Railway 300
Liverpool’s cabinet member for culture and tourism, Wendy Simon, said: “I hope they make every effort to make sure it is finished on time so as many people can get in and out of the city as effectively as possible. If not, we will look at what we can put in place to help with that.”
Local transport authority Merseytravel has long hoped for Full Local Decision Making (FLDM), also known as Vertical Integration, which would allow them to take over full control of the electrified network, including the track.
The authority believes it could reduce disruptive periods of maintenance by carrying it out constantly, rather than in big stretches.
But the idea has always been resisted by Network Rail.
Mr Boersma said it was difficult to know if it would work better.
“It’s impossible to say. When you have an infrastructure like roads or rail, maintenance will always be needed to keep them in tip-top condition.”
Network Rail was unavailable to comment last night.
