Barry Williams said he was concerned how the network would hold up when the city hosts UEFA 2028
Everton fans queuing at Sandhills after the pre-season friendly against Roma
Everton fans queuing at Sandhills after the pre-season friendly against Roma(Image: Liverpool Echo/Iain Watts)
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The chair of a group representing Evertonians has pushed back at suggestions the main train station near the club’s Hill Dickinson Stadium is “doing exactly what it should do.” Hours after Everton supporters were left stranded at the station following their Carabao Cup tie at Hill Dickinson Stadium, transport officials said they were pleased with how it has performed since the Blues relocated from Goodison Park last year.
Representatives from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Merseyrail, Liverpool Council and Everton FC appeared before the region’s transport committee earlier this week. On a normal matchday, around 20,000 passengers make their journey through Sandhills, the nearest stop on the Merseyrail network to the stadium on Regent Road.
At a meeting between Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Merseyrail, Liverpool Council and Everton FC on Wednesday, Simon Finnie, the combined authority's head of network performance, said while there was still work to do to improve performance, stakeholders had been heartened by how public transport had responded to the challenges of Everton’s relocation from L4.
However Barry Williams, chair of the EFC Fans’ Forum, said he wasn’t buying that rosy picture, based on testimony he’d heard from supporters.
Regarding Sandhills, Mr Finnie said work had been undertaken in phases to adapt to the increased use of the station including the implementation of the queuing area and footbridge.
The proposed extension of the space will be decided on by Liverpool Council’s planning committee next week.
Should it be approved, more than £6m will have been spent on upgrades to Sandhills to meet the demands of more fans using the station. He said collectively partners had “stepped up to that challenge.”
Barry said: “I was in the transport working group meetings last year and they seem to think it’s all going well. They think it clears after full time in 45 minutes and I’m not buying it.
“I don’t get the train purely because it’s chaos. I’d sooner walk half an hour and park somewhere.
Queues at Sandhills on Wednesday evening (Tony Scott)
Queues at Sandhills on Wednesday evening (Tony Scott)
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“With the greatest of respect, they’ve known for years the ground was getting built but they’ve done nothing about it. It’s madness, particularly during night games.
“Why don’t they have football only trains from Sandhills that go to (Liverpool) Central and spin round? I think most fans would support that.”
Mr Williams said even after a season at Hill Dickinson Stadium, supporters’ frustration at the main stop remained. He added: “After every game we get emails and people see us telling us the trains are the same.
“Towards the end of last season it did improve but we’re getting towards the colder weather now where they mess up and it’s going to get worse.” During the transport committee meeting, officials said Grand National services had proven easier to manage for the rail operator, something Mr Williams said was obvious.
He said: “What I’ve tried to say to them is, when Aintree is on, it’s only one line. We’ve said for months they need to put all the eight car trains on when the footie is on.
Some Everton fans make their way home via Sandhills Station
Some Everton fans make their way home via Sandhills Station(Image: Liverpool Echo)
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“In 18 months we’ve got the biggest UEFA event in the city and you look at London and Manchester and what they’ve got, we’ve got Merseyrail. They’re just not good enough.”
Dan Lamont, Merseyrail senior operations project manager, told the committee how the start to life of Evertonians using Sandhills more regularly was 'a challenge'. He added: “It was really difficult for ourselves in terms of the performance.”
Mr Lamont said 'in an ideal world' each service would offer eight cars to get passengers on board but capacity needs to be spread across the network and was something the organisation still hadn’t 'fully grasped'.
On 'most occasions' Mr Lamont said, the station is cleared within 45 minutes to an hour on matchdays, with an average wait of 10 minutes to get a train to Liverpool or 20 minutes elsewhere. He added: “Again, we’re still trying to get better but compared to where we were at the start of the year, I do believe we’re much better.
“Our apologies to the fans who had to go through us on that journey and hopefully they can see that we are getting better and we are trending in the right direction.”
Mo Maghazachi, on behalf of Everton FC, said the club chairs a transport working group bringing together all the relevant organisations to help ensure fans can get to and from matches at Hill Dickinson Stadium safely. He added: “Goodison has had probably 130 years worth of organic transport planning built around it over time.
“It also had transport improvements and infrastructure built around it over time. We are moving all of that, lock, stock and barrel to a brand new stadium and encouraging new transport habits to come off the back of that as well.
“Clearly there’s a drive across the board to drive people out of their vehicles and onto public transport and that was a central part of all of our transport planning from the off.”