Rail access to airport

Graham Nalty raises the important topic of rail access to airports ( Open Access, RAIL 830).

Liverpool John Lennon Airport is a case in point. Some ten years ago Liverpool South Parkway was built, at a cost of £36 million, as a modern interchange ostensibly as the ‘Airport Station’.

However, while it has a lot to commend it - flight information, many national and regional rail services, local bus services and parking (although the car park is full before 0730) - it is over two miles from the airport and only has bus services for linking the two locations. There is no taxi rank at Liverpool South Parkway.

This link is subject to the vagaries of the road system such as traffic lights, congestion and all the uncertainties which can result. This causes anxiety for the passenger and is a disincentive towards travelling to the airport by rail.

Halton Curve is due to open with the December 2018 timetable, and will bring Liverpool South Parkway into play for many passengers wishing to use the airport. This will also open up a multitude of new journey opportunities for business, education, leisure and (importantly for the airport) the tourist markets in North Wales and those in Europe.

The Mersey Gateway road bridge at Runcorn is due to open in the

autumn and will be tolled, as will the original Silver Jubilee Bridge which is currently free.

It remains to be seen if this tolling, together with the opening of Halton Curve, will encourage model shift in any significant way. If it does, then Liverpool South Parkway will attract more airport passengers. However, the weak link between the two will be brought into sharp focus and be a disincentive.

I understand the current throughput at Liverpool Airport is not sufficient to justify major expenditure on a fixed non-roadbased solution, particularly as national funding is not available.

It is therefore down to Merseyside local authorities and the airport to either leave things as they are, which is unsatisfactory, or consider a more sustainable (albeit expensive) non-road-based solution with the confidence that airport throughput figures will benefit and (in due course) justify the expenditure.

The current mindset appears to be slightly less risk averse than in the past, so we live in hope.