Bache railway station

Bache
Location
Place	Bache
Local authority	Cheshire West and Chester
Grid reference	SJ405683
Operations
Station code	BAC
Managed by	Merseyrail
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	58,283
2005/06	60,430
2006/07	53,016
2007/08	88,074
2008/09	0.104 million
2009/10	0.188 million
2010/11	0.197 million
2011/12	0.192 million
2012/13	0.187 million
2013/14	0.321 million
2014/15	0.368 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Merseytravel
Zone	G2
History
Original company	British Rail
9 January 1984	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bache from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Bache railway station serves the Bache area of Upton in the north of the city of Chester, England. It is the first station for Merseyrail services leaving Chester on the Wirral Line. Passengers can alight here for the Countess of Chester Hospital which is close by, and regular bus services to Chester Zoo.

History

It opened in January 1984 by British Rail in conjunction with a new supermarket being developed by Safeway (now Morrisons) on the site of the former railway coalyard. The modern station has two small covered waiting areas, information boards, CCTV and a footbridge. The platforms are made out of concrete slabs that are laid on brick piles. A remotely operated public address system was installed in January 2012 together with automatic train departure indicators.

This station superseded Upton-by-Chester railway station which was sited 2,300 feet (700 m) to the north next to Liverpool Road roadbridge. The original station had two side platforms, a footbridge and a part-time manned ticket office. Today only the overgrown platforms remain: these can still be seen from trains travelling to and from Liverpool. The relocation of the station produced an immediate and dramatic uplift in the number of passengers using it.

Facilities

The station has platform CCTV, a 61-space car park and a cycle rack with 20 spaces.^[1] Each platform has a waiting shelter with seating. There are departure and arrival screens, on the platform, for passenger information. There is a payphone, next to the entrance, on platform 1.^[2] There is ramp access, to each platform, for passengers with wheelchairs or prams. However, cross-platform access, within the station, is by staircase only. Platform access has not been modernised to the standard of that at Hooton.

Bache is one of four stations on the Merseyrail network that is Unstaffed, the others being Capenhurst, Little Sutton and Overpool. Since Bache became part of the Merseyrail Penalty Fares Area, on 15 June 2009, intending passengers must purchase rail tickets (available to any destination on the UK rail network) from the ticket-vending machine, before boarding a train. This is located on the Liverpool-bound platform.

Services

Trains operate every 15 minutes during the working day from Monday to Saturday southwards towards Chester and northwards towards Liverpool Lime Street/Liverpool Central via Hooton, Rock Ferry and Birkenhead Central. Later in the evening and on Sundays the service is half-hourly. During the periods of quarter-hourly services alternate trains run through Capenhurst non-stop between Hooton and Bache in each direction.^[3] These services are all provided by Merseyrail's fleet of Class 507 and Class 508 EMUs.

Problems

Merseyrail leases Bache railway station car park from Morrisons Supermarket. Rail users' vehicles parked in the supermarket's own parking area because of lack of spaces in the designated Station Car Park are issued penalty tickets. Intending rail passengers who arrive to find the designated Station Car Park full and wish to avoid a penalty ticket as well as staff at and visitors to the nearby Countess of Chester Hospital are creating problems for local residents by leaving their vehicles in adjacent roads and streets.^[4]

Gallery

• 

  The pleasing landscape at the end of the platform.

• 

  Platforms and footbridge.

• 

  A view in the opposite direction.

• 

  A Merseyrail Class 507 at the station.

Notes

1. Bache train station facilities, Merseyrail Accessed 2014-01-30
2. Station Facilities for Bache Accessed 2014-01-30
3. "Wirral Line timetable" (PDF). Merseyrail. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
4. "Chester drivers caught out in parking by-law". www.chesterstandard.co.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2008.

References

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.

External links

• Train times and station information for Bache railway station from National Rail

• Station information for Bache railway station from Merseyrail
• Station on navigable O.S. map Bache south of marked Upton station

Coordinates: 53°12′29″N 2°53′29″W / 53.208°N 2.8914°W