You can spend ages waiting for a train - and then a brand, spanking new one finally turns up.
It's safe to say that Merseyrail passengers have had to be very patient when waiting for the first of the region's new state-of-the-art trains to finally arrive on the local network.
It was all the way back in 2016 that a deal was first struck that would see the Liverpool City Region purchase the £500m fleet of new vehicles from Swiss manufacturer Stadler. As well as the fleet of new high-spec trains, the historic deal would include upgrades to the network's power supply, platforms and track and the refurbishment of the depots at Kirkdale and Birkenhead North.
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The first big stumbling block came pretty much as soon as the deal was announced. It was revealed that the new fleet, specifically designed for the network, would have no conductors or guards on board - with drivers controlling the opening and closing of the train doors at stations.
This move greatly angered and concerned the RMT union and its members and would go on to trigger a long and bitter dispute between the union, Merseyrail and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority resulting in several rounds of strike action across a number of years.
An agreement would be reached in principle in 2018, which guaranteed to protect the role of the guard, but it still wouldn't be until 2022 when a full deal was finally voted through to establish a new permanent position of train manager on the new fleet.
That deal was not the only aspect of the new train project to be held up by events in 2020. The pandemic had a major impact on all existing public transport systems, with millions of people instantly forced to work from home and staff sickness another key issue. The virus meant huge delays to the testing of the new trains. Travel restrictions that came in during the pandemic would also prevent Stadler engineers from getting to Merseyside to work on the new fleet.
On top of this, there was also an issue with flooding in the Spanish factory where the trains were built, which held things up further. It has been a hugely frustrating wait for passengers, made all the more frustrating by seeing more and more of the new trains appearing on the local network - but not being able to get on board.
Testing continued through last year but there was still one final hurdle to overcome. While the RMT agreement was always seen as the main stumbling block in terms of deals for workers, it was revealed last summer that an agreement had still not been struck with the drivers of the new trains and their union, Aslef.
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram expressed huge frustration that this deal did not get over the line before the end of 2022, but it wasn't long into the new year before that final deal was struck. The ECHO first revealed last week that drivers had been balloted on the agreement, with the union urging them to vote yes - and on Tuesday of this past week they did.
This means that we will now, finally, see passengers climbing aboard a new Class 777 train early this week. It will be a hugely significant moment for this region that has so often felt it is losing pace with the advancements of other areas. But it is important to temper expectations.
We will not suddenly see all the aging yellow rolling stock replaced with sleek, new vehicles, this will be a phased approach that will take time. Initially trains on the Kirkby line will be swapped over. The Ormskirk line will be next to be introduced. The rest of the network across both the Northern and Wirral lines will follow later in the year.
So we are still in many ways at the start of this journey, but finally, after so many false starts, that all important first step can be taken.
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