Carrying 110,000 passengers on more than 600 trains every weekday, Merseyrail is one of the most intensively used networks in the country. Tony McDonough reports
Merseyrail is the most punctual rail operator in the UK, it has been revealed, despite having the oldest rolling stock.
Carrying 110,000 passengers on more than 600 trains every weekday, Merseyrail is one of the most intensively used networks in the country. It operates across the Northern, Wirral and City lines.
Latest data shows 96.36% of its services ran on time on 2019 – the second year running it has achieved the total of being the most punctual operator. Merseyrail has just taken delivery of the first of its new £460m train fleet, paid for by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
The new trains will be tested on the network and it is expected they will begin to come into services later this year. Operations director Zoe Hands said: “These punctuality results cement the fact that Merseyrail is consistently one of the best performing rail operators in the country.
“Our passengers are at the heart of everything we do, and this is reflected in the results that we have gained despite some challenging conditions over the last 12 months. We would like to show our gratitude to Merseytravel and our service partners the British Transport Police, Stadler, Stadium and Carlisle who have worked with us to achieve this record breaking result.
“However, our special thanks has to go to Network Rail who have been the bedrock of our performance owing to their tireless efforts and success in improving infrastructure reliability this past year.”
Cllr Liam Robinson, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Transport Portfolio Holder, added: “At a time when some rail services in other areas of the country and region are so poor, it’s great to see that the Merseyrail network is performing well, reinforcing the level of service that we work hard to achieve.
It’s an exciting time for us, with the new fleet due to start arriving on our network later this year, further strengthening our commitment to provide a reliable service for Merseyrail passengers.”