City rail network expansion plan set for go-ahead

Sep 11 2007 by Larry Neild, Liverpool Daily Post

THE first major expansion of Liverpool’s rail network for more than 30 years is expected to win approval from planners next week.

The reinstatement of the Olive Mount Chord in Wavertree is aimed at dramatically increasing the amount of freight carried from the Port of Liverpool by trains.

Currently, freight trains can load at the docks and use the Bootle branch line to reach the main line at Edge Hill.

But every train has to go through a complicated shunting arrangement to get on to the main Liverpool to Manchester line.

The building of a new single track, stretching for 2,500 ft, will give dock rail traffic direct access to the national rail network at Edge Hill, without the shunting operation.

The aim is to increase trains on the link to around 50 a day in each direction, taking thousands of lorries off the country’s motorway network.

The rail line was originally built in 1882, but was closed a century later following a sharp decline in freight traffic. But the route of the line, hidden in an 18ft deep cutting, has remained almost intact, though it is now heavily overgrown.

Transport groups have welcomed the proposal which has already won top priority in a Government-backed transport programme.

Planning manager Nigel Lee says the project would make a positive contribution to improving freight transport in the city without unduly hitting residential amenities.

Applicants Network Rail could carry out the re-instatement without seeking planning consent under existing railway acts. But the company said it wants to make a formal planning application.