Frustrated Merseyrail passengers were faced with reduced timetables, packed trains and replacement buses today as they made their way to work.
The under-pressure operator has been hit with a barrage of complaints and questions from understandably annoyed customers as its reduced timetable got underway this morning. It was announced last week that train trips would decrease and run every 30 minutes on the Ormskirk, Kirkby, Hunts Cross, New Brighton, West Kirby, Chester and Ellesmere Port lines.
This news came after major disruption on the Kirkby and New Brighton trains last week, where services were replaced by buses. Those services have resumed this week.
READ MORE: Reduced timetable won’t be used to speed up testing of delayed fleet of new Merseyrail trains
The cancellations and disruption has been blamed on faults on the trains. A Merseyrail spokesperson said that they experienced an "unexpected and significant increase" in wheel bearing faults which affected the number of trains available. They said while the wheel bearings on affected units are replaced, emergency changes needed to be made to timetables to prevent unplanned disruption and to maintain a reliable service.
This morning, as people packed onto the reduced services, many had similar questions for Merseyrail. The questions that kept getting repeated were, how long will this disruption last for and when are the new, state-of-the-art Merseyrail trains going to finally arrive? It is an added frustration for many that they are facing such disruption while the £460m fleet of promised new trains are still yet to arrive.
In terms of the first question, Merseyrail is currently unable to state how long the latest disruption to services will last for. On its website, it states: "We are working hard with our train maintainers Stadler, to resolve the issues we are experiencing. Whilst we are hoping these issues are short term, their nature means that we aren’t able to say at this stage how long the changes will remain in place. The situation is being reviewed daily and we will provide further updates when they become available."
So what about the new trains? While Merseyrail’s ageing fleet is experiencing issues with what it says is wear on its wheel bearings, the brand new state of the art trains have hit a number of delays since they were purchased by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
A deal to purchase a 52-strong fleet of state-of-the-art new trains from Swiss manufacturer Stadler was finalised in 2016, but the project to deliver the new Merseyrail trains has been slowed down, with the global pandemic cited one of the main reasons , as well as flooding in the factory they were being made.
The Combined Authority is still unwilling to give a specific timeline on when new trains will start to appear on the network. In May a spokesperson told the ECHO said it is expected that the fleet will begin to be phased into service in the autumn.
One of the key hold ups appears to be around testing of the new vehicles. In May, Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram told the ECHO that the return to the original 15 minute timetable meant there were 'less slots' to test the new trains, which he said need to undergo 500 miles of fault free testing before they can be introduced as passenger services.
But when asked if the reduced 30 minute timetable currently operating would mean more opportunities to speed up testing of the new trains, A spokesperson for the Combined Authority ECHO: "There is no change to the current testing programme."
As if there were not enough issues for commuters this morning, Merseyrail also announced that signalling issues in the Capenhurst area meant that services on the Chester Line would be terminating and starting back at Hooton, with rail replacement buses brought in.
