THE NEXT phase of a £40m programme to improve the five underground stations on the Merseyrail network gets under way at the weekend.

Platform One of Liverpool James Street station will re-open to Wirral Line passengers on January 7, after being closed for four months to allow refurbishment works to be carried out.

The upgrade to the platform and passageway areas includes renewed ceiling and wall cladding, new lighting and seating throughout, and new flooring tiles.

Work will now transfer to James Street’s Platform Three, which will be closed from January 6 to April 22.

Platform Three is used for outbound Wirral Line services, which means passengers will have to use Moorfields, Lime Street, or Liverpool Central underground stations for the duration of the works.

Alternatively, they can board the train at the newly refurbished Platform One at James Street and travel around the loop, adding an extra seven minutes to their journey.

On Sunday, January 6, there will be no trains running into Liverpool on the Wirral Line.

Services will run as far as Birkenhead North and Birkenhead Central, where replacement buses will carry passengers to Liverpool.

James Street is the second Merseyrail underground station to be refurbished, after Liverpool Central was fully re-opened in October.

Merseyrail managing director, Maarten Spaargaren, said: “Now Liverpool Central is complete, it’s great to see that Platform One at James Street will also re-open on schedule.

“We are confident that this refurbishment will help to improve our customers’ day to day experience when travelling with us.”