Liverpool Central Railway Station

mrsmollyc

05 Mar 2026

Busy station in central Liverpool

3

3

Date of visit: November 2025

I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.

I use or have experience of: disabled toilet, wheelchair

Overall Rating

Average

This station is on both the Wirral and Northern Lines so you are able to get trains to most stops on the metro system. The main entrance is located inside a shopping centre. As you enter there are automatic ticket barriers which open when you tap or insert a valid ticket; this includes a wider gate. Inside the ticket halls there were some shops, a cycle storage area and a travel centre for tickets. Once you passed through the ticket barriers there were different pathways for the Wirral and Northern platforms. There was a lot of seating available before you started to descend to the platform levels. There was also an accessible toilet at this level and a water refill station. I found the accessible toilet wasn't very nice. The signage directed you to the lift which then had one level for the Northern line and one for the Wirral line. I found the signage at this station seemed to have poorer colour contrast than what I had seen at other metro stations. The metro train had a sliding-step that bridged the gap between the train and the platform. This meant I could board the train without any need for assistance or a ramp.

Disabled Access In and Around

Good

The main entrance for the station is through a shopping centre and the path is all very smooth and level with no doors to navigate. Inside the ticket hall there were some shops and a travel centre for any tickets or other enquiries. There are ticket barriers that you need to pass through in order to reach the platforms. These ticket barriers were all automatic via swiping or inserting a ticket, including a wider gate. Through the ticket barriers there is an accessible toilet, a water refill station, lots of seating and a lift to the platforms. The lift was on the smaller side but it still had a fair amount of room. I was able to get in there comfortably with a power attachment on the front of my chair and there would have been room for a couple of people standing as well. The lift had grab rails and the buttons were tactile and also had Braille. This station is ranked ‘A’ on the step-free rating scale for Liverpool’s metro system. This means there is step-free access to all the platforms. I found some of the signage in this station had poorer colour contrast than a lot of the signage I had seen in the metro stations. A lot of it was yellow or white text on dark grey backgrounds or dark grey text on yellow backgrounds. However, some of the signage at this station was white on a light grey background or white within a coloured text box. The platforms had seating spaced up and down them. These seats had backrests and armrests. The platform edge was marked with tactile markers and a painted yellow line. The trains themselves were really great. They stopped level with the platform and a sliding-step came out from below the doors to bridge the gap between the train and the platform. This meant I could get on and off without assistance or a ramp. On the train itself there was a wheelchair space which was marked with a yellow box on the floor with a dark wheelchair symbol in the centre of it. This was a large space, alongside other seats, for a wheelchair to park up. There were two more seats at the end of the space for people travelling together. These seats also folded up in case more space was needed. Alongside the space was an emergency call button and speaker, a plug socket, two USB-A ports, and a small shelf with drinks spots. I thought this space had been really well designed as a wheelchair user myself. I also thought it would work well for others too, for example, someone with an assistance dog that needs a safe space in front of them for them to sit, someone who needs additional leg room, someone with a walker or walking sticks that would need a seat but also space for their aids, and lots more. I also really liked that the space wasn’t isolated from the other seats.

Accessible facilities: Lift to all areas, Step-free entrance, Seating at regular intervals, Step-free access to most areas

Parking & Transport

Good

I travelled to this place by train

This station is on both the Northern and Wirral lines so there are a number of different services available. Frequent services include trains to Chester, Southport, Headbolt Lane, New Brighton, Ormskirk, West Kirby, and Hunts Cross. There are three bus stops that are just over 200 metres from the station, on Newington. From these stops you can get the following services: 75, 82, 86, 86A, 86C, 500, and N1. This station is 400 metres away from Liverpool Lime Street Railway Station. There is no dedicated parking for the station. The ParkBee Liverpool Central Village car park is 320 metres from the station. This is a paid car park which has a height restriction of 2.1 metres. According to their website, the car park is wheelchair accessible but it isn’t clear how many accessible parking spaces it might have.

Accessible Toilets

Poor

There was an accessible toilet available at the station. It was on the same level as the main entrance but you did need to go through the ticket barriers to reach it. So you wouldn’t be able to use it without having a ticket. The toilet door opened outwards but it was incredibly heavy and awkward to manage on my own. I struggled quite a bit to get both in and out of it. It didn’t need a RADAR key to enter. It had a grab rail to open it from the outside and another grab rail inside to push it open. The lock was a large handle that turned into a vertical position. It was easy to use and could definitely be used with a fist or elbow. The toilet room was quite large, however, it was really dirty, smelly and seemed badly maintained. So much so, I decided against using this toilet and went elsewhere. In terms of space, there was a large amount of space for a right-side transfer. There was a large bin on the edge of the space but I don’t think it was obstructing the transfer space much. There was a height-adjustable grab rail on one side of the toilet and a horizontal grab rail mounted directly behind the toilet and these were quite old and rusted. There were then two more grab rails that seemed newer that had been placed on either side of the toilet. A large roll of toilet paper had just been balanced on one of the grab rails as there was no toilet paper dispenser. The flush was an automatic sensor and it was mounted on the wall behind the toilet. It was placed on the same side as the transfer area so you did not have to reach across the toilet to use it. In front of the toilet, was a small sink with a tap on the right-hand side. The tap was automatic with movement sensors detecting when to turn the tap on. Above the sink was a manual soap dispenser and vertical grab rails were placed on either side of the sink. To the left of the sink was an automatic hand dryer. On the wall opposite the sink was a really large mirror. There was no emergency cord in this toilet.

Facilities: Accessible toilet

Staff

I didn’t interact with any station staff here. One thing I did appreciate was that every metro train had a member of staff on it that was monitoring people getting on and off the train. So there was always someone available if someone needed something.