Monday’s Friday Reads – 30 September 2019

1. Having recently moved from Tunbridge Wells to Southport, I can heartily concur that Merseyrail is extraordinarily different. On the end of the Northern Line, we get a 15 minute interval service from very early to very late. Each train has a driver and conductor and all stations are manned, meaning there are a lot of disabled travellers confidently moving about the region. Trains are on time. Staff are friendly, and passengers feel positively welcomed. Once the very elderly little yellow trains are replaced (with new little yellow trains) it will be close to perfection. Surely something can be learned for the rest of the nation?

2. HD not in RTW
   Yes
   Go for a concession model, same as “London Overgound” & Merseyrail …
   Provided of course you can overcome the doctrinal-political prejudices of whover is in “Marsham Street” this week!

3. Merseyrail barely shares its network with any other freight or passenger train operator. This isn’t normally the case in south east England. Consider too that Germany prefers its S Bahn networks to be separated whenever possible.

4. I think the only place Merseyrail shares its network now is probably at Bidston where services to West Kirby share platform 2 with Wrexham services (which used to terminate at Birkenhead North) and occasional freight crosses the West Kirby-Birkenhead line here for Birkenhead docks .
   Merseyrail runs parallel to Northern Rail at Hunt’s Cross but doesn’t share platforms but may share a short section of track from South Park Way – Hunt’s Cross.
   Freight also used to travel on the other Birkenhead docks route via Rock Ferry but this and Mollington Street depot have been disused/demolished for over 20 years now.
   End-end connections at Kirby, Ormskirk and (twice a day?) Ellesmere Port .

5. Merseyrail also shares its network at Chester.

6. @Timbeau
   Indeed, don’t know how I forgot that one as it’s the one I use the most frequently!
   Merseyrail terminate on Platform 7 which is also occasionally used by through trains such as the Llandudno to Manchester Picc service. One day I hope that Merseyrail absorb the Chester-Crewe shuttle but this would require OHE to reach Chester.

7. The new innovative Merseyrail trains have the potential to give a long term boost to rail travel in the region.
   Driver only operation & level platform access will greatly improve train & staff productivity, freeing up cash that can be spent on an expanded infrastructure .
   The brisker journey time from new stock & driver door control, plus the new interiors, will surely attract extra passengers & generate more income.

   That can be invested in the improvements that posters above have suggested.

   If the Liverpool politicians keep their nerve Merseyrail will be as spectacularly successful as the Tyne & Wear Metro was when launched in the 1980s.
   It is a virtuous circle for Merseyrail if the trains are manned as efficiently as the Newcastle Metro has been for forty years.
   DOO on Tyneside has produced the lowest costs per passenger mile of any UK railway & with a superb safety record. Merseyrail can join that league.

8. Sorry , should add that the infrastructure improvements were highlighted by Jonathan Roberts in his article , not by fellow posters.

9. Merseyrail will come into its own when it becomes part of an integrated public transport offer including the bus network. Until then it will perform suboptimally. As has the Tyneside metro.

10. Is my memory failing me, or did I hear that those who run transport in Tyne & Wear realised that selling off their buses to private ownership had been a mistake? They wanted to find a way of buying the bus routes back into municipal ownership, as buses complementing Tyneside Metro was the way the Metro had been designed, but things worked less well when buses and Metro were in competition.

    The same thoughts are being heard from Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham.

Comments are closed.