Better train connectivity set to be in place for Hill Dickinson Stadium next season

It seems a shame that the transport links have not been approached with the same diligent methodology as the build of the stadium.

Everything gives off a feel that no one on the council has really got to grips with it and the strategy sounds a bit like “let’s just hope everyone walks there”.

This fucking idiot actually admitted that the council thought the stadium would never be built! That’s why he said nothing was done in putting in transport improvements.

If it was the other lot, the council would have bent over backwards to help them. No amount would have been too great for the red shite.

The recent conclusion about the location of BMD was that it should never have been built there. I said when the site was chosen that it was not suitable because it’s only one way in, and one way out.

Building it right next to a major transport link (not suited for pedestrians) was madness. We will see when the test event takes place, just how difficult or easy to get in and out.

The pedestrian links from town and along the river should have been built along with the stadium. Putting them in place after is ridiculous. The council should be embarrassed with the sheer lack of professionalism regarding fans getting to and from BMD safely.

Now telling fans not to use Sandhills station, unbelievable! Let’s hope all goes well with the test event, but it will not be with anything the council has done.

Benjamin @1.

I believe the council probably thought the stadium wouldn’t get built, so did nothing in way of the transport structure.

If the RS had built it, a new station would have been done.

That’s okay, Paul.

Plagiarism is a form of flattery, only joking! 😁

As someone who has used the Southport line for more years than I care to remember, it will only take a train failure or god forbid, a lost soul, jumping in front of a train, for chaos to ensue.

Put a ferry terminal near to the ground and establish a park and sail system on the Wirral. This will ease congestion, with less cars travelling through the tunnels, and increase revenue at the ground, as more people will have a shandy or two in the bars inside.

A new station nearer to the ground would help enormously. A couple of multistory car parks wouldn’t go amiss either. Maybe the club could acquire the land and build them, bringing more money in. It’s not rocket science, is it?

Jack,

Unfortunately, that is common on the London Underground, arguably the most extensive transit system in the world, with trains every 2 minutes.

London has a population of 9 million residents. At certain times, with visitors, there are probably in excess of 15 million.

Hit the underground at rush hour on a good day, and you struggle to squeeze onto a carriage and often have to wait for the next one as the doors won’t close.

Jack, the problems all exist now. All the pedestrian safe walk ways, all the parking areas, tram lines from the Pier Head, ferries, all should have been on the plans set along with the stadium from day one.

As you said, it’s not rocket science for someone to say, “Hang on, we need to plan for 50,000 fans getting in and out and to BMD before anything else is agreed on.”

Come to think of it, the people on the council are still apparently in the Stone Age, so rocket science hasn’t been invented for them yet.

There’s always the Leeds – Liverpool Canal.

Have a few day tripper boats with alcohol licences, to gently move Evertonians into the adjacent dock!

Les, although on a much smaller scale, the village hall where I live applied for planning permission to increase its car park. It was refused on the basis that people using the hall should be from the local community and encouraged to walk, cycle, use public transport or car share.

So, based on the above perhaps LCC is fully aware of our local support…..

People having to walk long distances. Cars dropping off family and friends. Derby Road coned off to one lane each way. Pavements not big enough to deal with the number of pedestrians.

The majority of fans (including opposition supporters) trying to get through a small number of gaps in the dock wall. An inadequate rail provision, with a hopelessly small station.

The city narrowly avoided a disaster a few weeks ago. There is scope for mayhem.

Living in the city, I also think that, with Anfield now holding 62,000 spectators for every game, it also needs a train station.

With money from the government coming into the region to help with transport infrastructure, it will be very interesting to see how LCC, spend the money.

I’ve read people on ToffeeWeb, talking about a monorail, going right the way along the waterfront, and think that there could be a massive amount of money to be made by a private company if anyone invested in such a scheme.

I say this because there are a lot of residents living all the way along the waterfront now from this side of Otterspool, all the way to the soon to be developed Tabacco warehouses and this is only going to increase imo.

This plus a large percentage of the 52,888 going to Hill Dickinson Stadium every other week would I’m sure bring in a huge profit over time because of the demand. Even though I’m not sure how expensive it would be to develop, it would definitely be worth it in the long term.

