Kirkby line timetable changes announced as new Merseyrail trains are rolled out

Following the successful introduction of the first of the new Class 777 trains this week, further timetable changes are being made to the Kirkby line to help accelerate the implementation of the ground-breaking new fleet of trains onto this part of the Merseyrail network.

Starting from Monday 30 January, the new Merseyrail trains will be in service on the Kirkby line from 06:13 and will continue until 19:35

The Kirkby line service will be served by a mixture of old and new fleet until driver training has been completed on this part of the network.

The Class 777s will be in service from Monday to Saturday but will not yet be used on Sundays.

Passengers need to be aware that this means there will be cancellations of some services on Monday-Saturday for the foreseeable future. There will be three trains per hour running from 07:00, until the normal half-hourly evening schedule which runs from 19:13 to the end of service.

A full timetable of trains from Kirkby to Liverpool Central, and from Liverpool Central to Kirkby, can be found on the Merseyrail website, at www.merseyrail.org.

Zoe 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 roll out 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.”