Temporary Buffer Stop at Hoylake

[Llandudno]

Merseyrail have installed a temporary buffer stop on the West Kirby bound platform at Hoylake station, why?

Merseyrail are running a 10 minute service between Hoylake and Liverpool during The Open golf tournament, which is a great idea but don’t know it needed a temporary buffer stop installing?

 

[jamesst]

There's a temporary walkway over the tracks that's being very heavily used just beyond the buffer and an equally busy level crossing beyond that. The buffer stops any possibility of a train coming into contact with either of them.

 

[negone]

The closure is due to a temporary crossing being created across the train tracks for the international event which is expected to bring in 250,000 visitors to the Wirral town of Hoylake.

Wirral Globe.

Train station to close for nearly two weeks ahead of The Open

WEST KIRBY train station will be closed for nearly two weeks while the Open in Hoylake is held.

www.wirralglobe.co.uk

 

[High Dyke]

Probably as extra protection with the line to West Kirby closed.

The Open Golf

There will be increased Merseyrail train services between Liverpool Central and Hoylake during the R&A Open Championship, helping thousands of golf fans to and from the event.

www.merseyrail.org

There will be no trains between West Kirby and Hoylake from approximately 1900 on Wednesday 12 July until Tuesday 25 July. This is due to a temporary crossing being placed over the rail tracks at Morpeth Road to facilitate access between the Practice Ground and the golf course.

 

[childwallblues]

Theses arrangements are the same as those in place for the 2014 event.

 

[Parham Wood]

So the people in West Kirby do not matter then having to put up with no train service for a considerable number of days. How are they allowed to get away with this?

 

[AndyPJG]

So the people in West Kirby do not matter then having to put up with no train service for a considerable number of days. How are they allowed to get away with this?

RRB according to the article.

 

[dk1]

So the people in West Kirby do not matter then having to put up with no train service for a considerable number of days. How are they allowed to get away with this?

Short term pain. It is the sensible option.

 

[Whistler40145]

Presumably the 3rd rail is only live on one line at Hoylake?

 

[306024]

So the people in West Kirby do not matter then having to put up with no train service for a considerable number of days. How are they allowed to get away with this?

What would your solution be? Insist on cancelling an event that must bring a huge amount of money to the local economy?

 

[jamesst]

Presumably the 3rd rail is only live on one line at Hoylake?

Both live but turnbacks only available in the down platform due to the pointwork

 

[73001]

What would your solution be? Insist on cancelling an event that must bring a huge amount of money to the local economy?

I live by Aintree... roads closed or at a standstill, stations heaving, trains packed, but I understand how the Grand National puts this area on the map and the same can be said for Hoylake (and Birkdale) for the golf. If we stopped everything that caused short term issues the local economies would suffer and life would be quite boring.

 

[AlterEgo]

So the people in West Kirby do not matter then having to put up with no train service for a considerable number of days. How are they allowed to get away with this?

Because the event is bringing in 250,000 tourists and their money to the local area and its businesses.

 

[John Luxton]

I note that the Open has been held at Hoylake 13 times in its history. Only on the previous occasion was the railway closed beyond Hoylake.

How did they cope with the crowds then? Particularly 1950s and earlier when fewer people owned cars and presumably even more spectators arrived by rail?

 

[TheSel]

Both live but turnbacks only available in the down platform due to the pointwork

Attached photos (both mine) of Hoylake Station's temporarry arrangements with 507033 approaching, illustrate both the title of this thread, and @jamesst's comment regarding pointwork above.

 

[Rail Ranger]

When the Open was held at Hoylake prior to 2014 a temporary bridge was built over the line for the golfers and spectators and the train service was able to continue to West Kirby. A sign that rail services are now perceived as being less important?

 

[306024]

I note that the Open has been held at Hoylake 13 times in its history. Only on the previous occasion was the railway closed beyond Hoylake.

How did they cope with the crowds then? Particularly 1950s and earlier when fewer people owned cars and presumably even more spectators arrived by rail?

I’m guessing the words ‘risk’ and ‘assessment’ were rarely used in the same sentence in those days. Plus accessibility for all was not so prominent as it is today.

 

[A0wen]

I note that the Open has been held at Hoylake 13 times in its history. Only on the previous occasion was the railway closed beyond Hoylake.

How did they cope with the crowds then? Particularly 1950s and earlier when fewer people owned cars and presumably even more spectators arrived by rail?

You wouldn't have got 250,000 people going to a golf tournament is the correct answer.

Some sports had very little visibility pre1960s when television coverage drove a growth in the awareness and interest in those sports.

 

[zwk500]

How did they cope with the crowds then? Particularly 1950s and earlier when fewer people owned cars and presumably even more spectators arrived by rail?

