-

[462cd]

The planning application for Broad Green station is now live and available here. Key points:

• New booking office building, with seating area and a toilet
• New covered areas on the platforms
• Lift providing stair-free access to the subway
• Changes to improve accessibility on the north entrance

All looks good to me. Nice to see some investment in a pretty tired, grubby and inaccessible station.

 

[AMD]

And moving the stairwell back on the Liverpool bound platform - a good thing as the space between the building and platform edge isn't great.

 

[birchesgreen]

Nice to see the world's oldest railway station get a bit of investment.

 

[D821]

Indeed, it might encourage more people to use it. The annual figures seem to have dropped a bit over the last few years, despite housing being built nearby.

 

[greyman42]

Indeed, it might encourage more people to use it. The annual figures seem to have dropped a bit over the last few years, despite housing being built nearby.

What sort of area is it?

 

[Urban-Savage]

Nice area… grew up there..
Would be good to see the pre covid frequency of service back tho…
Timetable is very poor now

 

[greyman42]

Nice area… grew up there..
Would be good to see the pre covid frequency of service back tho…
Timetable is very poor now

Do a lot of the locals own cars and is there a good bus service?

 

[Urban-Savage]

Guess so re cars, bus service not great…. 30 min frequency, less evenings depending on where you are

 

[childwallblues]

Do a lot of the locals own cars and is there a good bus service?

Route 6 operated be Arriva Bus was cancelled a few years ago. Nearest bus into Liverpool is route 61 which stops on Rocky Lane (about 300 yards from the station) and runs outbound to Runcorn and is operated by gas buses.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Nov 2021 ==

Nice area… grew up there..
Would be good to see the pre covid frequency of service back tho…
Timetable is very poor now

My local station in fact I was there this morning. Like stations on the routes the were electrified along the route Broad is basically untouched (save for two additional waiting shelters) since the line was reduce from four to two tracks when space was needed in the 1970s for the M62.

 

[462cd]

I think it's a great area full of amazing people, but I'm a little biased!

It's right next to the M62 (pretty much underneath it) so faces stiff competition with the motorways for journeys out of Liverpool. Heading in to Liverpool is quite a popular commuter route, but the gaps in the timetable have made it messy outside of peak times. It's down to 2tph and they aren't evenly spread, so you can get stuck with a 45 minute wait to make a <10 minute journey.

There's a decent car park next to the station which I think was a bit of a failed attempt at a park-and-ride for the city centre.

 

[AMD]

These plans must be planned for implementation quite soon, on the basis of planning permission being granted, as I noticed that the stairwell building has been painted in the last week or two!

 

[urbophile]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that there were plans to remove the flyover and rebuild the motorway junction. Would this make it easier to restore four tracks to the railway, allowing the slow lines to take the local trains through the Wapping tunnel and integrate with Merseyrail?

 

[D821]

I there were plans to rebuild The Rocket flyover, not sure if that's what's you're referring to? I'm not sure where the plans are up to post-Covid:

Council could demolish Queens Drive flyovers to create new entrance to Liverpool

Rocket junction could be rebuilt with M62 in tunnel in ambitious plan to cut traffic and pollution

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

 

[childwallblues]

Demolishing the Queens Drive flyover would not the railway.

 

[urbophile]

Demolishing the Queens Drive flyover would not the railway.

would not what the railway?

 

[greyman42]

would not what the railway?

Affect?

 

[childwallblues]

Affect?

Correct. The Queens Drive flyover passes over the railway but at a different angle.

 

[Skie]

The road that blocks the old alignment nearest the station is a local access road, not part of the motorway. Still pure idiocy allowing it to happen.

 

[AGH]

The queen's drive flyover is coming down mainly because it will fall down. The city centre flyovers went the same way. They are then I understand planning on building a tunnel for Edge Lane traffic. Not sure how that will affect the adjacent flyover to the station which brings the M62 over the railway but that area is likely to have some big work in future years. Is my memory right in that it used to have a bay platform Liverpool facing not too long ago

 

[mr_jrt]

From about 1900:

Georeferenced Maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

 

[86247]

It did used to have a Liverpool facing bay I think it was for parcels only, from memory the only thing I ever saw in the bay was a class 45 on two vans.

 

[462cd]

The flyover that's due to come down is the one over The Rocket. However, I was walking on the old loopline yesterday and noticed the M62 flyover by the station is in a terrible state: the concrete is spalling and you can see exposed, rusting rebar. I'm no engineer, but I imagine it's going to come down pretty soon, one way or another. It'd be nice if they could rejig everything at once - new end to the M62, new Rocket junction and improve the railway - but that's probably being far too optimistic, plus there are too many houses to negotiate around.

 

[D821]

That really doesn't seem good! Particularly given how quickly the flyover in the city centre got shut down so quickly a few years back.

 

[Gareth]

The queen's drive flyover is coming down mainly because it will fall down. The city centre flyovers went the same way.

The city centre flyovers, yes, but Queens Drive flyover is considered structurally sound. If it wasn't, it'd have been closed as hastily as the ones in the city centre.

The main reason it's coming down is because the busier flow at the Rocket junction is East-West, not North-South. An underpass will be constructed linking the M62 with Edge Lane Drive which will take enough traffic off the current at grade junction to demolish the flyover. The maintenance of the flyover as it ages will have been a factor, as well as the desire to improve the public realm in that area.

 

[507 001]

The city centre flyovers, yes, but Queens Drive flyover is considered structurally sound. If it wasn't, it'd have been closed as hastily as the ones in the city centre.

The main reason it's coming down is because the busier flow at the Rocket junction is East-West, not North-South. An underpass will be constructed linking the M62 with Edge Lane Drive which will take enough traffic off the current at grade junction to demolish the flyover. The maintenance of the flyover as it ages will have been a factor, as well as the desire to improve the public realm in that area.

One thing is for certain, it’s going to cause absolute chaos when they start the works.

 

[Gareth]

Especially considering it's chaos around there at peak times already.

 

[M60lad]

Any idea of when the works are due to start?

 

[Vespa]

What sort of area is it?

The station area itself is a bit grim and unwelcoming, under a noisy grey M62 flyover and an equally unfriendly car park, if that's your first view of Broad Green, you would immediately get back on the train and go home.

The area beyond is ok, an average Liverpool suburbia.