'Next Stop... Headbolt Lane...' £80m Station served by UK's 1st battery powered trains starts operations

LIVERPOOL City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has announced the opening date for Kirkby's new £80m Headbolt Lane Station. This line is now fully operational, using the 777 units, that are the Liverpool City Region's new publicly owned battery powered trains. The 777's opened their doors at the Station for the fist time on:- Thursday, 5 October 2023. The start of the service is yet another historic marker for train transport history, as this brand new, fully accessible station, is now the 1st mainline passinger service station, within the UK, to only be served by battery powered trains!

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:- "As a Kirkby native, I know how long local people have been talking about a station at Headbolt Lane. Thanks to devolution and the power it gives us to shape our own destiny, we've turned that talk into reality. We've invested £80m in this fully accessible, state of the art train station; and it will be the 1st to be served by our new battery powered trains. These trains are the 1st of their kind in the country and will help us to significantly reduce our carbon footprint, paving the way for a cleaner, greener integrated London-style transport network. Headbolt Lane station sets a new standard for public transport in this country; and it's the very least that our residents deserve. We're incredibly grateful to local people and passengers on the Kirkby line for their patience and understanding throughout this project; I hope they'll agree with me that it's been worth the wait!"

In a phased roll out to ease in the new technology, the Station will initially be served by 1 Merseyrail service per hour to Liverpool Central, then services will gradually increase to 4 trains per hour.

Network Rail and its delivery partners will be working to complete some outstanding works including:- the car park, caused by issues with Buckingham Group. The Station will therefore open with limited spaces before reaching full capacity in the coming weeks.

Headbolt Lane will be the 2nd new station opened by the Mayor since his election, and the 1st delivered under Merseyrail for All, a commitment to expanding the local rail network across the City Region.

The battery technology removes the need for a live 3rd rail, which could enable the Merseyrail network to run to places previously inaccessible, including as far as:- Manchester, Wrexham, Warrington, Preston and Runcorn.

Both the new station and the Region's publicly owned trains are central to the Mayor's plans to deliver a London style transport network, which aims to make the Region's public transport:- quicker, cheaper, greener and more reliable.

Over 20,000 people in the Northwood and Shevington areas of Kirkby are set to benefit from having the new rail service on their doorstep; particularly important as 60% of households do not own a car in these areas.

With a bus interchange providing services to Skelmersdale, cycle parking and links to active travel networks, the fully accessible station will provide smoother connections to public transport services, encouraging greater use...

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Outstanding fostering organisation expands to Merseyside

FLOURISH Fostering, an Ofsted Outstanding therapeutic fostering service, is expanding its care provision to Merseyside following success in other Regions of the UK.  The service initially launched in Kent 3 years ago and will now help some of the most vulnerable children in the north of England. Recent statistics show that out of the 80,000 looked after children in the UK, more than 30,000* of them are located in the areas that Flourish Fostering are expanding to.

The organisation helps match children and young people who have been significantly harmed from traumatic experiences with loving, safe homes and is actively recruiting foster parents throughout the north of England.

The team at Flourish Fostering states that its innovation-rich approach to supporting foster parents lies in being a big enough entity to provide multi service support while being small enough to have a hands-on approach and learn about the foster families intimately.

Kath Hamblett, is the new registered manager for the independent organisation's new service. Kath has been a foster parent, is a qualified teacher and social worker and has experience working in residential care settings. She said:- "I am really looking forward to expanding this service and finding the best foster parents that the North of England has to offer. We are a small team with some big experience, and our way of fostering children; where we support vulnerable children, and provide in depth training; matched with our expertise is going to do a lot of good."

Mark Taylor is a 3rd generation foster parent and the operations manager for the northern service. He has experience in private and public sector fostering and strong connections with local authorities in the area. He said:- "I am privileged to be joining Flourish Fostering North at the start of its journey, knowing that the team's philosophy and values strongly resonate with my own. It is an added bonus that I am able to work alongside Kath, who I have known, and worked alongside for over 30 years. We can't wait to meet more foster parents throughout the North of the UK."

The organisation supports foster parents to achieve qualifications for their new career looking after children, or if they are experienced foster parents wanting to expand their knowledge, with the opportunity to earn qualifications.

If you would like more information about becoming a foster parent with Flourish Fostering please visit:- FlourishFostering.Co.UK.