Merseyrail announces temporary changes to services as the rollout of the Liverpool city region £500m train fleet enters its final stages. Tony McDonough reports

A Class 777 Merseyrail train at Sandhills. Picture by Tony McDonough

Merseyrail will run eight-car services on the Southport line from Sunday, August 25, as part of the final stages of the rollout of the new £500m train fleet.

As part of this phased approach, there will be some temporary changes to services between Southport and Hunts Cross and Ormskirk and Liverpool Central to ensure that there is sufficient capacity to carry customers during the transition process.

From August 25 Southport line services will start and terminate at Liverpool Central. The all-day 15-minute service between Liverpool Central and Southport will remain in place.

Customers travelling on the Southport line between Southport and Hunts Cross should change trains at Liverpool Central. Ormskirk line services will call at all stations to Hunts Cross. Trains from Hunts Cross will call at all stations to Ormskirk.

All services between Ormskirk and Hunts Cross will run at a 15-minute frequency during the day, and 30-minute frequency in the evening and all day on Sundays. Ormskirk line customers will be able to travel direct to all stations between Ormskirk and Hunts Cross.

Funded by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, the first of the 52-strong Stadler-made Class 777 trains were introduced on the Kirkby line in January 2023. Although broadly welcomed by passengers there have been some teething issues.

In particular trains servicing the new £80m Headbolt Lane station on the Kirkby line have met with multiple delays and cancellations.

Because the new stretch of line is not electrified like the rest of the Merseyrail network, the trains have been battery operated. This means commuters faced significant disruption in the first half of 2024.

However, in July Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram announced a cut-price fares offer on the line, funded by Stadler, to thank travellers for their patience. He said the service was now back up to four trains an hour.

Southport has been the final line to see the trains introduced. This has been partly due to work that needed to be done on the platform at Southport station.

There will be temporary changes on the Southport to Hunts Cross line. Picture by Tony McDonough

Merseyrail added train times will be slightly amended to fit in with the temporary calling pattern. Customers should check journey times at merseyrail.org or via the Merseyrail app before they travel. 

An announcement about when the normal timetable and services will be resumed will be made in due course as the eight-car trains are rolled out.

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Neil Grabham, managing director of Merseyrail, said: “I’m pleased to say that the new fleet roll out programme is nearing completion.

“We know that the Southport line is particularly busy, especially at this time of year. So, it’s great that we can significantly increase capacity to meet the needs of our customers.

“However, these temporary changes will mean that some customers will need to make changes to their regular journeys. I’d like to apologise for the alterations and thank people for their patience.”