The site involves an existing cutting to the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network, located midway between Liverpool Central Station and Brunswick Station, where an underground train station once stood but was closed in 1917 during World War One.
Rotheram said the work was made more complicated because “this station that we’re going to build is on live rails”.
He said the combined authority was trying to stop trains from running on the line while the work was carried out and run rail replacement buses instead.
“It’s safer to do it that way but we have to get permissions from the rail authorities and that is a bureaucratic nightmare,” he added.
Rotheram added “I’m disappointed every time we talk about this because I was so enthused about the plans that came forward and I wanted that to happen quickly, it’s not happening as quickly as we wanted, but it’s not going to be cancelled”.
He said he wanted work to start by the end of this year, but that would not now happen, and work was due to start in 2027 instead.