A call has come from local Lib Dem councillor Simon Shaw for progress to be made in 2019 on the long-standing issue of Birkdale’s railway crossing barriers being down for extended periods.

Local motorists and bus users have long complained that the barriers, particularly at Birkdale Station and Aughton Road, are frequently down for 6 to 8 minutes in each 15 minute cycle. This leads to lengthy queues of motorists and causes delays for local bus services.

“Many Birkdale residents complain that the barriers are ‘always down’ and certainly there are periods when they spend more time down rather than up,” says Cllr Shaw.

According to the Birkdale Ward councillor, local bus services have suffered in the recent past due to the length of time that the crossing barriers stay down.

“For example Arriva used to operate a bus service along Upper Aughton Road and Everton Road until around four years ago. One of the main reasons they withdrew it was the difficulty of operating a reliable service when they could be stuck at the Upper Aughton Road level crossing for seven or eight minutes.”

Now Cllr Shaw says that a solution could be in sight with the new rolling stock due for introduction on the Northern Line within the next two years.

“As well as carrying a lot more passengers, the new trains will also be faster” he says.

“What this means is that there is more time, either at Hunts Cross or at Southport, before the train heads back. It seems clear to me that this gives an opportunity for the timetable to be tweaked in a way that means less waiting for motorists and buses at Birkdale’s level crossings.”

“I’ve already had talks last autumn with Arriva’s Southport manager about the difficulties his drivers face. More recently I had discussions with a senior manager at Merseytravel to discuss how improvements could be achieved.”

“What I was told was that Merseyrail and Merseytravel would turn their attention later in 2019 to the new timetables. So I will be pressing them at that time to seize the opportunity given by the faster trains to make life better for Birkdale residents and bus users.”

Video here

It doesn't matter if they put the Eurostar on there trains can only go as fast as the Line Speed so what difference will faster trains make.

Awaits nosobored coming up with his illiterate moronic theories.

2million years BC - man discovers fire.
2019AD - the lib dems discover video
3019AD - the lib dems learn how to dress

Originally Posted by roving-eye

A call has come from local Lib Dem councillor Simon Shaw for progress to be made in 2019 on the long-standing issue of Birkdale’s railway crossing barriers being down for extended periods.

Guess you could call me cynical as much as you’d call prasnee an accountant but guven cllr shaw is up for election and has been birkdale cllr for:

• 03/05/1984 - 07/05/1992
• 02/05/1996 - 04/05/2000
• 10/06/2004 -

You’d doubt he’d actually do anything about this self called “long standing” issue as he’d have done it by now rather than pointless “new year resolutions” to save his seat, unless he’s banking on it solving itself and claiming personal success. I do dislike these “calls” from cllr’s and a Lib Dem vote is a wasted vote, they’ve had ample chance to prove their ability for positive change.

Also, he’s potentially a bit premature in thinking the outbound trains will spend dramatically less on the platform to let passengers on, nor will they speed much quicker across the crossings as the thing about trains at stations, they usually need to stop.

Not sure of the techy bits but if you look at the trains as they cross say between Hillside & Birkdale they are seconds apart......normally. The problem is a Liverpool train bound for Southport for "Signalling" reasons only as far as I can ascertain causes "All" the barriers to be down longer than any train going from Southport to Liverpool.

So in reality Councillers will make sweet FA to the problem.

Avid viewers of Merseyrail trains can view them in real time here:-

http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/northern

I use the train on a daily basis and the problem is compounded by the Southport-bound trains inevitably being late. The ones that start at Southport are always bang on time, the barriers come down, but then they stay down waiting for the train coming in the other direction to arrive.

I've been told that the main reason for the late trains from Hunts Cross is that, due to stopping at 17 stations (or whatever the exact number is) the staff have no way of knowing how many passengers are likely to need the ramp for their wheelchair.

Hopefully, the new trains will overcome this problem as they have ramps, which deploy when the doors open, built into each carriage.

In the meantime, though, I really can't see why they can't raise the barriers at Birkdale after the Liverpool-bound train has been and gone. I've actually seen this happen, but if it's going to be fewer than X minutes, they leave them down.

Originally Posted by Lamparilla

I use the train on a daily basis and the problem is compounded by the Southport-bound trains inevitably being late. The ones that start at Southport are always bang on time, the barriers come down, but then they stay down waiting for the train coming in the other direction to arrive.

I've been told that the main reason for the late trains from Hunts Cross is that, due to stopping at 17 stations (or whatever the exact number is) the staff have no way of knowing how many passengers are likely to need the ramp for their wheelchair.

Hopefully, the new trains will overcome this problem as they have ramps, which deploy when the doors open, built into each carriage.

In the meantime, though, I really can't see why they can't raise the barriers at Birkdale after the Liverpool-bound train has been and gone. I've actually seen this happen, but if it's going to be fewer than X minutes, they leave them down.

It's not a case of leaving the barriers done, it is all automatic, unfortunately the barrier has to be down before the Southport bound train enters the station so the length of time the barriers are down is extended by the stop. If the barrier remains down it has been triggered automatically and the down times are overlapping so in total it will be down less in total.

Originally Posted by Alikado

It's not a case of leaving the barriers done, it is all automatic, unfortunately the barrier has to be down before the Southport bound train enters the station so the length of time the barriers are down is extended by the stop. If the barrier remains down it has been triggered automatically and the down times are overlapping so in total it will be down less in total.

Oh - I thought only the half-barriers (like the ones at Crescent Road) were automatic.

However, the problem is still the consistent lateness of the trains from Hunts Cross. If you look at the timetable for weekdays, the trains at Birkdale to and from Southport are due within one minute of each other, so the barriers would only need to come down once and would serve both trains. As it is, though, the Southport-bound trains are so late that the barriers have gone up after the Hunts Cross bound train has long departed, and come down again when the Southport train finally arrives. Today, the 12:18 to Southport was 10 minutes late.

i used to run a shop in the village 80s 90s...the barriers came down for very short periods, the barriers were manned and delay was minimised....now its a disaster,,the roads are clogged all day,,,no wonder no one wants to visit,,,this is a software cctv problem with the railways,,,its destroying the village,,someone needs to get a grip and sort this problem....why does everyone need to sit in a que for 10 mins without a train in sight????,,,its the same as the towns traffic lights....we are all stopped with our engines running with not a pedestrian or other car in sight...im not into green stuff but havind cars buses and lorries stood for no good reason is not good for the environment