Olive Mount chord

Olive Mount chord
A view of the north end of the chord, where it meets the Canada dock branch, with reconstruction work progressing
Overview
Status	Operational
Locale	United Kingdom (Liverpool North West England)
Stations	0
Operation
Opened	2009
Owner	Network Rail
Technical
No. of tracks	Single track throughout
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge
Loading gauge	W10

The Olive Mount chord in Liverpool, England, is a 300-metre stretch of railway track between Olive Mount Junction and Edge Lane Junction that provides access to the Canada Dock Branch (more usually known today as the Bootle Branch).

History

It was taken out of use following a fire in the signal box at Edge Lane Junction on 21.01.1987 and subsequently lifted as the declining levels of dock traffic meant the cost of repairing the box or altering the signalling to allow remote operation from Edge Hill PSB was not justified. The delays resulting from its removal were a limiting factor in access to the Port of Liverpool.

Debate

On 27 June 2006, Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, revealed that the Olive Mount Chord was one of several projects to be included in the government's productivity transport innovation fund.^[1]

On 20 January 2008, the green light was given to reopen the line to make the ferrying of freight between the Port of Liverpool to the West Coast Main Line easier. The works will remove the need for reversing at Edge Hill and for crossing lines in and out of Lime Street and it is hoped will remove large vehicles from congested areas, including Switch Island.

A 1909 map showing some of the lines to be reused

Reinstatement

Over the Bank Holiday weekend of early May 2008, the Chat Moss line was closed to rail traffic to allow a facing crossover to be installed between the inbound (to Liverpool) and outbound (to Manchester) lines. This crossing was placed on site on Sunday 4 May 2008 and is located east of Mill Lane bridge. The work on this weekend involved the use of a Kirow rail mounted crane.

A further step change took place on Sunday 13 July 2008 when the Balfour Beatty New Track Construction machine was in use on the chord. It laid a single track from Olive Mount Junction on the Chat Moss line through the Olive Mount Tunnel up to the Bootle Branch at Edge Lane Junction. There was already a crossover and turnout on the Bootle Branch but no physical connection was made at that stage.

The project is operational from the Winter 2008 timetable starting on Sunday 14 December 2008. (Driver training was started by EWS on Thursday 4 December.) It has cost an estimated £7.9m, of which Merseytravel will contribute £2.1m.^[2]

The chord was officially reopened on 6 March 2009.^[3]

References

1. ^ Hodgson, Neil (June 28, 2006). "Fresh hopes for rail link". Liverpool Echo (reprinted by National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers). http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2006/06/. Retrieved January 28, 2009. 
2. ^ "Port rail link given green light". BBC News. January 20, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7197900.stm. Retrieved 28 January 2009. 
3. ^ "Northern Way Welcomes Olive Mount Chord Opening". www.northernway.co.uk. 6 March 2009. http://www.thenorthernway.co.uk/news.asp?id=684. Retrieved 15 March 2009.