There is a similar oil depot spur - Ravenhead Sidings - to the south of St. Helens Central station serving the NSG Pilkington Watson Street site with fuel.

Over a number of years, usage of these facilities has become redundant, due to competition from piped natural gas and road tanker oil deliveries, however of 2016 Ravenhead sidings have seen use by trains delivering sand, one of the ingredients required for glass-making.

In December 2019, TransPennine Express launched services between Liverpool Lime Street & Glasgow Central which use this route calling at Liverpool Lime Street, St Helens Central, Wigan North Western, Preston & Continue along the West Coast Mainline These services are operated by class 397 5 car civity units, In January 2024, Northern Trains' Class 319 units were all retired and replaced with 3/4 car Class 331 units Daytime hours of operation Northern Trains: typically see 3 trains per hour each way between Liverpool and Wigan.

Last departures from Wigan and Liverpool vary depending on the day of the week and therefore a consultation of the current timetable is recommended prior to travel.

The St Helens 'box' takes responsibility for the middle section of the line, with the northern end controlled by Warrington PSB since the WCML was resignalled in 1973.

[5] As well as the electrification of the line, control will eventually pass to the new North-West Regional Operating Centre in Manchester,[6] as various areas are transferred over, any remaining signal boxes will then be decommissioned.

It provides passing tracks to allow for slow and fast traffic plus a remodelling of the Huyton Junction turnout towards Prescot in order to avoid substantial interaction with the Liverpool–Manchester line, which was previously the case.

Completion of the scheme was scheduled for 2014, but had to be split into two stages - Three-Tracking was opened on 14 July 2014, as it lies entirely within the existing boundaries of railway land.

The fourth track required requisition of a strip of land 260 yards (240 m) long from the BT Telephone Exchange site[7] together with part of Huyton Bus Station.

Electrification was originally scheduled to be accomplished by December 2014,[8] but due to delays the target was missed, however the line was eventually energised in March 2015.

The first public EMU service was the 06:00 Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan North Western and 07:03 return on 25 March 2015; this has run regularly since.

Additionally, considering currently-operated services; in conjunction with other infill electrification projects announced, this would allow electric trains to operate from Liverpool to St Helens, Wigan, Preston and Blackpool.

However, the current Network Rail electrification project would give fast electric train access from Wigan to Liverpool's high-level Lime Street railway station.

If the mothballed Edge Hill Spur project[broken anchor] were to be completed, it was thought trains from Wigan could access the stations in Liverpool city centre's underground section.

December 2008 is notable as it brought extensive changes to the then Northern Rail timetable, to fit in with new increased-frequency services from Virgin Trains.