Aintree
General information
Location	Aintree,Sefton England
Coordinates	53°28′26″N2°57′23″W / 53.4740°N 2.9563°W /53.4740; -2.9563
Grid reference	SJ366978
Managed by	Merseyrail
Transit authority	Merseytravel
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	AIN
Fare zone	C1/C3
Classification	DfT category E
Key dates
2 April 1849	Opened
?	Renamed Aintree Sefton Arms
6 May 1968	Renamed Aintree
Passengers
2019/20	1.295 million
2020/21	0.302 million
2021/22	0.726 million
2022/23	0.842 million
2023/24	0.909 million
Notes Passenger statistics from theOffice of Rail and Road

v t e Railway stations around Aintree
Legend
Southport & Cheshire Lines Extension Railway Northern line toOrmskirk Sefton and Maghull Old Roan Aintree Central Aintree (Sefton Arms) Northern line toKirkby Ford Aintree Racecourse North Mersey Branch toBootle Fazakerley Northern line toLiverpool Orrell Park Warbreck Northern line toLiverpool North Liverpool Extension Line

Aintree railway station is arailway station that serves the village ofAintree,Merseyside,England. It is on theOrmskirk branch of theMerseyrail network'sNorthern Line. Until 1968 it was known as Aintree Sefton Arms after a nearby public house. The station's design reflects that it is the closest station toAintree Racecourse, where the annualGrand National horse race takes place.

Opened by theEast Lancashire Railway in April 1849, then taken over by theLancashire and Yorkshire Railway ten years later, it became part of theLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway during theGrouping of 1923. The line then passed on to theLondon Midland Region of British Railways onnationalisation in 1948.

The L&YRelectrified both routes fromLiverpool Exchange in 1906 (two years after a successful trial of the system on the neighbouring line toSouthport),^[1] extending it subsequently as far asOrmskirk by 1913. The western end of theNorth Mersey Branch fromGladstone Dock & Bootle (which had opened in 1866 and joined the main line immediately south of the station) was also equipped with the third rail in 1914, though Gladstone Dock station only remained open for passenger trains until July 1924. Services henceforth ran toBootle Oriel Road and on to Exchange until they were withdrawn by theBritish Transport Commission on 2 April 1951.^[2] The main line via Walton was also used by longer distance local & express trains from Exchange toPreston,Blackpool, Scotland and East Lancashire in addition to the intensive electric commuter service and some of these also stopped at Aintree, especially when the nearby race course hosted the famousGrand National meeting.

The Ormskirk line was not included in the list of routes to be closed in the 1963Beeching Report (unlike the other two routes from Liverpool Exchange), but the route was subsequently reviewed by BR and reprieved in 1966.^[1] This came at some cost though, as all through trains between Liverpool, Preston and East Lancashire were to be either re-routed viaWigan North Western toLiverpool Lime Street or withdrawn altogether. These alterations were mainly carried out in 1969, with all through running beyond Ormskirk ceasing from 4 May 1970.^[1] Exchange then closed to passengers on 30 April 1977,^[1] with services henceforth being integrated into the Merseyrail Northern Line and running via the new Link tunnel to Liverpool Central from the following Monday (2 May).

The North Mersey line lost its connection into the docks in 1971, though it remained in use to serve a permanent way depot atFazakerley until 1987 and for periodic engineers trains to/from Bootle & Edge Hill thereafter. It has seen no traffic since 2005, but Merseytravel has long-term ambitions to reopen it to passenger trains (as stated in the Liverpool City Region Long Term Rail Strategy published in 2014^[3]).

WhenSectorisation was introduced, the station was served byRegional Railways on behalf of theMerseyside PTE until thePrivatisation of British Railways.

The station is staffed throughout the day, with the ticket office open from the beginning of timetabled service until 00:10 each evening (seven days per week). A waiting room and food/drink vending machines are provided in the main building, along with shelters on both sides. Train running information is offered by automated announcements, digital display screens and timetable posters. Step-free access is available to both platforms (via the ramped footbridge for northbound trains).^[4] There is car parking for 104 vehicles and secure cycle storage for 32 bikes.^[5]

On Mondays to Saturdays, trains run every 15 minutes towardsLiverpool Central and every 15 minutes towardsOrmskirk. On race days, the trains have 6 carriages (two trains coupled together). During the Grand National meeting, additional trains run to the station from Liverpool city centre. Connections for stations to Preston are available at Ormskirk.

In the evening and on Sundays, trains call every 30 minutes in each direction.^[6]

• 
  AnLMS 630v EMU approaching in 1959.
• 
  The view south along the Liverpool-bound platform.
• 
  The station building viewed from the car park.
• 
  A MerseyrailClass 507 departs with a service.

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 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 978-1-85260-508-7.OCLC 60251199.OL 11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (2000).Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers.ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1.OCLC 228266687.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAintree railway station.

• Train times andstation information for Aintree railway station fromNational Rail
• Station information for Aintree railway station from Merseyrail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Old Roan towardsOrmskirk		Merseyrail Northern Line		Orrell Park towardsLiverpool Central
	Disused railways
Terminus		Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway North Mersey Branch		Ford

• Railway stations in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton
• DfT Category E stations
• Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations
• Railway stations served by Merseyrail
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1849

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2018
• Use British English from March 2018
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Articles with OS grid coordinates
• Pages with no open date in Infobox station
• Commons category link is on Wikidata