Merseyrail

Merseyrail is a partially underground commuter rail network and train operating company (TOC) serving Liverpool and the surrounding Liverpool City Region, England. It is a part of Serco-Abellio, and is formed of two electrified lines of the National Rail network known as the Northern Line and the Wirral Line which run underground in central Liverpool and Birkenhead, providing a metro-style service. A third line, separate from the metro-style network, is named the City Line, which is a term used by the governing body Merseytravel referring to local services it sponsors on the Liverpool to Manchester Lines and Liverpool to Wigan Line operated by Northern.

The Merseyrail network has 68 stations and 75 miles of route, of which 6.5 miles are underground. Carrying approximately 110,000 passengers each weekday, it forms the most heavily used urban railway network in the UK outside London. The network is operated by a joint venture between franchise holder Serco and Abellio, who superseded Arriva Trains Merseyside in 2003. The contract is for 25 years expiring in 2028. Serco-Abellio operate a fleet of 59 trains and as of 2015, employ 1,200 people.

The large comprehensive urban network was formed in 1977 by merging separate rail lines by the construction of new tunnels under Liverpool city centre and Birkenhead. Although financial constraints have prevented some of the 1970s plans for the network being realised, the network has been extended, with additional extensions proposed. Point-to-point or return tickets are purchased from staffed offices or ticket machines, but the system is tightly integrated with Merseytravel's City Region-wide pass system, which also encompasses the Mersey Ferries and city and regional bus networks. As of March 2019 Merseytravel ticketing is transitioning to the local Walrus smartcard system, including Merseyrail travel.

The Merseyrail name became the official brand for the network in the days of British Rail, surviving several franchise holders, although the name was not used by Arriva when holding the franchise. Despite this, Merseytravel continued the Merseyrail branding at stations, allowing the name to be adopted colloquially. Merseyrail is referred to as "Merseyrail Electrics" by National Rail Enquiries, and as "Serco/Abellio Merseyrail" by Merseytravel.

Current system
The network is composed of two lines known as the Northern Line and the Wirral Line which are operated by the Merseyrail train operating company and are electrified throughout using the third-rail 750 V DC system. The Power Supply to the Third Rail is monitored and controlled by the Electric Control Room at Sandhills. The City Line (marked red on the map) is operated primarily by Northern with funding from Merseytravel. The line is mainly electrified with one branch, the Liverpool to Manchester line via Warrington, operated by diesel trains.

Trains on the Northern Line and Wirral Line cover the Liverpool City Region. Their total track length is 75 mi, with 68 stations. The lines connect Liverpool city centre with cities and towns on the outer reaches of the city region, such as Southport and Chester. Frequent intermediate stops serve other sections of the urban area. Trains run at an off-peak interval of fifteen minutes on most branches, with lines converging to provide a frequency of up to every five minutes within central Liverpool, and under the Mersey to Birkenhead. Although these two lines of the system by the strictest definition only partially fulfil the requirements of a pure rapid transit network (as it uses Network Rail-owned infrastructure), its legislative isolation from the national franchise system, high frequency in the central, underground sections, and operation as a self-contained network make it practically comparable to one or, more accurately, comparable to European S-train systems. The three lines interchange as follows:
 * Northern and City Line services interchange at Liverpool South Parkway and Hunts Cross in the south of the city.
 * Wirral and City Lines interchange at Lime Street in the city centre.
 * Northern and Wirral lines interchange at Liverpool Central and Moorfields in the city centre

Northern Line
The Northern Line is shown in blue on the Merseyrail map and denoted by the above wordmark on underground stations. Services operate on three main routes: from Hunts Cross in the south of Liverpool to via the Link tunnel from Brunswick Station through central Liverpool, from Liverpool Central to Ormskirk and from Liverpool Central to Kirkby. Each route operates a train every 15 minutes from Monday to Saturday, giving a frequent interval between trains on the central section. Some additional trains run at peak hours on the Southport line.

Connections are available at Southport to Wigan Wallgate and ; at for services operated by London Midland, East Midlands Trains, TransPennine Express and Northern serving, ,  and various destinations within Yorkshire and  the West Midlands; at Hunts Cross to Warrington Central and Manchester Oxford Road; at Ormskirk to Preston and at Kirkby to Wigan Wallgate and Manchester Victoria.

