Rock Ferry station first opened on 31 October 1862 replacing
Rock Lane on the
Chester and Birkenhead Railway. In 1891 it became an interchange as the terminus of the largely underground urban
Mersey Railway line from Liverpool via the Mersey Railway Tunnel, when the line extended south from its previous terminus at
Green Lane station. The Mersey Railway was converted to electric train services from steam in 1903. The station was also a through stop and interchange on the
Chester to
Birkenhead Woodside terminal station non-electric line giving connections to the Mersey Railway. Until 1967 Rock Ferry was the first stop out of Birkenhead Woodside on the former GWR main line from Birkenhead Woodside to
London Paddington station. All long-distance services called at Rock Ferry to give interchange connections with the Mersey railway for Liverpool bound passengers. From 1967 with the closure of Birkenhead Woodside station the Rock Ferry station became a 100% terminus and interchange station for electric services from the north from Liverpool's city centre and diesel trains services from the south from
Chester and
Helsby. The electric services to Liverpool were integrated into the
Merseyrail urban network in the 1970s becoming the
Wirral Line. In 1985 the Merseyrail Wirral Line was extended to Hooton, Chester and Ellesmere Port from Rock Ferry with the station becoming fully integrated into the Merseyrail urban network. This integration transformed Rock Ferry into a through-station. The first Merseyrail section extension was to
Hooton in 1985, then to
Chester in 1993 and finally
Ellesmere Port in 1994. The section of line from Ellesmere Port to Helsby was not electrified with the line having only a 'Parliamentary' service. Recent refurbishment work to the station has included the restoration of a building on the island platform and installation of a fully accessible toilet and waiting room. The booking hall and entrance have also benefited from improved security and lighting. The old Merseyrail terminating tracks are now used as stabling sidings with the platforms only having one or two passenger services to Liverpool starting in the early in the morning. Platform 3 is only used once a day from Monday to Saturday before 0600 and Platform 4 is used twice before 0800 on Sundays. ==Facilities==