Network Rail ensures Merseyrail looks good on the ‘dance floor’

Merseyrail passengers on one of the busiest sections in the centre of Liverpool are unaware that 600 tonnes of concrete is being sprayed into the roof of the system’s tunnels.

Using an innovative platform 45 feet in the air (nicknamed the ‘dance floor’), Network Rail engineers have spent six months bolting almost 9,000 square yards of cobweb-like mesh material to strengthen the ceiling of High Neck Tunnel between Liverpool Central and Brunswick stations, at a cost of £3.5 million.

The final phase starts this month, with work expected to finish by the end of the year.

Technology has been employed to identify every uneven brick and lump of loose stonework, enabling 125 yards of scaffolding to be erected without disrupting services.

The latest work programme is considered a major step forward for repairs to the 130-year-old tunnel roof, which began in 2017 and required line closures. NR now intends to employ this method of working elsewhere in the UK.

The introduction of Merseyrail’s new Stadler Class 777 electric multiple units is now only a few weeks away, with parts of the network shut temporarily for track and lineside modifications.

The alterations are needed for the operation of eight-car units that are replacing the life-expired six-car Class 507s and ‘508s’.

Liverpool Central will be closed to Northern Line passengers between November 6-9, and there will also be no services at this time on the Hunts Cross route from Moorfields.

Southport and Ormskirk service intervals will be reduced to 20 minutes for most of this time and terminate at Moorfields, while Sandhills will become the temporary terminus of most Kirkby line trains. Wirral Line trains will not be affected.