Green light for revived rail link to Mersey docks

Oct 30 2007 Rob Merrick Liverpool Daily Post

A VITAL £7.6m project to provide a direct rail link between Liverpool docks and the UK’s main rail network is to go-ahead.

The Department for Transport (DfT) yesterday announced a £1.7m grant to help restore the track at Olive Mount Chord and enhance the gauge on two key rail routes.

The money plugs the missing link in a complicated funding package also involving Merseytravel, port owner Peel Holdings, Network Rail and the regional development agency.

And it means Merseytravel can press ahead with plans to begin work later this year and complete the scheme by the end of 2008.

The project is crucial to prevent freight trains having to reverse across passenger lines at Edge Hill to enter or leave the docks, a procedure that takes 40 minutes.

Bringing Olive Mount Chord back into use will raise the strict 21-a-day limit on trains in and out of Seaforth, a limit the port is within about one year of hitting.

At the moment, rail traffic from the Port of Liverpool heads along the Seaforth dock line to Edge Hill, where trains have to head back towards Liverpool and into a siding before reversing back onto the main line.

By restoring the Olive Mount Chord close to Wavertree Technology Park station, trains will reach the main line directly.

Cllr Mark Dowd, Merseytravel’s chairman, said: “This is excellent news, which will enable us to invest in gauge enhancements on in all routes into the docks.

“The ports are key economic engines for Merseyside and Olive Mount Chord will be a vital artery to the ports.

“It will allow us to shift huge amounts of freight from road to rail, while supporting the continued economic success of the sub- region.”

Last night, the DfT announced that Rosie Winterton, a transport minister, will see for herself the need for the scheme when she visits the Port of Liverpool today. (Tues)

Ms Winterton said: “This funding underlines the Government’s commitment to improving the rail freight network across the country, as well as supporting the growth of the Port of Liverpool.

“Importantly, passenger services will also benefit as these infrastructure improvements are expected to improve reliability.”

Olive Mount Chord, which is just 300 metres long, was closed in the 1970s, when the Port of Liverpool – and rail travel – were both in sharp decline.

Last year, the Daily Post revealed that Network Rail, Merseytravel and the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC) were all increasingly alarmed by delays.

The Port of Liverpool package has been put together by Network Rail (£3.82m) the regional development agencies (£3.6m), Merseytravel (£2m) and Peel Holdings (£0.75m)

The DfT’s £1.7m grant is a small slice of £132m for rail improvements into ports announced by the department yesterday.

Much bigger grants will go to Felixstowe, in Suffolk, (£80m), Southampton (£43m) and the Humber (£8m)

In total, the schemes will take around 300,000 lorry journeys off British roads every year, the DfT said.