Giant crane wheeled into place for revived railway link

May 7 2008 by Alan Weston, Liverpool Daily Post

A GIANT crane got into action as part of a £7.6m project to create a fast route into the Port of Liverpool.

The 13-metre Kirow crane, one of only five in the UK with a huge lifting capacity of up to 1,200 tonnes, laid the new tracks as part of the Olive Mount Chord project – a key freight link between the Port of Liverpool and the West Coast Main Line.

The scheme involves reopening a disused stretch of railway line, linking the Bootle line with the line to London and Manchester.

The line, about a quarter of a mile long, has been closed for 20 years.

Cllr Mark Dowd, chairman of Merseytravel and a former train driver himself, said: “This is a key phase of the works. The sheer size and scale of this crane has enabled us to progress these track works quickly.

“It will bring direct benefits to people living in Bootle and the dock route. We need to find ways to cut down the number of heavy vehicles passing through the town from the motorway junction at Switch Island and this scheme could help us achieve that.”

Neil Scales, chief executive and director general of Merseytravel, said: “Improving rail access to the Port of Liverpool will bring tremendous economic and environmental benefits to both Liverpool docks and Merseyside.

“It will create a fast route into the Port, allowing it to expand and create more employment and it will ease both congestion and pollution through the ability to transfer increased amounts of container cargo from road to rail.”

Merseytravel is contributing £5.6m to the project, which is also being supported by Network Rail, the Northwest Regional Development Agency, district councils and the European Regional Development Fund.

The contribution is one of Merseytravel’s largest during 2008.

It will help move freight in and out of the docks more quickly and ease road congestion, and will also remove the need for freight trains to reverse at Edge Hill, slashing rail times by cutting the need to cross lines into and out of Lime Street at Edge Hill.

It is hoped work could be completed by the end of this year.