Originally Posted by
Ged
Yes it will be. The first 3 on his list are all tunnels. A good idea to use them to ease congestion of traffic, particularly lorries as in the Canada dock line but as long as the tunnels are in good enough nick.
Ged, they are all tunnels. Most were used until pretty recently. The Kirkdale to Rice Lane tunnel, emerges at the flyover. The line emerged from the tunnel and then went into two curves that went north and south onto the north Liverpool extension that went through West Derby to Halewood one way and Aintree the other. Google clearly shows the curves. Parts of the curves have had houses built on them. It was foolish to do this, as all these trackbed are capable of re-use if need be. It now appears the tunnel cannot be used again as it goes nowhere, unless a CPO on some houses. Having a station at the Rice Lane flyover is not on, as the adjacent disused Spellow station on the Canada Dock Branch line is yards away on County Rd on an active freight only track awaiting passenger re-use when a stadium is built on Stanley Park.
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Below: In orange the curves can be seen above Walton -on-the -hill station. The trackbed from Halewood to Aintree though West Deerby (in orange) is still intact complete with bridges and can easily be re-used.
The Kirkdale sidings to Sandon/Wellington Dock Tunnel may come in handy if Liverpool Waters emerges.
The Haymarket Tunnel is very wide and square with 4 tracks. It is in the Birkenhead Dock Branch Line which runs from Rock Ferry under and across central Birkenhead to the docks near the entrance to the Queensway tunnel. The tunnel could be re-used along with the cutting the line runs in, to give access to Birkenhead Docks (Wirral Waters) from Chester and Ellesmere Port...and up the side of the Great Float to Bidston. A loop branched off the Merseyrail line, from the south of Birkenhead Central station could branch onto the line giving easy access from Liverpool centre and north Wirral.
The tunnel under Linacre Gas Works is on the North Mersey Branch. I'm nor sure if a track is still run through the tunnel. Maintenance trains use the line, or part of the line.
Proposals to open this section as part of Merseyrail's Northern Line have been put forward in Sefton's transport plan. The first details to emerge about a possible reopening being published by the media on 28 February 2008. The Crosby Herald newspaper reported that the line could be reopened in conjunction with Liverpool FC's Stanley Park Stadium, to provide additional transport links via the town of Litherland. The line is currently a single track and used by engineering maintenance trains. This would involve using Sefton Junction enabling reopening of Ford and Linacre Road stations, along with the possibility of a further two stations also on this stretch of line.
The Network Rail Route Utilisation Strategy document of March 2009 stated:
"The possibility of running passenger trains along the North Mersey and Bootle branches was examined by the RUS and cannot yet be recommended. However, future development and regeneration could lead to increased demand for such services. Any such passenger services would need to be implemented in a way that ensures current and future freight demand can be accommodated."
Some of the the tunnels
The old tunnels
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