With the end of the season fast approaching, Everton fans are starting to get more and more excited about the prospect of watching their team in Premier League action at their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock.
With the stadium build now effectively complete, all efforts are now focused on ensuring the surrounding area is equipped to deal with 50,000 football fans on a weekly basis.
The latest Bramley-Moore Dock update relates to the Sandhills Train Station, the closest railway station to the new stadium. After a test event at the stadium in February, fans were crammed onto the platform at Sandhills and that was after a match that was limited to just 10,000 supporters.
Videos and images circulated on social media of the platform at Sandhills after the match, with many supporters feeling that the station wasn't nearly equipped to deal with 10,000 people never mind 50,000.
Sandhills Train Station to be renovated
Fortunately, movement is expected soon on plans to expand and improve the train station ahead of the beginning of next season. In November 2024, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority stated that they were providing £4.2m to improve the station and that work is expected to start in the coming weeks.
Plans detail that a new fan management zone will be built in the station's car park to help with crowd control while the station itself will also be expanded to allow more fans to comfortably fit on the platforms.
Additionally, more exits are set to be built to help manage the number of supporters who will arrive at the station before a match while more ramps will be installed for disabled supporters.
Although no dates have been released in relation to when this project will get off the ground, the Liverpool Echo have reported that Liverpool Council's planning department is ‘working towards a conclusion on the matter' and that a meeting to go through the details of the redevelopment will take place next week.
Observations from tonight.
Do not use Sandhills. pic.twitter.com/zNGuWlaCRb— Kevin Duffy (@kevinefcduffy) February 17, 2025
Bramley-Moore Dock next test event
One thing is for certain, no improvements will be made before the next test event at Bramley-Moore Dock as the Everton under-21s are set to play a friendly at the stadium on Sunday, 23 March.
Around 25,000 fans will be in attendance for the match which means thousands more fans will make their way to the stadium via Sandhills Train Station. If we see similar scenes to the ones we saw last month, then Liverpool Council could be forced into pushing through this work as a matter of urgency.