Network Rail's Liverpool area director Paul Owen has apologised to passengers after a week of hot weather caused delays and cancellations across the Merseyrail network, disrupting travel to The 154th Open golf championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport.
Disruption Hits Open Travel
Commuters heading to the major golfing event were thrown off trains on Wednesday morning due to faults on the line. Some passengers were unable to board trains at all as services were suspended between Hunts Cross and Liverpool South Parkway for track inspections. Signalling issues at Hooton also caused delays on the Wirral line.
The disruption came after signalling problems caused major delays on Tuesday evening. Merseyrail runs trains on its Northern and Wirral lines, while Network Rail is responsible for infrastructure such as track and signalling.
Apology and Explanation
Speaking at the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority's transport committee, Mr Owen acknowledged the poor performance. “I do just want to acknowledge that performance in the last seven days on the Merseyrail network has not been to satisfactory levels and I do want to apologise for that,” he said. “We have seen a period of infrastructure being impacted by hot weather and we do have teams and engineers on site day and night at the moment tackling a problem in the Hooton area, which is causing a disproportionate amount of delay across the network, and it’s disrupting passenger journeys.”
Mitigation Measures
Mr Owen revealed that Network Rail uses a critical rail temperature “encyclopedia” to assess the network. As a mitigation against heat, rails are painted white to reflect sunlight, reducing steel temperature by around five degrees Celsius. However, he admitted the need to be “more forensic” to prevent future issues, particularly concerning track circuits causing “disproportionate delay”.
He noted that Merseyrail and Network Rail share roughly equal accountability for delays: “Merseyrail and Network Rail are around 50/50 split in terms of accountability for network delays on the Merseyrail network. I don’t use the word blame because it’s very much about joint accountability.” He added that while delays have been reduced, “we’re not anywhere near where we need to be and want to be.”
Winter Preparations
Looking ahead, Mr Owen said officials would “methodically” review recommendations from Vernon Everitt’s report into failings in January last year. Trials have been completed to determine the best anti-ice solution for freezing rails, as preparations for winter continue despite the current heat.
