Northern were appointed to deliver the scheme which had been earmarked for completion in 2023
Merseyrail has been brought in to finish work at a Liverpool train station that is two years late. In January, Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram put rail operator Northern “on notice” as he slammed “absolutely unacceptable” delays to deliver an accessibility scheme at Broadgreen train station.
A £1.2m scheme to make the site in L14 more user friendly for those with mobility constraints had been expected to be completed by the end of 2023.
Now, Merseyrail bosses have confirmed to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s transport committee they will be brought on to complete the work Northern had been tasked to do.
Jamie Ross, the city region’s director of transport, said the delays were “wholly unacceptable”. Earlier this year, Mr Rotheram said the delays on the project, led by Northern on behalf of the regional operator, were “absolutely appalling” and would sooner Merseytravel take control.
The Access for All (AfA) programme was launched by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006 to address the issues faced by passengers facing mobility constraints such as wheelchair access, heavy baggage, pushchairs, and cycles. The funding is used to create an obstacle free, accessible route from the station entrance to the platform.
The Liverpool City Region’s AfA programme, which included Broad Green and four other stations on the Merseyrail network was approved as a single project with a total £9.8m grant for the period April 2019 to March 31 2024. The four other sites were completed within the timescale.
Works planned for Broadgreen included the installation of two lifts on each platform. Northern, as the station operator, led on the project on behalf of Merseytravel.
Neil Grabham, Merseyrail managing director, said his team were now in place to complete the work. He said: “This is a Northern station and I’m aware of the challenges that have been there in terms of the programme of works for the lifts at Broadgreen.
“I’m pleased to say Merseyrail have been asked to step in and support Northern, we’ll be taking over responsibility for the delivery of those works.
“The works we’ve done for the installation of those lifts for the access for all scheme has been regarded as being an exemplar across the industry, so we offered to help and we’ve been taken up on that offer.
“We’ve now surveyed the work that is required and we’re in final conversations about getting started to sort out what needs to be done at Broadgreen.” At the start of the year, a financial completion date was earmarked for March 31, 2027.
Jamie Ross, Liverpool City Region director of transport said the delays were “wholly unacceptable for people using that station.” He said: “I think we’re all extremely disappointed with what’s happened at Broadgreen.
“Funding was provided to Northern and they should have completed the scheme by the end of 2023. The Mayor and the leaders are exceptionally frustrated by this and escalated it, and correspondence has gone to ministerial level in the Department for Transport.”
Northern were approached for comment.