On matchdays at the stadiums of Liverpool F.C.'s Anfield and Everton F.C.'s Goodison Park, Northern Line services connect with the SoccerBus service at Sandhills to transport fans to the stadiums. The buses depart at frequent intervals from Sandhills station and a ticket combining both methods of travel is available. Kirkdale station is within walking distance of Goodison Park.

Wirral Line


The Wirral Line is shown in green on the Merseyrail map and denoted by the above wordmark on underground stations. Services operate from the three terminus stations of: Ellesmere Port, New Brighton and West Kirby. Chester was a former terminus on the line until 2021. Each line from the terminus stations runs to Hamilton Square underground station in Birkenhead and through the Mersey Railway Tunnel, continuing around the single track underground loop tunnel in Liverpool's city centre. Trains head back into the Mersey Railway Tunnel to return to one of the Wirral's terminus stations.

Monday-Saturday services are every 15 minutes from Liverpool to Chester, New Brighton and West Kirby, and every 30 minutes to Ellesmere Port (Monday - Sunday). These combine to give a service at least every five minutes from Birkenhead Hamilton Square and around the loop under Liverpool's city centre.

Connections are provided at Bidston on the West Kirby branch for the Borderlands Line to Wrexham, operated by Transport for Wales, and at Birkenhead Central there are services operated by Northern, Transport for Wales and CrossCountry to via Chester, Northwich and Knutsford, South Wales via Wrexham and, and Exeter and Southampton via Birmingham. At Ellesmere Port there is a minimal service to and from Warrington.

City Line
The City Line, shown in red on the Merseyrail map, is a term used by local transport authority Merseytravel to describe the suburban services which depart from the main line surface platforms at on the Liverpool to Wigan, Liverpool to Manchester Lines, Liverpool to Crewe line, and Blackpool–Liverpool line. It is denoted by the above wordmark on maps. The City Line is not operated by Merseyrail trains; however, the trains stop at two stations operated by Merseyrail. Services are less frequent than those on the Northern Line and Wirral Line, generally half-hourly on weekdays. The electric trains are branded Northern Electrics on the services using the Class 319s.

The line consists of a number of services departing Liverpool Lime Street station, namely the line to Wigan North Western, both routes to Manchester, via Warrington or Newton-le-Willows, and services to Crewe via Runcorn. Of these, only the service to Manchester via Warrington Central is not currently electrified. Services are provided by the Northern and London Northwestern Railway train operating companies. Stopping services running through Merseyside are sponsored by Merseytravel and stations are given Merseyrail branding.

Work on the electrification of the two remaining branches of the City Line on the 25 kV overhead system was completed in 2015. Earlier, in February 2010 Network Rail announced that four electrified tracks will be provided from Broad Green Station to Huyton Station. This is to enable segregation of the longer distance limited stop train services to Manchester and beyond from the stopping services of the City Line.

In 2015, Class 319 electric multiple units were transferred from the Thameslink route, refurbished, repainted in Northern livery and following the removal of the third rail collector shoes, are operating on the newly electrified lines between Liverpool, Wigan and Manchester, which incorporates the City Line.

Services
Typical weekday off-peak service on the Merseyrail-run Northern and Wirral lines is as follows:

City Line services are not operated by Merseyrail, but have timetables produced by Merseytravel and are included here for completeness. Typical off-peak weekday service is as follows:

Fleet
Services on the electrified Merseyrail network are operated exclusively by Class 507 and Class 508 electric multiple unit trains (EMUs). These replaced pre-war Class 502 (originally constructed by the LMS) and almost identical Class 503 EMUs. There are 59 trains in service on the network. This is down from an initial 76: twelve 508s were transferred to Connex South Eastern in 1996, and a further three were transferred to Silverlink to supplement its fleet of Class 313 EMUs in North London. These train sets had been stored on Merseyside as surplus from during the 1990s.

Two sets have been written off and scrapped. These are unit 507022 in 1991, after a collision, and unit 508118, which had been gutted by fire in an arson attack in Birkenhead in 2001.

