Liverpool Overhead Railway

[lfc2014uk]

Steve Rotherham MP for Walton, Liverpool and Metro Labour Mayoral Candidate has said that if he wins the election in May, Liverpool could get there overhead Railway back as a tourist attraction.

He said costings where around £70-100m depending on length of line through a public private partnership, with MerseyTravel overseeing a private operator to run the line.

 

[jamesst]

Never going to happen

 

[adam9413]

Is there a source for this?

 

[Ploughman]

Unlike the majority of railway reintroductions around the UK, which had some sort of trackbed or infrastructure that could be rebuilt.
What is left of the LOR?
Anything?
Any trackbed and where?
How much rolling stock, I think 2 cars and that is it.

 

[mr_jrt]

Dingle station cavern kinda still exists, doesn't it?

 

[yorkie]

Is there a source for this?

Exactly what I was thinking!

lfc2014uk - you have a PM.

 

[fowler9]

I hear my team, LFC, are also winning the league this season.

 

[Roast Veg]

I'd be in support of an overhead railway just about anywhere, purely because of the scarcity of them.

 

[fowler9]

In all seriousness Steve Rotherham should lay off the beak.

 

[Busaholic]

A very good reason for getting rid of this undemocratic Mayoral nonsense.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Is there any trace of the old railway visible on Google Earth?

 

[PeterY]

It was a fascinating railway system.

There's some good films on Youtube about the railway.

 

[Cowley]

In all seriousness Steve Rotherham should lay off the beak.

 

[Gareth]

To be fair, he's not the first not surely the last to want the Overhead back. It's somewhat reasonable as a long, long term aspiration, in a scenario where the population living around the waterfront area increases subtantially as with the likes of the Liverpool Waters proposals. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a monorail and could be something like the DLR in its original form or a people-mover type thing like at Oakland Airport in California. The HS2 bypass makes this all less likely than it would've been in the first place though (however likely that was).

The problem with Rotherham is that he's looking at it as a tourist attraction. If it couldn't justify local use then it would be a folly bettering even the Kirkby Ski Slope affair.

 

[Busaholic]

To be fair, he's not the first not surely the last to want the Overhead back. It's somewhat reasonable as a long, long term aspiration, in a scenario where the population living around the waterfront area increases subtantially as with the likes of the Liverpool Waters proposals. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a monorail and could be something like the DLR in its original form or a people-mover type thing like at Oakland Airport in California. The HS2 bypass makes this all less likely than it would've been in the first place though (however likely that was).

The problem with Rotherham is that he's looking at it as a tourist attraction. If it couldn't justify local use then it would be a folly bettering even the Kirkby Ski Slope affair.

The DLR in its original form would never have happened if that infrastructure through the Isle of Dogs had been demolished: it would never have been rebuilt, even if the land had still been available. This is pie-in-the-sky.

 

[Gareth]

Some of the viaducts still being in place did help the DLR but the main thing that helped it was being in London.

 

[8H]

Would make a lot more sense to extend the Birkenhead tramway, it's a whole region he would be mayor of not just "Hodge City" need to think beyond L1

 

[RichmondCommu]

I hear my team, LFC, are also winning the league this season.

Even with Robbie Fowler at his prime you might struggle at the moment. Such a pity because I really like Jurgen Klopp.

 

[notlob.divad]

I have to say this sounds even more wacko than some of big Joe's railway promises over the years.

There are better projects that Mr Rotherham should focus his energy on and whilst a modern version of the overhead would be fantastic, it wouldn't get built in this country in the modern age anywhere other than London.

A proper link to the airport, full inclusion on the HS2 network, re-establishing the lost connectivity and more frequent commuter style services from the East of the City region should all be prioritized over this.

 

[507021]

I really don't see the point in this, to be honest. I'd much rather the money was spent improving the existing rail network on Merseyside, such as adding the Canada Dock Branch to the Merseyrail network. That could be done very cheaply in comparison to this idea, and it would benefit a lot more of the city's population too. For me, that should be top of the list of rail infrastructure projects on Merseyside.

 

[Camden]

Sounds bonkers. Why would you do a transport project worth hundreds of millions simply as a tourist attraction?

Is there no one in Liverpool aiming for office who actually understands transport?? Or is there nothing that actually needs doing in the city?

