The Liverpool City Region has worked with Network Rail to draw up a 30-year plan to improve passenger and freight rail links.
The Long Term Rail Strategy outlines 12 high-priority rail projects for the city and surrounding area designed to improve both suburban and intercity rail services.
Schemes include replacing Merseyrail’s fleet for higher capacity vehicles, increasing the frequency of services between Liverpool and London, introducing new direct services to Scotland and South Wales, and upgrading the North Mersey and Bootle branch lines for passenger service.
Other long-term projects could include building new stations at Carr Mill, Ditton, Maghull North, St James, Vauxhall, Town Meadow.
Councillor Liam Robinson, chairman of Merseytravel, said: “This is real ‘big picture’ thinking by the Liverpool City Region. Such strategies are not traditionally driven by local bodies. Doing it this way, working with Network Rail, ensures that our transport planning is intrinsically linked to our economic planning.
He added: “Delivering on our strategy will make us ‘HS2 ready’ and it puts us ahead of the game in taking forward east – west connectivity across the north.
“The need for city regions to develop their own plans to feed into this bigger picture was one of the recommendations of the ‘One North’ report presented to the Chancellor earlier this month.”
The long-term strategy will be presented to the Merseytravel Committee on September 4 and then the Combined Authority for approval.
This is a very good idea for the development of the Liverpool Metropolitan Area. We need all of the UK’s major cities to improve their public transport systems.
I just don’t want to see the 507’s and 508’s go. They’ve become an icon of good performance in my opinion. Although they are old and almost passed their date, they have served Merseyrail greatly! I’ve travelled with Merseyrail for years and live next to the Wirral line, and I’ve never had a problem with them!