MERSEYSIDE?S transport chiefs were celebrating last night after finally securing top-level support for a huge overhaul of the city's overcrowded Central Station.
The Government rejected a bid for just ?12m to re-fit the station in October, because Network Rail (NR) refused to back the plans.
But now NR has set out a three-part strategy for the rail hub. It will see either a new platform built or Central decamping to an entirely new station at a cost of ?hundreds of millions of pounds?.
Passengers will also see more seats with longer trains.
And the entire Merseyrail fleet will be replaced over the next five years, under plans published by NR.
The number of off-peak trains between Liverpool and Chester is set to double and a new route to Skelmersdale has been mooted.
Merseytravel chairman Cllr Mark Dowd last year branded Central Station a ?tip?, and warned of mounting safety risks if nothing was done to boost capacity.
In a significant U-turn, NR now recognises doing nothing to the station ? which handles 15m passengers a year ? is not an option.
In its new Rail Utilisation Strategy (RUS), the industry custodian describes it as an ?extremely poor facility relative to modern standards?.
The station has seen passenger numbers climb 70% in the past five years, and overcrowding has caused the station to shut at peak times on Saturday afternoons.
div>
NR predicts by 2015 passenger numbers will have grown so much that, without action, some or all trains would be unable to call at the station.
Merseyrail saw year-on-year passenger figures surge by 14% last year, and it says in the first quarter of 2009 it recorded ?double digit? growth despite the recession.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/...2534-23261465/
Bookmarks