Southport railway station serves the town of Southport, Merseyside, England. The station is the terminal of the Southport branch of the Northern Line of the electric Merseyrail network and the diesel-operated Manchester-Southport Line. It is the fourth busiest station on the Merseyrail network. The station and services to Liverpool and are operated by Merseyrail, with Manchester services operated by Northern Trains. History The Liverpool line was originally built in 1848 by the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway to a temporary station at Eastbank Street, about half a mile short of the current terminus. The current station opened as Southport Chapel Street on 22 August 1851 and became the terminus for all trains in 1857, when passenger services were transferred from the adjacent . From 1882 the West Lancashire Railway to Preston Fishergate Hill operated from Southport Derby Road (later known as Southport Central) outside Chapel Street Station. In 1884, another line from Southport to Liverpool opened: the Cheshire Lines Committee's (CLC) North Liverpool Extension Line from Liverpool Central to Southport Lord Street. The West Lancashire Railway sponsored the Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway to provide a connection to the CLC line, joining it at . These lines ultimately proved uncompetitive, however, and the Southport services were withdrawn in January 1952. In July 1897, both the West Lancashire and the Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railways were absorbed into the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&Y). The L&Y had a large terminus at Southport Chapel Street and could see no sense in operating two termini at very close proximity. On 1 May 1901, the L&Y completed a remodelling of the approach lines to Southport Central to allow trains to divert onto the Manchester to Southport line and into Southport Chapel Street Station. Southport Central was closed to passengers, and it became a goods depot, eventually amalgamating with Chapel Street depot. It survived intact well into the 1970s. In 1904, the line from Liverpool was electrified by the L&YR, which also extended the third rail out as far as Crossens on the WLR line to Preston that year and out to in 1909. The Preston line was closed to passengers on 7 September 1964, although a small section to Hesketh Park station was used for freight until 1967. This line had its electric local services to Crossens and its through steam services withdrawn on consecutive days immediately before the official closure date