Above all the mayhem you talk about Peter, it’s the exit points that are the biggest concern to me right now, mate, because I got a weird feeling when I look at those walls that they would have definitely been moved if they weren’t listed.

Les (11),

If car parking provision was addressed during planning, it was simply to note there won’t be any. The Council wanted to make a virtue of green transport provision.

That would be fine if public transport was up to scratch. Plainly, as in the whole of the UK outside London, it isn’t.

Peter (#13), I couldn’t agree more.

Somebody/s have displayed mega recklessness and neglect in letting things get this far.

Never in the whole history of the docks have 50,000 people descended en masse to any part of them – not even when Mae West visited in late 1947!

Better Train Connectivity… is a shit title for an article.

As someone who worked in editorial for years and years, I should know – and I do.

Like I said, 100% poo.

Too right, Kev.

I’d go for “Transport Mayhem — Forever!”

Kev #17, from one journo to another, a bit harsh I think.

Anjishnu is a young writer learning his craft, and I give him credit for not falling into the common online practice of “clickbait” headlines that attract eyeballs at the expense of accuracy.

Anjishnu may be a bit ponderous with his phrasing (okay, maybe more than a bit), but he’s scrupulous. He’ll get better.

The way the statement is worded, I get the impression the extra trains will only be provided for the Brighton game because of the Beatles festival. There is no mention of the Roma game.

I use Merseyrail every home game and catch the soccer bus from Sandhills. I was given a preview of what to expect with the early kick-off on Grand National day. We gave ourselves an extra half-hour travel time. When we arrived at the station for the 10:45 train ,it was delayed and did not arrive until 11:20. By this time, three 8-coach trains had passed on the way to Ormskirk.

When we finally boarded the train, it was packed and was still quite full with Everton fans after leaving Aintree. As we pulled into Walton, an announcement was made that the train was terminating and to leave the train.

The next train arrived around 10 minutes later. We decided to leave at Kirkdale and walked, reaching our seats just as the siren and Z-Cars sounded.

Sandhills will never be big enough to cater for so many people so I believe they need to build another station to help both share and divide the load.

The new station would only feed the city centre for a few hours on match day and Sandhills could do what it always does and help feed people going elsewhere.

A monorail makes sense, another landing stage on the river makes sense. With the huge volume of people, I’m not sure how trackless trams would operate safely, but as everyone is repeatedly stating, we definitely need a lot more infrastructure, especially for those cold, wet days in winter that are definitely not for the faint-hearted if things don’t improve on the pitch

Tony give the lack of public finances developing Sandhills is probably a more likely option to progress. Building a second platform shouldn’t be beyond the wit of man. It is only the same distance as Kirkdale to Goodison.

And for those complaining about car parking Goodison isn’t exactly overflowing with car parks. Stanley Park car park is about 3/4s of a mile and pretty much anything else is residential so people gamble on getting a ticket.

I am surprised that a Park and Ride from Stanley Park hasn’t been proposed as a solution.I’m sure over time some of the local wasteland or entrepeneural businesses with parking facilities near BMD will offer parking.

Another option is we turn the fan plaza into a mass parking lot for electric scooters and we can whizz into town on those

Sandhills and public transport is the responsibility of the LCR (not the council) and falls under the remit of the hapless, and hopeless, LCR mayor Steve Rotheram.

The long term Merseyrail strategy included building a new station roughly between the Titanic Hotel and the new stadium but this was quietly dropped about 10 years ago.

Current bus services between town and the north docks is non existent. I think there’s one bus a DAY along Great Howard Street and none along Regent Road.

Monorails, trams and ferries are a non starter because of the initial capital outlay for a service which would only really be used for around a maximum of 50 games and events a year.

After the fiasco following the first test event Rotheram was panicked into coming up with the plan for a bridge over the station, to the northern platform. Work has yet to start but even if it began now it would take months to build.

Rotheram is obsessed with the ridiculous bendy buses as the solution to link the city centre to the football grounds and the airport. Meanwhile, Andy Burnham has secured funding to extend the MCR tram network to Stockport!

Fiddling around with Sandhills won’t solve the problem. The station is too small and that’s it. The only real solution is to build a new station nearer to the stadium.