Slow Progress

Still no official announcement of a new date from Network Rail, as far as I know.  The Liverpool Echo has picked up the delay in an article dated 2 November.

Meanwhile, things are slowly progressing all over phase two:

In the "gap" around Huyton and Roby, most of the masts are up and arms have been attached to some.  On the passenger side of things the remaining finishing touches are proceeding glacially.  The car park is waiting for half its setts to be replaced[1], and the access stairs at the front of the station and the north end of the subway are still closed.  This morning I passed a group of workers tapping the render on the public subway walls with a hammer and tut-tutting.

[1] Update - I noticed a few days later the lack of setts problem has been resolved by tarmacking over the lot, leaving just a decorative band of setts across the car park entrance.

 At Rainhill I'm told five of the eight masts are up, and a rather optimistic sign warns "Danger Overhead live wires".

Scaffolding is up at Sankey Viaduct and also at Carr Mill.

At the other end of the line, I visited Victoria station yesterday and an enormous amount of work remains to be completed.  It is not clear to me how the wires are to be supported in the middle part of the station.  The closure of the tram stop has been extended until next year, and the trams continue to wiggle along their temporary single track route.  West of Victoria, reports suggest there are major signal sighting issues caused by the new masts and that this is one of the reasons this part of the project will not be finished until April.