'No easy solution' to Everton rail station congestion

There is "no easy solution" to crowd congestion problems at a rail station serving thousands of football fans at Everton's new Hill Dickinson Stadium, the mayor of the Liverpool city region has said.

Steve Rotheram met the club's fan advisory board after they wrote to him raising concerns at Sandhills station including excessive queues, issues with accessibility and a lack of shelter and toilets.

Board secretary Rob Galkoff said the conversation on Friday had been "productive".

Rotheram told BBC Radio Merseyside that the situation had been "well known" when the club relocated from Goodison Park but he would do "everything he could" to improve things.

However, the mayor underlined his frustration that there "was no magic wand" to increase capacity at Sandhills, which is owned by Network Rail.

Galkoff said more than 600 Everton fans had responded to a survey about their post-match experiences, and raised a range of concerns - also including the availability of clear real-time travel information.

About half of those surveyed reported a poor experience at Sandhills, while roughly 30% said they had felt vulnerable or unsafe when travelling on a matchday.

The advisory board stressed that concerns were mainly focused on the station infrastructure and the experience of leaving the stadium, while Merseyrail staff working at Sandhills were praised.

About 20,000 matchday rail journeys currently pass through Sandhills for Everton home fixtures, with up to 11,000 passengers travelling through the station before games and between 6,000 and 8,000 afterwards. Officials from Merseyrail said Network Rail's current signalling infrastructure limits the ability to increase services beyond the 24-28 trains per hour currently operating.

Network Rail has been contacted for comment.

Galkoff said if the mayor could not increase capacity on the rail network, the roll-out of public ownership of local buses could mean shuttles and express services being offered as an alternative to Sandhills.

He added the survey revealed many fans were leaving the stadium before the match had ended to beat the queue for the train.

He said the findings "upset" him, adding: "Tickets are expensive. The whole day out is an event and an experience.

"We want people to bring their children and their grandchildren to games, and we want them to stay to the end.

"Sometimes it's a bitter end, but so far this season they've been really good strong endings for us, and we want to be able to cheer the players off the pitch at the end."

Rotheram said it had been a "really good" discussion with fan representatives but stressed the station was owned by Network Rail rather than the combined authority he presides over.

He added: "I feel we're moving to a better understanding. We will continue to squeeze as much capacity out of what we've currently got and if there's things that we can do that will improve it even further then we will."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.