22 Facts About Merseyrail

Merseyrail is a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit urban rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire.

Merseyrail operates 68 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated third rail electrified lines that serve underground stations in the centres of Liverpool and Birkenhead.

Merseyrail branding is applied to stations and 'shared' services on the City Line, which are within the Liverpool City Region but operated by other train operating companies.

Merseyrail is operated for Merseytravel by 50:50 joint venture Serco-Abellio, who superseded Arriva Trains Merseyside in 2003.

Network is operated by the Merseyrail train operating company, formally known as Merseyrail Electrics 2002 Limited, a 50:50 Serco-Abellio joint venture.

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City Line services are not operated by Merseyrail, but have timetables produced by Merseytravel and are included here for completeness.

Services on the electrified Merseyrail network are operated by British Rail Class 507 and Class 508 electric multiple unit trains.

Original service on the Merseyrail lines was provided by Class 502s on the Northern Line and Class 503s on the Wirral Line.

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.

Merseyrail has publicly committed to aiming to be the best train operating company in the United Kingdom.

In February 2010, Merseyrail was named the most reliable operator of trains in the United Kingdom, with a reliability average of 96.

Merseyrail employs a team of officers who enforce railway by-laws relating to placing feet on seats, travelling without tickets, and other kinds of anti-social behaviour.

However, Merseyrail stated that it did not want to take offenders to court, but was not allowed to fine offenders otherwise.

Merseyrail claimed its stance was popular with commuters and has reduced anti-social behaviour on the system.

Present Merseyrail system was merged from the lines of five former pre-Grouping rail systems:.

Merseyrail was born when Liverpool City Council's proposal was adopted.

Since its creation Merseytravel has sponsored the use of Merseyrail branding in stations and paid British Rail to brand local services in a Merseyrail livery.

Year later in 1978, the short line electrification from Walton to Kirkby extended the Merseyrail network, creating a Northern Line branch terminus and interchange station at Kirkby.

Merseyrail was sacked and prosecuted, pleading guilty in February 2022 to a charge of endangering the safety of people on the railway.

In November 2016 the details of the next phase of the Merseyrail fleet were announced: if trains capable of use beyond the third-rail DC network are selected as replacements, various expansions can be achieved without electrification of the entire new route.

New Class 777 Merseyrail trains have been tested for battery electric operation, with the prospect of using them on the Burscough Curves open to review.

The scheme was started along with the creation of Merseyrail however postponed due to cost cutting, with only the western section of the loop completed being a part of the current Northern Line.