Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has offered an update on the potential for additional rail services to coincide with Everton’s first Premier League fixture at their new home on the waterfront.
It was announced on Wednesday (June 18) that the Blues will face Brighton & Hove Albion in their first competitive fixture at their new 52,888-capacity Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, August 23.
The Seagulls also provided the opposition for the Blues’ first game of their historic final season at Goodison Park last year. The fixture, which will be the second men’s first team game at the Bramley-Moore Dock ground, will also be played during International Beatleweek.
The event welcomes thousands of Beatles fans from across the world to celebrate the city’s most famous band. Dozens of musical acts are expected to play in the city at the historic Cavern Club – where it all began for John, Paul, George and Ringo – and beyond.
A general view taken with a drone of Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.placeholder image
A general view taken with a drone of Everton Stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. | Mark Seddon/Everton FC
The impact on rail services was put to Mr Rotheram as he joined a BBC Radio Merseyside phone-in this afternoon. The Metro Mayor was asked if more services could be put on for the Toffees’ first home league game at the new stadium amid an expected increase in demand on the Merseyrail network.
He said the solution wasn’t as simple as adding more trains onto the network. Mr Rotheram said: “For any major event in Liverpool we have a transport working group and they’ll be looking at the potential for more services.
“This is the complex thing about getting the £1.6bn (transport investment). What it doesn’t put right, for instance, is the signalling that we currently have on the Merseyrail network.
“For us, because it’s analogue, you have to have this thing called headway, basically the distance between trains, because it’s analogue we can’t squeeze anymore trains on a congested network. The only way we can do that is by changing the signals and they are changing to a digital signalling system.
Queueing barriers at Sandhills station ahead of Everton Stadium test events.placeholder image
Queueing barriers at Sandhills station ahead of Everton Stadium test events. | X / @LCRMayor
Read More
“The day after the comprehensive spending review, I went to Waterloo to meet with Network Rail about our transport system. We can buy more trains with the £1.6bn but we can’t put more capacity on to the rails.
“Even if we had those trains today, we can’t run 10 minute services on all of the lines.” Mr Rotheram said a meeting had been convened with Merseyrail, Stadler – the train operator – and Network Rail about developing services in the next two weeks.
The LDRS understands representatives from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Everton Football Club has met with fans regarding transport issues ahead of the final test event for Hill Dickinson Stadium on August 9.
Continue Reading