Waterloo Tunnel

The Waterloo Tunnel in Liverpool, England, is a former railway tunnel, 852 yd (779 m) long, which opened in 1849. Its western end was at 53.414829, -2.994385, underneath Pall Mall. From here the line continued under Great Howard Street to Waterloo Goods railway station, now the site of a Costco, after 1895 continuing beyond to Liverpool Riverside railway station, and onto the dock railway system. The eastern end opens into a short (69 yd (63 m)) cutting, four tracks wide between Byrom Street and Fontenoy Street, which connects to the Victoria Tunnel, which emerges at Edge Hill station. It is effectively one long tunnel from Edge Hill to Liverpool Waterloo Dock with two names along its route. The tunnels were given two different names because initially trains in the Victoria Tunnel were cable hauled and in the Waterloo Tunnel locomotive hauled. Both tunnels closed on 19 November 1972.

In October 2009 it was confirmed that the Byrom Street cutting was a hitching and unhitching point for trains being cable hauled to Edge Hill via the Victoria Tunnel. Shunting locomotives took trains from The Waterloo Good Station to the cutting to be hitched onto the cable. The Cutting was also a water and fuelling point for shunters. After 1895 cable hauling ceased and locomotives pulled trains the whole length of the Victoria and Waterloo tunnels. Byrom Street Cutting became a runaway catch point for runaway trains in the tunnel. Byrom Street cutting was never a passenger station. The Victoria and Waterloo tunnels were cleared of debris and reflectors placed on the roof after a survey of the tunnels.

In May 2007 it was reported that chief executive of Merseytravel, Neil Scales, had prepared a report outlining the possibilities for reuse of the Victoria/Waterloo and Wapping tunnels. Merseytravel safeguard the tunnel for future use.