There’s been a lot of comment on the wall failure at Liverpool Lime Street station this week, and I know (from experience) that many have been inconvenienced, and had to cancel plans as the station remains closed.

A major blow for Liverpool, and its residents and businesses – the comment I get most is “”why is it taking so long to fix?”

I have spoken to several rail network engineers this week, and it seems we ‘got off lightly’. It transpires that a third party unknowingly overloaded an adjoining wall, which failed, sending tonnes of debris onto a live track. It was very fortunate that no trains collided with this, and I understand that it was only the focus of one driver that avoided a collision and possible tragedy. Count our blessings….

We are then left with a covered track, and possible legal action. So no wonder that careful assessment of cause and damage levels were required – and this takes time and expertise.

With hindsight, we would only want the line opening when trusted engineers had been able to arrange repairs to damaged rails or sleepers, and surrounding environment. This is not easy work in a confined space, and the engineers must take a view of ‘better safe than sorry’ when assessing elements that need replacement.

Well done and thank you to all the engineers working round the clock to ensure a safe reinstatement!