Meols Station, Wirral — Accessibility Footbridge

Challenge

Meols station, on the West Kirby branch of the Wirral Line, had no step-free way to cross between platforms. Any fix had to go in without shutting the line to daytime services, on a corridor where the working width either side of the track is tight and every possession is booked in hours, not days.

Approach

MSR fabricated the footbridge and both lift towers as complete modules in the Bootle works, rather than building up steel on site piece by piece. Finished modules went out on low-loaders and were craned into their final positions during night possessions, with the erection crew working to a sequence timed against the possession window rather than daylight.

Outcome

A step-free footbridge and two lift towers, now in daily service on the Wirral Line, installed without a daytime closure. The modular fabricate-then-lift approach is the same method MSR uses on Hunt's Cross and other live-rail structures — see the rail sector page for the pattern.