Line and Wirral Line. A planned extension to Hornby and Gladstone Docks was abandoned in September 1973, however the extension was built and opened in September 1985 for the transport of grain and coal.
Today
The line is currently a freight-only diesel-traction line and is sometimes referred to as the Bootle Branch or Seaforth Container Terminal Branch providing the sole remaining rail connection to the Port of Liverpool. The Olive Mount chord at Edge Hill junction was re-opened in December 2008, approximately doubling the Canada Dock branch's throughput of freight from the Port of Liverpool to the West Coast Main Line. The reinstatement of the chord was essential for existing port operations, ready for the increase in freight when the Post-Panamax, Liverpool2 container terminal was completed at Seaforth Dock. The container terminal can berth the world's largest container ships, transporting up to 14,000 containers per ship. Biomass wood pellets are imported into Liverpool and delivered to the Drax power station in Yorkshire via the rail link. The service started in 2015 with four trains a day, each carrying 25 wagons containing approximately of biomass pellets. A thrice-weekly rail link between the Port of Liverpool and the Mossend terminal in Glasgow was set up in 2018. It is expected that each trip will consist of about 40 containers.
The future
Freight use
In May 2016 it was announced that the line's final section into the dock estate would be upgraded to double track from single track to increase capacity to the port. Combined with improved signalling at Earlestown, the improvements will enable up to 48 trains a day to enter the port. Work on the line is expected to be completed by 2019. Peel Ports announced in September 2017 that they were planning on linking the port to the national rail network with a new rail service. Home bargain store B&M Bargains have expressed an interest in the new rail service, claiming that they have already saved the equivalent of 4 million road miles by using the Port of Liverpool.
Passenger use
The Department for Transport's Rail electrification document of July 2009, states that the route to Liverpool Docks will be electrified. The Canada Dock Branch Line is the only line into the docks. From the document: The electrification of this branch line would greatly assist in recommissioning passenger trains, as costs would be reduced. The Route Utilisation Strategy document makes note of the benefits of dual-voltage Electric multiple unit trains, which can be utilised on both the third rail Merseyrail network and future electrified lines which are likely to use overhead wires. There is also a serious suggestion to introduce passenger services on this line in the Local Transport Plan for Merseyside. This was again mentioned in Merseytravel's 30-year plan of 2014. The October 2017 Liverpool City Region Combined Authority update to the Long Term Rail Strategy mentions the re-opening of the line to passenger use with new stations at Anfield, Tue Brook and Edge Lane. The expansion of Liverpool FC's Anfield stadium has led to repeated calls to open the line to passengers and the building of a station to serve the stadium and the Anfield area. It was announced in December 2019 that Liverpool City Council had commissioned a feasibility study to see about reopening the Canada Dock Branch to passenger traffic.
