THE arrival on platforms seven and eight at Lime Street was not before time.

Passengers can now enjoy the kind of luxury their peers in Manchester and London experience after the opening of £3.4m passenger lounges.

Maintenance group Network Rail, transport authority Merseytravel and train operator Virgin have worked on the new first and standard class passenger lounges for two years.

And when station manager Roy Greenhalgh introduced Network Rail route director Jo Kaye to officially open the lounges, he acknowledged the sacrifices that have gone into the facelift: "I would just like to say a thank you to all our passengers for putting up with so much disruption for the past two years."

The lounges, made from environmentally-friendly glulam timber beams covered in wood veneers, provide luxury passenger facilities as well as an information office, three shop units and cash machines relocated from the main concourse.

Ms Kaye said: "Much has changed for Liverpool on the station since its days as a wooden train shed in 1836.

"The city and railways are inextricably linked and it is good to see us continuing to develop facilities for passengers."

"Since Network Rail took over the running of the station in 2003 we have seen many improvements in facilities.

"I hope that passengers appreciate and continue to benefit from them for many years to come."