Work set to start on railway project

Work is to start next month on a new decked car park and booking office at a St Helens railway station.With work underway on an extension to surface car parking facilities, the existing oversubscribed Lea Green Railway Station car park will be closed from 21 August to accommodate the construction of a modern facility.This has been designed to increase park and ride capacity to approximately 450 vehicles.The improvements form part of the £15m St Helens Southern Gateway project, funded by the Combined Authority’s Transforming Cities Fund, to encourage use of public and active transport.A partnership between St Helens Borough Council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and Northern Rail – St Helens Southern Gateway – is focused on making sustainable travel an easier choice for commuters.This is by linking up Lea Green station with safe, dedicated pedestrian and cycling routes and better park and ride facilities, connecting nearby residential, leisure and employment areas.Other major upgrades include a station building at Lea Green with waiting room, toilets and other customer facilities, along with a signalised junction. It will feature specially allocated lanes to protect cyclists from motor traffic, replacing the roundabout by the Bull and Dog pub next to the station.Highways developments are expected to start in the summer.In conjunction with this, work is ongoing to install a number of walking and cycling routes, connecting Lea Green to nearby residential, leisure and employment areas.Cllr Andy Bowden, St Helens Borough Council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “The Liverpool City Region has big plans for public transport and active travel across Merseyside which St Helens will play a key part in – with this investment improving facilities in and around Lea Green for rail users, pedestrians, and cyclists alike.”The car park will reopen in the spring of 2023 with the whole scheme expected to be completed by early summer of 2023.