From next Monday, 30th January, changes are being made to the timetable for trains on Merseyrail‘s Kirkby line to help speed-up the introduction of new Class 777 trains onto this part of the network.

For the foreseeable future, some services on weekdays, Monday to Saturday, will be cancelled. The new trains will be in service from 06:13 until 19:35, and from 07:00 there will be three trains per hour until the normal half-hourly evening schedule starts, which runs from 19:13 to the end of service.

Until driver training has completed on this part of the network, the Kirkby line will be served by both old and new trains in the fleet, although at the moment the Class 777s will not yet be used on Sundays.

Full details of the changes and an updated timetable of trains on the Kirby line between Kirkby and Liverpool Central are available online on the Merseyrail website at www.merseyrail.org.

Merseyrail’s first Class 777 in operational use ran on 23rd January 2023. They are fully electric but also have small batteries for shunting in non-electrified sidings. A Class 777/1 variant is also electric but has a larger battery suitable for using the train in passenger service on longer-distance non-electrified lines.

View from the driver’s cab of a Merseyrail Class 777. // Credit: RailAdventZoe Hands, Chief Operating Officer at Merseyrail, said: “We have been delighted with the successful launch of the new trains on the Kirkby line this week and the overwhelmingly positive reaction from our passengers.

“However, we want to crack on with the rollout to get as many new trains into passenger service as soon as possible. To do this our driver training programme will ramp up across the coming weeks.

“This does mean a reduction in the frequency of services on the Kirkby line while this happens, but we will ensure that a full timetable can be restored as soon as possible.

“Merseyrail apologises for any inconvenience that this temporary reduction in frequency will cause passengers.”