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Walton And Anfield Railway Station


Louis

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If for whatever reason Kirkby doesn't go ahead (I'm not dropping hints, it's hypothetical) would you encourage the club to look into reopening the Walton and Anfield Railway station for matchday use for fans? Maybe it could be renamed to 'Goodison Park railway station' and have an Everton theme similar to St. James' Park Metrolink station in Newcastle.

 

Location: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=33...p=newsearch.srf

 

I ask because LFC are looking into it for their new stadium and there is apparently public funding available for it.

 

I know at the moment it sounds far fetched but it could mean direct trains to Goodison from as far as Warrington Central.

 

Warrington Central - Sankey for Penketh - Widnes - Hough Green - Halewood - Hunts Cross - Liverpool South Parkway - West Allerton - Mossley Hill - Edge Hill - Goodison Park

 

I guess in a few years time there will be new stations such as Tue Brook and Wavertree which will be ideal for fans living in those areas.

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You're rubbish you lot :(

 

 

no that dress doesn't make you look fat.

 

 

 

 

i'm annoyed today because i got the train into liverpool and they are doing all 6 car services because of the open at birkdale, never had the courtesey to do that on saturday's between august and may for us plebs though did they?

 

to the topic, That station will be city line no doubt how will those on the northern line connect? and yes i am too lazy to go all the way to liverpool south parkway

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Randomness, apparetnly the demand is not there for a 6 carriage train at Goodison Park (but it will be at Kirkby!)

 

Funny you should say that SteveO, I've just read a report from 1998 saying that Everton should look into doing it!

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Introduction.

 

 

The author of this report has worked in the Railway industry for 19yrs, and is currently working for GTRM .

 

 

 

He is a member of the Goodison For Ever-ton campaign action committee, and with his Railway experience and contacts has been given the job of looking at the feasibility of having a rail event stop near to Goodison Park, Liverpool.

 

 

History

 

 

The Goodison For Ever-ton campaign was set up in February 1997, after it was announced that Everton Football Club were about to relocate to an out of town site, many miles from there famous home. The reasons for this were that the club said they were unable to redevelop and modernise the existing stadium, they stated reasons that the stadium was land locked and there was problems with parking and there was a lack of proper public transport near by and no Rail Link.

 

 

The Goodison For Ever-ton Campaign, have challenged the club to prove that the stadium can't be redeveloped and that parking and transport problems can't be overcome, to which they refuse. The GFE believe there are ulterior motives for a move, meaning that certain individuals within the club would make personnel financial gains from such a move, and we feel that a move would not be in the clubs best interests.

 

 

The Goodison For Ever-ton Campaign are in the process of raising funds and have employed a stadium architect to under take a feasibility study to prove without doubt that the present stadium can be redeveloped. They realise that there are other considerations to consider other than being able to build a stadium ie: Residents, Police and infrastructure around the site.

 

They are looking at all the options Parking, Roads and Public Transport. This is where Railtrack come in, the GFE would like to ask for opinions regarding Rail transport included in this report.

 

 

The Goodison For Ever-ton Campaign Request.

 

 

They would like to ask Railtracks opinion on whether it could be feasible to build an event stop on the Bootle Branch line which is in the Walton area of Liverpool, close to Goodison Park. This request is only an enquiry to include in our feasibility study, we realise that the club or local authority would have to fund such a development but at this stage we are only concerned whether its possible or not, and if possible an estimate of what it would cost, we realise it could not be very accurate. The GFE imagine that a project like this built on these sites could cost between £1-3million, but it is far less than building a line to a virgin site like the club would have to do at another location.

 

 

Location of possible sites.

 

 

All three possible sites are on the Bootle Branch Line in the Walton Area of Merseyside close to Goodison Park home of Everton Football Club.

 

 

Bootle Branch Line.

 

 

The Bootle Branch line is fed from the up and down chat moss line that is accessible from Liverpool Lime st station.

