Transport
St Helens is located right at the heart of an extensive transport network.
Road
Nestled at the heart of the regional motorway network, St Helens has quick and easy access to the rest of the UK via the M62 in the south of the borough, the M6 to the east and the East Lancs road and the M58 to the north.
Rail
Rail links are exceptional. Frequent, direct services to London are available with a travel time of approximately two hours. Direct routes to Manchester and Liverpool in about 20 minutes and Birmingham in about one hour 15 minutes.
The Trans-Pennine rail line runs from west to east across the borough and the West Coast Mainline runs from south to north.
There are also talks concerning the proposed High Speed 2 (HS2) network linking up to St Helens and due to be open by 2033.
Air
St Helens is well located to both Manchester Airport (the busiest airport in the UK outside London) and Liverpool John Lennon Airport, linking the area to the rest of the world. Both are about 20 minutes from the borough.
Water
Within 20 minutes of the new deep water berth at Liverpool 2, the Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal, which handle more than 40 million tonnes of cargo and 15,000 ship movements a year, is also a boon for businesses transporting goods around the region.
Digital connectivity
St Helens Council worked with BT as part of the Merseyside Connected project to increase provision of high speed broadband across the area.
Over 96% of business premises are now able to access the improved service, with businesses benefitting from download speeds up to 80Mbps, and some buildings able to provide download speeds of 1Gbps. Work is continuing to ensure that employment areas across the borough will all benefit from the investment in the infrastructure.
