Liverpool City Region Mayor Mayor Steve Rotheram today unveiled a virtual reality ‘walkthrough’ of the proposed new Liverpool Baltic station.

The unveiling took place at a drop-in event in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, which forms part of the regional authority’s consultation with the public over its plans.

The hundred-million-pound station is due to be completed in late 2027, a year earlier than originally planned.

Mayor Rotheram used a virtual reality headset to gain an idea of what the station might look like when it is completed.

The walkthrough follows the release last week of a video showing the station’s design, and of pictures of the design in May.

Liverpool Baltic station will be on Merseyrail‘s Northern Line, and will serve what Time Out magazine ranked as the UK’s ‘coolest neighbourhood’ – and the eleventh coolest neighbourhood in the world. Located south of the city centre, the Baltic Triangle is one of the fastest-growing areas in Liverpool.

An online vote in 2022 chose the name Liverpool Baltic, with more than three-quarters of voters choosing that option.

Plans for the station include:

• step-free access from street to train
• passenger waiting facilities
• fully accessible passenger toilets
• secure, monitored cycle parking
• links to an enhanced local active travel network.

The new station forms part of the Mayor’s ‘Merseyrail for All’, in which he has committed to connecting communities that are currently not connected to the local rail network. This is to be achieved using battery-powered technology, which has made it possible to extend the lines beyond current boundaries.

As well as Liverpool Baltic, Mayor Rotheram also plans new stations at Daresbury in Halton, Woodchurch on the Wirral and Carr Mill in St Helens. Work on the three other stations will begin by the end of the 2020s.

Mayor Rotheram boasts that once this programme is completed, every borough of the city region will have had a new station since he took office in 2017.

The authority hopes that extending and improving rail services will encourage more people to travel by public transport instead of car, which will contribute to meeting what it calls the Mayor’s “ambitious” target of reaching net zero by 2035.

The city region authority has provided the following information on how to take part in the consultation:

• The VR walkthrough is accessible from the project webpage, and will also be available at the next drop-in event at FireFit Youth and Community Hub in Toxteth on Tuesday 23 July (11am to 8pm).
• People can make their views on the plans known at the drop-in event or via an online survey.
• More information on the scheme and the consultation is available online here.
• Designers will use information from the consultation to finalise the design before submitting the planning application.
• Once the planning application is approved, work is expected to begin on site in 2025, and the station is expected to open by the end of 2027.

“Since I became Mayor in 2017, I have worked tirelessly to ensure we have the best connectivity possible for our residents across the city region. It is important that people can enjoy a reliable, accessible, cheap and integrated public transport network that makes getting around an easy, untroubled experience.

“Our plans for Liverpool Baltic station demonstrate our ambitions for the future of our network, with this virtual walkthrough showcasing the level of quality we want to build for our residents.

“This station will be located in an area that is growing in popularity, and this holds massive potential in driving economic growth in and around the Baltic.

“Liverpool Baltic is the first of many new stations part of my commitment to ‘Merseyrail for All’, connecting communities not currently connected by the rail network to harness growth and opportunities in our area.”

The drop-in event is part of a public consultation on the station scheme, which is running until Sunday 4 August.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region