A DIRECT rail link is set to be built between Liverpool docks and the main West Coast line.

The pounds 7.6m scheme will allow thousands of tonnes of cargo and freight to be moved directly from the dockside to the country's rail network

It would be one of the biggest local transport schemes since the creation of the Merseyrail network.

The scheme, which is being developed in partnership with Network Rail, Mersey Docks and Harbour Company and Northern Way, has been agreed by Merseytravel and should also ease congestion on the roads leading into the docks.

Merseytravel is to spend pounds 240,000 on detailed design work on the scheme, which includes re-opening a short, disused stretch of line known as the Olive Mount Chord, closed for 20 years.

The re-opening of the Olive Mount Chord will give direct access to the main West Coast Line, as well as the trans-Pennine routes at Edge Hill.

The leg of railway will link the line to Bootle with the London-Manchester lines.

Merseytravel chief executive Neil Scales said: "Improved rail access to the Port of Liverpool is a high priority for Merseyside.

"It will create a fast route into the port, allowing it to expand and create more employment, and it will ease both congestion and pollution."

Once the detailed design work is complete, work is expected to begin in August next year with overall completion in December 2008.

A spokesman for MDHC said last night: "We have been pressing for some time for this development. We encourage the freight industry to move as much of their goods as possible by rail.

"There are about 15 trains a day out of the port using an existing link to Edge Hill, but that is nearing capacity."