It was built in 1858 as Rainford Junction at the junction of the Liverpool and Bury Railway, the East Lancashire Railway's Skelmersdale Branch and the St. Helens Railway, replacing an earlier station called Rainford. The main line and Skelmersdale branch were taken over by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1859, whilst the St Helens line became part of the London and North Western Railway in 1864. The former L&BR route was subsequently upgraded by the L&YR to become its main line between Liverpool and Manchester, carrying expresses to Manchester Victoria, and as well as local trains to Wigan Wallgate and until after the nationalisation of the railways in 1948 and well beyond. Services on the line to St Helens were withdrawn by the British Transport Commission on 18 June 1951 and to on 5 November 1956, although goods traffic survived on both until the early 1960s. Through trains from Liverpool Exchange to Bolton via Wigan continued until 1977, though the line from here westwards to had been reduced to single track operation in May 1970. After the closure of Exchange in May 1977, the line was severed at Kirkby, with through passengers having to change between diesel and electric services there to continue their journeys. The station signal box was retained to supervise the single line section to what was now the terminus of the branch – this remains in operation today and is now the only one left on the line. The station was renamed Rainford on 7 May 1973.
Facilities
Though the station had sizeable buildings on both platforms at one time, the last of these was demolished in the late 1990s. There are now just basic shelters in place on each side, along with a footbridge to connect them. The disused branch platform faces are still visible, but heavily overgrown. The station is unmanned and has no ticket facilities, so all tickets must be bought in advance or on the train. Train running information can be obtained by telephone or from timetable poster boards on each platform. Step-free access is available on both platforms via ramps from the nearby road.
Services
Trains operate to in one direction and to via and in the other, usually every hour. The last train of the day continues to and. There is no late evening service after 19:57 or on a Sunday. A normal service operates on most bank holidays.
