Metro Mayor puts Northern 'on notice' amid Broadgreen failures

Exterior of Broad Green train station in Liverpool.
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has put Northern “on notice” as he slammed “absolutely unacceptable” delays to deliver an accessibility scheme at a Liverpool 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 March last year. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority leaders have given their consent to push the completion date of the scheme back almost two years owing to “circumstances beyond the control of Merseytravel.”

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.

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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 last year.

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, are leading this project on behalf of Merseytravel. A report to combined authority leaders said the original timescales had “significantly slipped” linked to gaining the necessary technical approvals and matters necessitating the replacement of the original principal contractor appointed by Northern, to undertake the detailed design and construction works.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram onboard the new Merseyrail battery powered train. Photo by Colin Lane
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram onboard the new Merseyrail battery powered train. Photo by Colin Lane -Credit:Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo

Northern are in the process of appointing a new contractor to design and install new lifts and a station building. This did not protect the company from Mr Rotheram’s ire.

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He said: “Four schemes is brilliant, we funded five, so Broadgreen is an outlier. It is absolutely unacceptable that we have seen delay after delay and Northern need to improve.

“I would prefer for ourselves to do these schemes, we can do these schemes quicker, probably more cheaply, but certainly on time. I put them on notice that if things don’t improve and there are further instances of slippage, then we will do everything in our power to represent ourselves at national government level to get the Secretary of State to intervene.”

The Mayor added that he wanted to get Northern to agree to a tighter timeline to deliver the works and called the delay to spend crucial funds “absolutely appalling.” As a result, a works completion date has now been set for December 31, 2026, with a financial completion date earmarked for March 31, 2027.