Services

The main station is currently served by five train operating companies serving a wide variety of destinations, but the service has been much reduced in recent times. For example it is no longer possible to travel directly to Edinburgh, Plymouth and Cardiff without changing trains. Services out of Lime Street (at February 2010) are as follows:

East Midlands Trains East Midlands Trains operate an hourly service to Norwich via Warrington, Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham. Late afternoon and evening services terminate at Nottingham.

First TransPennine Express First TransPennine Express operate an hourly service to Scarborough via Warrington, Manchester, Leeds and York. There are also daily services to Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Hull. Evening services will run to York only.

London Midland London Midland operate a half hourly service to Birmingham New Street via Runcorn, Crewe, Stafford and Wolverhampton. Late services terminate at Crewe.

Northern Rail Northern Rail are the main train operating company out of Lime Street, and run the ticket office. Services include: *Half hourly service to Manchester Oxford Road (via Warrington Central) *Hourly service to Blackpool North (via Preston) *Half hourly service to Wigan North Western (via Huyton) *Hourly service to Stalybridge (via Manchester Victoria) *Hourly service to Manchester Airport (via Newton-le-Willows) *Hourly service to Warrington Bank Quay (via Earlestown) *Also peak services run to Huddersfield and Preston

Virgin Trains Virgin Trains operate an hourly Pendolino service to London Euston via Runcorn and Stafford (some peak services also call at Crewe, Lichfield Trent Valley, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Rugby, Milton Keynes Central and Watford Junction).

Merseyrail The underground station is situated on the Wirral Line of the Merseyrail network, which has services to New Brighton, West Kirby, Ellesmere Port and Chester. To reach destinations on the Northern Line of the network, passengers must either use the Wirral Line or walk the short distance to Liverpool Central station.

Future services

Renaissance Trains have proposed a twice-daily service from Lime Street to Glasgow Central, with weekend trains running instead from Blackpool to Glasgow. As of 2009, the company is attempting to negotiate train paths with Network Rail.

Proposals to upgrade the Halton Curve have been considered by, among others, Merseytravel and the North Cheshire Rail User's Group. This would provide a second rail route between Liverpool and Chester, and would permit the introduction of new direct services from Liverpool to North Wales.

Withdrawn services

Certain direct trains to and from Liverpool Lime Street station have been withdrawn since 2000. These include the following services:

Wales and West services to Cardiff and Milford Haven via the Welsh Marches.

Virgin Trains Crosscountry services to Edinburgh, Poole, Weymouth, London Paddington, Portsmouth and Plymouth.

First North Western services to Chester via Warrington Bank Quay.

Central Trains services to Cambridge and Stansted Airport.

In addition, former British Rail services to Scotland, North Wales, Bradford, Harwich and Leicester no longer operate.