Merseytram: Difference between revisions

Merseytram
Overview
Locale	Liverpool, Sefton, Knowsley
Number of lines	3
Operation
Operator(s)	Merseytravel

Merseytram was a proposed tramway for Liverpool and surrounding districts of Merseyside, England. Originally proposed in 2001 - forming part of the Merseyside Local Transport Plan - it called for three lines, connecting outlying suburbs of the city with the city centre.

The project was given the go-ahead by Alistair Darling in December 2002. After extensive public consultation, the contract to build the first two lines was initially awarded in late 2004, however, problems with the tender bid with regards to best value forced the cancellation of the contract, and the reopening of the tender process. In April 2005, the M-Pact consortium was named as the preferred bidder.

Budget for the first stage of the project was set at £225 million, with the Government providing £170 million of the cost. However, by 2005, rising costs had led to a new requirement of £238 million against a cost of £325m. Despite the increased costs, to compound matters, the design of the routes was not even finalised at this point.

The Government had refused any additions to the initial amount, and asked the two councils who would be supporting Line One - Liverpool City Council and Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council - to make an agreement not to seek additional funding from the Government in the event that the project ran over-budget.

Although some attempts to meet this request were made, Transport Minister Derek Twigg felt that the assurances of the two councils that any shortfall would be met by Merseytravel and a £24 million contingency fund were insufficient, and announced the cancellation of the scheme on November 29, 2005. However, Merseytram are planning to take legal action against the government and this may result in the scheme still going ahead.^{[citation needed]}

Plans called for it to use Bombardier Transportation's Flexity Swift trams.

The tram network had formed part of a larger regeneration project in the areas in which it was intended to run, related to Liverpool's award of European Capital of Culture in 2008.

At the beginning of 2008, fresh hopes of the Tram project resurfacing were raised. Keolis who would have been operating the trams originally, confirmed they are still on board and in ongoing talks with Merseytravel.

Initial costs will have increased. Companies, such as Alstrom and Bombardier, charge over £2m a piece for a tram set - that is what Manchester is paying. They are seriously complex, that have evolved over time to what they are now. Trams are not cheap and quite a few eco hybrid/electric bendy-buses can be bought for one tram, making the tram system less desirable economically.

From the 1st Oct 2008 new health & safety regulations applies to light rail (trams) as well as heavy rail (trains), so the safety levels are now higher and hence more expensive.

Merseytram was placed as a priority project within MerseyTravel's transport plan for 2006-2011, and as alignments have been preserved within all current and approved projects along the Line 1 route, it is likely the project will go ahead as planned before the rights to construction end in February 2010. On 18 April 2008 it was announced that a new bid for funds had been requested by the Department for Transport, who now seemed considerably keener on the idea of Trams on Merseyside.^[1] High hopes that the long awaited project was back on track were raised even further with another announcement a few days later, that the new business case for Line 1 was to be submitted to the DfT in the second half of 2008.

It was published by the local press that should Everton Football Club's relocation be granted planning permission then the likelihood of Merseytram going ahead will increase. ^[2]

The hub of the Merseytram system would have been a loop around Liverpool city centre. Designed to be constructed in two stages (simultaneous with Line One and Line Two), the loop would have covered major transport hubs (Liverpool Lime Street, for mainline services; Moorfields for the Merseyrail network; Paradise Street Interchange for City bus services; and the Pier Head for Mersey Ferry services), tourist destinations (including St. George's Hall, the Tate Liverpool and the Albert Dock), and the major shopping thoroughfares.

Line One would have travelled from the Liverpool city centre loop, heading northwesterly to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and out to West Derby and Croxteth, terminating at Kirkby; a distance of some 11 miles (18 kilometres). On December 21, 2004, the Merseytram Line 1 Transport and Works Act application was approved by the Secretary of State. The line was originally intended to start construction on July 1, 2005 for a 2007 opening.

Line Two - intended for a 2008 opening - would have used the city centre loop and headed east to Prescot and Whiston, via Knotty Ash and Page Moss. By the time of the project's cancellation, the line had completed the public consultation stage.

Line Three was planned to be a connection with Liverpool John Lennon Airport, and was only in the study stage at the time of the cancellation.

• Liverpool Tramways Company
• Merseyrail

• Merseytram
• BBC News: Merseyside tram system plan axed