A train driver was going at close to three times the speed limit when he crashed a Merseyrail service at Kirkby station.
Phillip Hollis admitted endangering the safety of passengers at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court this morning following an accident last year.
Michael Page, prosecuting, told the court the train was travelling at around 40 miles per hour when it entered the station at 6.52pm on March 13, 2021.
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This was well above both the legal speed limit of 15 miles per hour and a Merseyrail policy of 10 miles per hour.
Magistrates were told Hollis then applied the emergency brake 18 metres away from the platform but the train crashed through barriers at the end of the station.
There were 12 passengers and a guard also on the train at the time of the accident but none were injured.
Pictures of the aftermath showed a significant amount of damage , with piles of debris, rubble and smashed up concrete.
Part of the platform had also caved in.
It took days for the train to be removed and the station was closed for around two weeks.
Hollis, of Spellow Lane, Walton, was supported by family and friends and spoke only to confirm his personal details and indicate that he would plead guilty to endangering the safety of passengers travelling on a railway through wilful omission or neglect.
He was formally convicted shortly afterwards.
Victor Wozny, defending, told the court the 59-year-old had had four decades of unblemished service as a train driver before the accident.
He has no previous convictions and was granted unconditional bail.
The case was sent to Liverpool Crown Court, where Hollis will be sentenced next month.