 

 

The line is used for freight traffic to Liverpool Docks, it is also accessible from the Southport line at Bootle junction. The track is well maintained and in the past was used for passenger traffic, there are about a dozen programmed trains a week on this line. (see Rail Article at the end of this report)

 

 

The author recently did a site visit to the line and on that visit he discovered that there was evidence of stations being at two of the possible sites that he visited, he has not found any evidence of when these station were open or when they were closed , he has included track diagrams that show the old stations and they are named on the diagram.

 

 

Contained in this report are track diagrams of the area around Goodison Park and ordnance survey maps showing the layout of the area, also there are photographs of sites that could be used in his opinion as an event stop for a match day train service.

 

 

Further Information about the Bootle Branch Line.

 

 

More information can be found at the end of this report, taken from Rail magazine Feb 98.

 

SITE 1

 

WALTON AND ANFIELD STATION (closed)

 

 

This location in his opinion would be the ideal location for an event stop for match day traffic.

 

Advantages.

 

Site of old Walton and Anfield station.

 

Existing Platform foundation still in place 150mts long.

 

5 mins walk to stadium.

 

Next to local Police Station (less chance of vandalism)

 

Exits onto Walton Lane dual carriage way.

 

Limited residential property near by to inconvenience.

 

 

In his opinion there would have to be platforms built and access steps constructed and platform lighting installed and security fencing erected. For a development like this on this site would not be a great problem and probably would not cost a massive amount of money, he would not foresee any planning permission problems.

 

 

 

There would possibly be the need for only one platform to be constructed, if there was a junction put in to allow trains to cross from the down to the up line.

 

 

There could be a shuttle service run from Liverpool Lime Street to these halts on match days with out great problem, traffic considerations and track access permitting.

 

 

He realises that a Train operating company would have to be found and track access be sought and contracts set, but like he said earlier we only require an answer that it could be possible if it was requested by the club or local authority that it could be feasible.

 

WALTON AND ANFIELD OLD STATION.

 

 

Existing platform on the down goods backing onto Walton Lane Police Station.

 

 

Existing platform up goods , site of old booking office, Plenty of room for redevelopment.

 

To the left of the picture it shows how much room there is on the up platform.

 

Taken off the up platform, with at the top left of the picture you can just see the roof of the stadium, and

 

Walton lane below.

 

 

 

 

 

This picture is taken from Walton Ln, showing possible access by steps to the up platform.

 

This view shows possible access to the down platform by the way of steps, on the right of the picture you can see the police station.

 

 

 

SITE 2.

 

CITY ROAD WALTON.

 

 

 

This site is between the old Walton and Anfield station and the old Spellow station situated on the Bootle Branch Line. It's about 5min walk from the stadium. The site is at relative ground level and would not need access steps. The site would require platforms to be built and access gates , also lighting. There could also be a need for planning permission.

Advantages.

 

 

 

This site would probably be the cheaper of the three sites he has chosen to investigate.

 

There is considerable land adjacent to the site, to allow a forecourt maybe. Leading to church road.

 

 

Disadvantage.

 

 

Close to property and there could be objections.

 

The land adjacent may not belong to Railtrack.

 

There was not a station on the site previously.

 

It could attract vandals.

 

 

The Bridge you can see is city road, bridge. The Stadium is to the left of the bridge, you can see the room on the up goods side for a platform.

 

 

This gives a better view of the room available, to the right of the picture shows the fence, adjacent is some land were access could come from or maybe steps adjacent to the road bridge could be constructed.

 

 

This view is looking towards the Walton and Anfield site you can just about see the road bridge were the end of the existing platforms come too. They are about 500yds

apart.

 

This view of the down goods side shows how close the property is that could cause problems

This view clearly shows the land adjacent to the perimeter fence and shows the road close by, on the up goods side.

