Services in Cressington could be bumped from their usual timetable owing to fans attending the tournament in Birkdale
The 154th Open takes place at Royal Birkdale(Image: Chris Condon/R&A/R&A/PGA Tour via Getty Images)
When Birkdale hosts The Open golf championship next week it will have an impact on commuters stretching more than 30 miles away. The 154th Open takes place at Royal Birkdale this year, and thousands of people will arrive for one of the most prestigious golf events of the year.
Fans from across the world will be planning their journey to the town located a mile from Southport ahead of the event’s start date on Sunday, July 12. Many are expected to use the Merseyrail network to get around the Liverpool City Region during the week-long festivities.
However, commuters in south Liverpool face an unwanted setback as a result of the impending rush of golf fans. Passengers in Cressington will have their timetable knocked back from the usual 15-minute service to a 40 minute timetable.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram admitted existing problems with beacons that monitor train door positions meant a shuffling of the pack when it came to scheduling. Speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside about the championships, he said: “There’s one minor inconvenience and that’s Cressington and we’ve had issues with Cressington in the past.”
The Metro Mayor said the knock-on effect on public transport had been “minimised” but couldn’t be avoided at the south Liverpool station.
He added: “The only issue that we’ve got, because we have to put on as many eight car services as it is possible to squeeze on the system, like we do with the football, Cressington is an issue for us because there are some beacons that are in Cressington and they’re not working as they should and that means the eight car services, (in) the final two carriages the doors would open if we allowed that to happen and of course we’re not going to do that because safety is the number one concern.”
The Open takes place from Sunday, July 12 to Sunday, July 19(Image: Liverpool Echo/Andrew Teebay)
The world’s best players will be arriving in the region in the coming days to compete for the coveted Claret Jug. Royal Birkdale has been The Open’s most regular venue, other than St Andrews, since it first hosted the tournament in 1954 and is hosting for the 11th time.
From Sunday to Wednesday, fans can attend practice days, before the official championship starts on Thursday July 16. Mr Rotheram said: “They (passengers) will still be able to get on it and be able to time those around those other eight cars.
“It’s just that we can’t get it ready in time.”
Cressington Railway station
Mr Rotheram said it had been known for “18 months, two years” that the beacons needed to be mended and said he had been asking the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which operates Merseyrail, “what the hell is happening?”
He added: “It’s not the first time that a train has carriages that don’t open at a station, you hear it advertised on the train saying move to the front, so why is it happening?
“It’s a consistent thing on the rail industry and I pull my hair out with the rail industry, I just think it needs fundamental change, that’s why I want to take it back in, that’s why Great British Rail would be the ideal antidote to all this, we need to pull all the different bits together.”