Crowds would have been lower overall. From https://vault.si.com/vault/1983/07/25/breaking-clear-of-the-crowd about the 1983 tournament:

Thus the crowds at Royal Birkdale were not only the largest in British Open history—more than 140,000 dripped sweat on the links land for the four days—but they were also the drunkest and loudest and, as it happened, the most vandalistic.

140,000 people over 4 days is 35,000 a day. Manchester United and Liverpool averaged c.40k attendances in the 1980s. This year's average is projected to be 260,000 for the event or 65,000 per day.

When the Open was held at Hoylake prior to 2014 a temporary bridge was built over the line for the golfers and spectators and the train service was able to continue to West Kirby. A sign that rail services are now perceived as being less important?

No, it's a sign that crowds are much bigger, and that safe crowd management is far more important.

 

[rower40]

And the provision of a flat (Wheelchair-accessible) route is a must-have these days. We're all getting older, and a temporary bridge is not great for those of us saddled with kids, picnic hampers and arthritis. (Your embuggerances may vary.)

 

[John Luxton]

And the provision of a flat (Wheelchair-accessible) route is a must-have these days. We're all getting older, and a temporary bridge is not great for those of us saddled with kids, picnic hampers and arthritis. (Your embuggerances may vary.)

As holding The Open appears to be an at least twice in a decade event now, would not the provision of an underpass, easier to construct with ramps, tick the accessibility and crowd management boxes?

 

[zwk500]

As holding The Open appears to be an at least twice in a decade event now, would not the provision of an underpass, easier to construct with ramps, tick the accessibility and crowd management boxes?

That's a lot of cost for 1 event every 5 years or so, and then the question is where do you even put it, and who should pay for it? It also doesn't address the problem of the level crossing being closed regularly for trains causing traffic to the course backing up and the risks of people trying to dash across rather than go the longer way round through the underpass.

Overall

 

[306024]

Looking at the current Merseyrail timetable services are on six minute turnrounds at West Kirby all day. If you were to run the service through to there, by the time you had added the additional dwell time required at Hoylake, you would break your turnround time, with all the additional resource implications that brings. Speaking as someone with experience of planning services for major sporting events, far better, and safer, to have a train waiting in the platform at Hoylake for the maximum turnround time possible.

 

[Lewisham2221]

So the people in West Kirby do not matter then having to put up with no train service for a considerable number of days. How are they allowed to get away with this?

They're hardly being cut off from the outside world I'm sure they can cope with a few minutes on a bus for a week or so

 

[Llanigraham]

I note that the Open has been held at Hoylake 13 times in its history. Only on the previous occasion was the railway closed beyond Hoylake.

How did they cope with the crowds then? Particularly 1950s and earlier when fewer people owned cars and presumably even more spectators arrived by rail?

Quite simple; they didn't have the crowds attending then that they do now.
In that era golf was not as popular with the masses.

When the Open was held at Hoylake prior to 2014 a temporary bridge was built over the line for the golfers and spectators and the train service was able to continue to West Kirby. A sign that rail services are now perceived as being less important?

Or a sign that we now are rrquired to be more inclusive to disabled people

 

[Rail Ranger]

From memory, I was told that the bridge was a gradual curve over the line. There were no steps. Presumably to make it easier to trail wheeled golf bags.

 

[Parham Wood]

What would your solution be? Insist on cancelling an event that must bring a huge amount of money to the local economy?

Of course not! Not up to me to find a solution though. The RRB will probably get stuck in traffic leading to much longer journey times.

 

[Llandudno]

Well done Merseyrail for augmenting services to/from Hoylake for such a prestigious event held in Liverpool City Region.

Imagine the complaints on here and in the (social) media if extra transport provision HADN’T been provided…

For West Kirby residents not wishing to use the rail replacement bus then train to Liverpool, the 437 bus runs from West Kirby every 10 minutes and takes about 50 minutes

 

[Chester1]

So the people in West Kirby do not matter then having to put up with no train service for a considerable number of days. How are they allowed to get away with this?

Its the most practical option. The number of people getting on and off at Hoylake will be colossal and its only one stop short. I don't know about this time but in 2014 Network Rail took the opportunity to do renewal work and upgrade foot crossings away from the golf course.

When the Open was held at Hoylake prior to 2014 a temporary bridge was built over the line for the golfers and spectators and the train service was able to continue to West Kirby. A sign that rail services are now perceived as being less important?

I went to the open in 2014 and the services terminated at Hoylake. Six coaches every ten minutes i.e. the same as now.

 

[Davester50]

In that era golf was not as popular with the masses.

Maybe down south. Golf's a different game in Scotland.
Very much more of a peoples game, than an elitist one.

Or a sign that we now are rrquired to be more inclusive to disabled people

You don't have be disabled to prefer avoiding steps.