Councillor 'fuming' as The Open hits rail services

A Liverpool councillor is "fuming" after being told rail services will be reduced at a station in his ward due to The Open golf championship.

The 154th Open takes place at Royal Birkdale this week, with thousands of spectators expected to attend.

The demand for extra capacity on the Merseyrail network means larger, eight-car trains will be deployed - but these cannot stop at Cressington, 30 miles (about 50km) away, due to a shorter platform, meaning services will be cut from every 15 minutes to every 40 minutes.

Councillor Richard Clein said people in his ward deserved a "full rail service". Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram described the situation as "a mess", while Merseyrail said an "event timetable" was the safest and most practical way to maintain services for local passengers.

Liberal Democrat Clein said it was not the first time the people of Cressington "had suffered" because of successful events elsewhere on Merseyside.

He said "Liverpool is a city now that hosts world class events every weekend and that's something that we should be encouraging" but that people in his ward deserved not to have services reduced.

The issue of eight-car trains not being able to stop at Cressington has been raised before. In December, services did not stop there at all on two separate Saturdays due to events at Aintree and the Hill Dickinson stadium.

Merseyrail has tested larger vehicles stopping in recent months but Clein said trackside beacons, which communicate with the trains to enable doors in the rear carriages to remain closed, still were not working correctly.

Rotheram told BBC Radio Merseyside there was "nowhere better" for The Open than the Sefton coast, but admitted the "knock on" impact would be felt in south Liverpool.

The metro mayor said it had been known for "18 months, two years" that trackside beacons would need to be working properly in order for eight-car trains to be able to stop.

He added he had asked officers at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which operates Merseyrail, "what the hell is happening?".

Despite this criticism, he said the issue was a "minor inconvenience" and the disruption would be "minimised".

Clein said with the football season starting again soon he wanted "assurances that things are going to be running as normal and residents here in Cressington aren't going to suffer as they have been".

Merseyrail said an "event timetable" would operate at the station between 16 and 19 July while The Open took place.

A spokesman said: "While work to introduce new train stopping arrangements at the station is being completed and tested, this is the safest and most practical way to maintain services for local passengers while supporting the significant increase in demand during this major international event."

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