Hooton Station given a lift

Work has started on a c£4m project to give passengers using Hooton station step-free access to the station building and platforms by installing lifts and a new overbridge.

The work is being carried out by J. Murphy & Sons Ltd for Network Rail, in partnership with both Merseytravel and Merseyrail and funded by the Department for Transport under the Access for All programme.

Jo Kaye, Network Rail’s route director explained: “Hooton is a significant park and ride interchange on the Merseyrail network and this scheme will make it truly accessible for everyone.”

Bart Schmeink, Merseyrail’s managing director, said: “Hooton is going up in the world. With its new MtoGo shop and now the new overbridge and lifts, it’s fast becoming a flagship station for Merseyrail.”

Mark Dowd, chair of Merseytravel, added: ”We’ve now got one of the best rail networks in the country and we’ll continue with improvements to ensure it stays one of the best.”

The existing footbridge linking the platforms needs to be replaced but so that the station can continue to operate normally while the work is going on, the new lift shafts and overbridge will be built first.

For the work to start, the railway tracks between platforms zero and one will be temporarily filled in with polystyrene blocks for a period of two months so that workers and materials can easily reach the island platform. This method of work was used successfully in Liverpool’s Lime Street station during the construction of new facilities between the long distance platforms.

Later in the year, cranes will be positioned either side of the railway tracks to lift the new overbridge into place.

Following this, services such as power cables will be diverted across the new structure and the lifts will be commissioned.

The third and final phase of work will be the demolition and removal of the existing footbridge, again using a crane, which is due for completion in May 2011.