Waterways: a very interesting and detailed post, you should send your ideas off to MerseyRail complete with maps and diagrams. They probably wouldn't take it seriously, but it shows you have more vision than they do.
Unfortunately, I don't know south Liverpool well, so I got a bit lost halfway through your post!
The key word you seem to emphasise is 'regeneration', which I will be doing a masters in next year.
The only problem I've got with your idea then is that although it would massively benefit south Liverpool socio-economically, it would be another case of massive investment in south Liverpool, and something which would not be of benefit to east or north Liverpool - which is where I believe the investment should be being made, and statistically holds some of the most deprived areas in the country.
As the north Liverpool extension line is alive and active, a bit of investment (not an awful lot would be needed in comparison to your plans) in this line, allowing people in the areas around the line to travel to city centre quickly and effectively, whilst as previously discussed, allowing thousands of Everton and Liverpool supporters to travel to a whole host of destinations. And if the North Mersey Branch Line reopened, it would also link in Aintree/Maghull etc.
Perhaps the north Liverpool extension line will reopen at some stage in the future - the reopening of the Olive Mount Chord is a step in the right direction, as so many areas of north Liverpool would be connected to Manchester without having to travel to Central, then Lime St. The chord would also allow for football supporters to travel east.
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Technically, you could have trains running from near Walton Lane (the football stop) directly to Lime St (connecting the Wirral), Southport, Ormskirk, Liverpool Parkway (via Edgehill?) Hunts Cross, Warrington, St Helens, Manchester.
Maybe not all of these destinations would have direct services, but the scope is there, and lets not forget, Everton and Liverpool fans travel from all over the place.
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