WORK is progressing on Merseytravel’s £7.9 million Olive Mount Chord project, a new key freight link on Merseyside to improve rail access to the
Port of Liverpool and help take lorries off the road.

Using pioneering machinery, contractor First Engineering has laid new track through disused Olive Mount Tunnel on the course of a quarter-mile long line closed 20 years ago. The new single track chord will link the Chat Moss line with the Bootle branch to give deep sea container trains from Manchester direct access to Seaforth Docks without the need for reversal at Edge Hill.

Further work will include resignalling at Edge Hill and Sandhills and gauge clearance in Spellow Tunnel on the Bootle line before the link opens in December. The European Regional Development Fund is a contributor to the scheme.

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