The fleet was refurbished between 2002 and 2005 by Alstom at a cost of £32 million, involving trainsets being transported to and from Eastleigh works behind Class 67 locomotives. Improvements to the trains included new high-backed seating, interior panel replacement, new lighting, the installation of a Passenger Information System and a new external livery.

To celebrate Liverpool's successful 2008 European Capital of Culture bid, Merseyrail named one of its train sets (508136) Capital of Culture. A press ceremony took place at Kirkdale TMD where Cherie Blair, the wife of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, named 508143 Capital of Culture. The name, a vinyl stick-on, was removed in 2009. In February 2008 the first of four sets in a special Capital of Culture promotional livery was released. Set number 508134 was emblazoned with a purple livery showcasing the "creative" element of the city. Three more followed in blue "maritime", green "heritage" and red "sport" colours, but these liveries were removed in November 2009. On 11 October 2011, set 508111 was unveiled in a blue advertising livery for The Beatles Story, a museum for The Beatles in Liverpool. A second advertising train, 507002, appeared in September 2012; it promotes Liverpool Hope University.

From July 2008, four trains were named after Merseyside icons following a poll in the Liverpool Echo. The first, Red Rum, was unveiled at Southport on 14 July 2008 by Ginger McCain. Three more have followed, named Bob Paisley, Dixie Dean, and John Peel. Further trains were named Councillor Jack Spriggs, Operations Inspector Stuart Mason and Harold Wilson.

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Serco-Abellio partnership operating Merseyrail, a unit was named Merseyrail - celebrating the first ten years 2003-2013 at Rock Ferry on 7 October 2013. It was also confirmed that the current fleet would undergo a refreshment package including interior improvements and a new livery scheduled to begin in 2014 with interior refurbishments set to commence in 2015 and take just over a year to complete.

Past fleet
The original service on the Merseyrail lines was provided by British Rail Class 502 on the Northern Line, withdrawn by 1980, and British Rail Class 503 on the Wirral Line from June 1980 onwards, the majority of the Class 503s were progressively withdrawn from June 1984, the final service train running on 29 March 1985.

Merseyrail formerly had four Class 73 electro-diesel locomotives for shunting, sandite trains, engineering works and other departmental duties. These locomotives were sold to a preservation company in 2002.

Future fleet
In December 2016, Merseytravel announced that it had reached an agreement with Swiss rolling-stock manufacturer Stadler Rail for the provision of a new fleet trains with the capability of being driver only, to be built at Stadler's factory in Bussnang, Switzerland. The new units, which will be designated, are to be delivered from mid-2019 onwards, the final units being due to enter service 2021. Based on the METRO platform, Stadler's product family for underground trains as used on the Berlin U-Bahn and Minsk Metro, the new trains are custom-built, bespoke designs specifically for the Merseyrail network.This differs to the current fleet, which was built to a standard British Rail design for commuter services.

The new trains will be of an articulated four-car design (as opposed to the three-car units currently in service) with a significantly increased overall capacity and faster acceleration and deceleration, which will allow for reduced journey times. A combination of reduced weight (99 tonnes, representing a 5.5 tonne weight reduction) and more efficient electrical systems will give a 20% reduction in energy use.

The first of the 52 units should be delivered in summer 2019, and the whole fleet is planned to be in service by 2021. Merseytravel has an option for a further fifteen Class 777 units as part of the deal, which if exercised would see a total of 67 units built. The deal also involves the transfer of 155 of Merseyrail's maintenance workers and the operation of its maintenance depot at Kirkdale to Stadler Rail Service.

The transfer of Kirkdale depot and Merseyrail engineering personnel took place in October 2017, as construction work to modernise the depot, which is the planned maintenance hub for the Class 777s, commenced.

Depots
The electric fleet is maintained and stabled at Kirkdale TMD and Birkenhead North TMD, the two depots on the network. Minor repair work and stock cleaning takes place at Kirkdale, while overhauls are completed at Birkenhead. Other depots at Hall Road and Birkenhead Central were closed in 1997, and the former was demolished in April 2009.

There are also two depots near Southport station: Southport Wall Sidings and Southport Carriage Holding Sidings.

Financial performance
(Figures shown are attributable to Merseyrail Electrics 2002 Ltd, (who operate the Northern and Wirral Line sections of the "Merseyrail" branded network).