 

[8A Rail]

Well, the region could not get a basic Tramway off the ground some years ago, so what chance of this getting pass planning stage?? If Steve Rotherham wants to be taken seriously, needs to come back to the real world!

 

[frodshamfella]

I'd rather see that sort of cash being spent on a rail link to the airport, and giving Speke a station at the same time.

 

[DarloRich]

Steve Rotherham MP for Walton, Liverpool and Metro Labour Mayoral Candidate has said that if he wins the election in May, Liverpool could get there overhead Railway back as a tourist attraction.

He said costings where around £70-100m depending on length of line through a public private partnership, with MerseyTravel overseeing a private operator to run the line.

never going to happen. Spend the money on enhancing the existing public transport infrastructure

 

[Clip]

Some of the viaducts still being in place did help the DLR but the main thing that helped it was being in London.

Well what helped was the need for something for the isle of dogs and the surrounding area as it was a rundown wasteland and the project was to bring and did bring regeneration to a very poor area of London - what benefits would an overhead railway in Liverpool city centre bring?

 

[507021]

Well, the region could not get a basic Tramway off the ground some years ago, so what chance of this getting pass planning stage?? If Steve Rotherham wants to be taken seriously, needs to come back to the real world!

I've got to agree with this. I have absolutely no idea why one of the proposed Merseytram lines was planned to go to Kirkby when it already has good bus links and is connected to the Merseyrail network. As much as I like Rotheram, this particular idea isn't practical or justifiable.

I'd rather see that sort of cash being spent on a rail link to the airport, and giving Speke a station at the same time.

As would I, a tram-train link between Liverpool South Parkway and the airport would be extremely beneficial, as would a station in Speke. In my view, the list I've made below should be the priorities for improving rail in the region above a nostalgic vanity project. If money was no object then fine, but that isn't the case, and what money is available to the Liverpool City Region needs to be spent extremely wisely indeed.

• Construction of the proposed station in Vauxhall.
• Construction of a tram-train link between Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
• Joining the Canada Dock Branch to the Merseyrail network.
• Reopening Liverpool St James station.

I'm willing to bet all of the above would probably cost between the £70m to £100m quoted in the original post (or maybe a little bit more), but they'd all be cost effective and benefit a much larger area of the city region. The only way I'd see anything similar to the Liverpool Overhead Railway being cost effective is once the Liverpool Waters development has been completed, and that's a long, long way off yet.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I don't remember the LOR at all - it was demolished the year after I was born.

However, I've spent quite a bit of time walking up and down the river front in Liverpool, and the question I would ask is: "How much of the original route remains undeveloped?" Surely with the redevelopment of the river front in Liverpool, quite a lot of the original route has been built on - surely they're not thinking of demolishing new(ish) buildings to rebuild the railway ... or are they?

(Exit stage left, confused!)

 

[frodshamfella]

I've got to agree with this. I have absolutely no idea why one of the proposed Merseytram lines was planned to go to Kirkby when it already has good bus links and is connected to the Merseyrail network. As much as I like Rotheram, this particular idea isn't practical or justifiable.



As would I, a tram-train link between Liverpool South Parkway and the airport would be extremely beneficial, as would a station in Speke. In my view, the list I've made below should be the priorities for improving rail in the region above a nostalgic vanity project. If money was no object then fine, but that isn't the case, and what money is available to the Liverpool City Region needs to be spent extremely wisely indeed.

• Construction of the proposed station in Vauxhall.
• Construction of a tram-train link between Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
• Joining the Canada Dock Branch to the Merseyrail network.
• Reopening Liverpool St James station.

I'm willing to bet all of the above would probably cost between the £70m to £100m quoted in the original post (or maybe a little bit more), but they'd all be cost effective and benefit a much larger area of the city region. The only way I'd see anything similar to the Liverpool Overhead Railway being cost effective is once the Liverpool Waters development has been completed, and that's a long, long way off yet.

Can you tell me where St James Station was...could be again ?

 

[507021]

Can you tell me where St James Station was...could be again ?

It's on the Northern Line between Liverpool Central and Brunswick.

 

[notlob.divad]

Can you tell me where St James Station was...could be again ?

It's on the Northern Line between Liverpool Central and Brunswick.

About here

https://goo.gl/maps/B3kfT9vJ4z42

The big Junction at the bottom of Upper Parliament Street by the Cathedral.