Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram is seeking compensation from train manufacturer Stadler following poor performance of Merseyrail's fleet of Class 777 electric multiple-units.
(Permalink) Class 777 Merseyrail Stadler

Delayed Merseyrail passengers could receive compensation amid ongoing delays.
(Permalink) Class 777 Merseyrail

ORR stats reveal the oldest train fleets in Great Britain. Each year we publish statistics on the average age of rolling stock for each rail operator in Great Britain. The national railway fleet is comprised of around 15,300 vehicles, with 99% used by franchised operators and 1% used by non-franchised operators. Some of the oldest vehicles are the electric Class 313 vehicles, which first entered service in 1976 and are still in use. Merseyrail has run electric Class 507 trains since they first started operating passenger services, and these were built between 1978 and 1980. The newest vehicles were built in the last two years, such as Greater Anglia's new Class 720 trains and the latest operator Lumo runs Class 803 AT300 trains. In the current fleet, around three-quarters of the vehicles have been built since privatisation (1997) and just 3% were built before 1980. Over a third have been built in the last 10 years, with 2% built since the start of 2020. The average age for franchised operators has fallen from 19.7 years in March 2018, to 16.9 years in the most recent year (as of 31 March 2022). Over time some older fleets have been refurbished to increase capacity, and also to meet new accessibility standards. For non-franchised operators, the average age has fallen substantially from 17.4 years in March 2018 to 9.5 years in the latest year. All of the current rolling stock for the four non-franchised operators were built from 2000 onwards. In the latest year, Lumo had the lowest average age of 0.8 years, whilst Merseyrail had the oldest fleet with an average age of 42.6 years.
(Permalink) Greater Anglia Merseyrail ORR Train age

Railway engineers are using 21st century technology to fix an underground tunnel in Liverpool city centre while causing zero disruption to passengers.
(Permalink) Merseyrail

Abellio UKs CEO Dominic Booth is understood to be leading buyout and will help fund deal using own money. The Dutch state railway is to pull out of the UK with a management buyout of its subsidiary Abellio, which runs four rail lines and a number of London bus routes. Abellio, which for 20 years has run East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Merseyrail and West Midlands Railway and employs 15,000 staff, is to be sold by the Netherlands state-run Nederlandse Spoorwegen to its UK management. The business will be operated by a new firm, to be known as Transport UK Group Limited.
(Permalink) Abellio East Midlands Railway Greater Anglia Merseyrail Transport UK Group Limited West Midlands Railway

Challenges arising from the coronavirus pandemic mean that the phased introduction of Merseyrail's fleet of Stadler Class 777 electric multiple-units will not begin this year, transport authority Merseytravel has confirmed.
(Permalink) COVID-19 Class 777 Merseyrail

Workers on Southern, Merseyrail and Arriva Trains North are to hold fresh strikes on 8 April, the day of the Grand National, the RMT union has said.
The 24-hour industrial action is part of an ongoing dispute over staffing and the role of conductors.
A strike planned for 4 April on Southern routes was moved to 8 April after the company offered fresh talks.
Merseyrail said coinciding a strike with the race meeting would damage Liverpool city region's reputation.
(Permalink) Arriva Trains North Merseyrail Southern Strike