 

 

 

SITE 3

 

 

Site three is on the old Spellow Station site, it is situated about 500yds away from site 2 in a very deep cutting. The old platform foundations are still in place, but the old steps have been removed and the area has a lot of rubbish been dumped by locals. This site is the nearest but not by much to the stadium. In my view it would be the dearest to redevelop and it would be a problem with vandalism. Also local residents may object because the main through fair would need to be through there narrow street. On the day of the site visit it was very dark and the photographs did not turn out so well.

 

 

Conclusion.

 

The Bootle Branch Line would be an ideal line to use for traffic from Lime st Station Liverpool for match day traffic. The line is not an over busy line it is well maintained, it is two track, its accessed also from Southport.

 

 

 

The future prospects of further development on the line if it were to ever happen could include steps at Kirkdale station and a platform built there to accommodate passengers who could adjoin from the Wigan to Kirkby line, also trains services out of Liverpool central . Also possible investment and installing third rail traction supply's could allow services direct from Southport. Further down the line past the old Walton and Anfield (site 1), the line comes close to the Liverpool F. C. Stadium Anfield at Utting ave. Where there could possibly be an event stop built there also.

 

 

The line also passes through quite large populated areas on route back to Lime St, were in the future there could be a case to open this line back to the local passenger network. Also if you look at the track diagrams supplied you can see at Picton Tunnels you have straight access on to the chat moss lines that run direct to Wigan, Warrington, Huyton, Manchester, Preston and beyond. There could be a case to run Football Trains straight in from anywhere in the UK, with the possibility of any major competitions i. e. : World Cup games being held on Merseyside the infrastructure would already be in place.

 

 

The future should be about Rail Travel , not the past, lets hope it all returns back to Rail.

 

The Goodison For Ever-ton Campaign thanks you for your time and we are hoping that you can assist us or give us any advice, in our feasibility for the plans for an event stop near Goodison Park home of Everton F. C. for 105yrs.

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Would be nice to have our own station but do we need it? Is there really a problem at the moment with commuting to Goodison on matchday - I certainly never have a problem and I park right by Goodison.

 

i dont think thats the point, traffic is fine. it can just be improved a lot more really

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I asked the Chief Executive of Liverpool City Council today if they'd support the reopening of the station, he said they would like to make it open on a permanent basis for passengers and they are currently waiting for the outcome of Merseytravel's analysis.

 

So there you go. Not bad considering half the council were on strike :)

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I asked the Chief Executive of Liverpool City Council today if they'd support the reopening of the station, he said they would like to make it open on a permanent basis for passengers and they are currently waiting for the outcome of Merseytravel's analysis.

 

So there you go. Not bad considering half the council were on strike :)

 

come on, surely that is not all you asked him? spill the beans, what gossip did you get from him... :)

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That actually was all I asked him, I'm not interested in gossip - just facts. :)

 

I'm going to wait to see if anyone from Merseytravel gets back to me, I asked for their initial thoughts on the idea and whether they would favour renaming the station to "Goodison Park" to encourage fans to use it. I'll let you know if they get in touch.

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It depends on whether they want to name their new station Stanley Park Stadium or whatever I guess. :)

 

in Birmingham, Aston Villa want to rename Witton Lane station to Villa Park, their equivalent to Merseytravel has agreed providing they part fund necessary upgrades to the station.

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It depends on whether they want to name their new station Stanley Park Stadium or whatever I guess. :)

 

in Birmingham, Aston Villa want to rename Witton Lane station to Villa Park, their equivalent to Merseytravel has agreed providing they part fund necessary upgrades to the station.

 

I notice you say that only applies if Villa are willing to put money into the scheme. I am not at all sure I can see Everton pumping any money into that scheme.

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  • 1 year later...

This might cause a bit of confusion... the 'trams' arn't actually trams like in the olden days, but 'light rail' and as far as I know they can use rail tracks providing there is an adequate electricity source. There's been some talk about re-branding Merseytram as "Merseyrail Lite" to avoid the confusion.

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