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Merseyrail emergency coronavirus timetable

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lyndhurst25

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I've just got an email from Merseyrail, saying that they will be changing to a 30 minute service frequency using 6-car trains.

Following government advice in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Merseyrail services will be running every 30 minutes on all lines from start of service on Thursday 19 March.



All trains will be made up of six-car carriages to keep the Liverpool City Region moving and ensure we are providing the most reliable service possible.



Monday to Saturday services will be running from their regular start time with a 30-minute frequency, with services on Sundays staying the same.



There are likely to be further amendments to our timetable over the coming weeks, and we would encourage all customers to check before you travel.



This can be done by visiting our website www.merseyrail.org or the Merseyrail twitter account @merseyrail for the latest information.
 
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Trackman

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Northern are doing something similar, new timetable from tomorrow. New timetable from Monday will be published.
 
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Seems eminently sensible.. Suspect a three car would be more than enough based on my wife's experience this week
 

prod_pep

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Really doing their bit for social distancing. My train into work was rammed this morning on the Southport line - 6 car but still a 50% reduction in capacity. No choice but to be next to people coughing and spluttering their way into work. I'm cross with the decision and the short notice.

There was also a 3 car on the Southport route this morning which is scandalous on what is by far the busiest line on the Merseyrail network.

The trouble with this reduced timetable is the imbalanced capacity. You'll have the Ellesmere Port and New Brighton routes carrying fresh air even in the peaks while the Southport, Ormskirk and Chester services will be very busy at various times of the day. For example, 15 minute 6 cars between Liverpool and Hooton is ridiculous excess.
 

Bow Fell

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Really doing their bit for social distancing. My train into work was rammed this morning on the Southport line - 6 car but still a 50% reduction in capacity. No choice but to be next to people coughing and spluttering their way into work. I'm cross with the decision and the short notice.

There was also a 3 car on the Southport route this morning which is scandalous on what is by far the busiest line on the Merseyrail network.

The trouble with this reduced timetable is the imbalanced capacity. You'll have the Ellesmere Port and New Brighton routes carrying fresh air even in the peaks while the Southport, Ormskirk and Chester services will be very busy at various times of the day. For example, 15 minute 6 cars between Liverpool and Hooton is ridiculous excess.

There were no 3 cars out, it was an ECS move (507012)
 

jamesst

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Really doing their bit for social distancing. My train into work was rammed this morning on the Southport line - 6 car but still a 50% reduction in capacity. No choice but to be next to people coughing and spluttering their way into work. I'm cross with the decision and the short notice.

There was also a 3 car on the Southport route this morning which is scandalous on what is by far the busiest line on the Merseyrail network.

The trouble with this reduced timetable is the imbalanced capacity. You'll have the Ellesmere Port and New Brighton routes carrying fresh air even in the peaks while the Southport, Ormskirk and Chester services will be very busy at various times of the day. For example, 15 minute 6 cars between Liverpool and Hooton is ridiculous excess.

The 15mins service is not sustainable when staffing levels are starting to drop.
Dropping down to 30min levels means minimal traincrew are being used with spare turns on call at home giving some hope a continuous service can be used over what is looking more and more like a long period of time.
Sadly the longer it goes on I can see service levels being cut further.
 

Bletchleyite

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I wouldn't so much say sadly. The service only needs to reflect demand. Might well be that that can be met with one unit on the Northern Lines and one on the Wirral Lines as things close down.
 

jamesst

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I wouldn't so much say sadly. The service only needs to reflect demand. Might well be that that can be met with one unit on the Northern Lines and one on the Wirral Lines as things close down.

Skip stopping to save on traincrew diagrams and turning the Eport line to a shuttle would pretty much be the next steps.
Stations wise if the staffing situation continues to get worse the destaffing of out stations and keeping Liverpool Central as the main city station will also be on the cards.
Not exclusive to Merseyrail or in fact the railway but the massive financial black hole that will be left after this situation improves around the world is very worrying.
 

Bletchleyite

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Only the Liverpool city centre/Birkenhead stations require staff, the others could lose ticket offices if needs be.

Maybe this will motivate them to finally join the e-ticket system?
 

TheSel

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The 15mins service is not sustainable when staffing levels are starting to drop.
Dropping down to 30min levels means minimal traincrew are being used with spare turns on call at home giving some hope a continuous service can be used over what is looking more and more like a long period of time.
Sadly the longer it goes on I can see service levels being cut further.

^^^ Absolutely this ^^^

... although I suspect I'm not the only one who gets annoyed that Merseyrail are trying to pretend that the half-hourly six-car provision is in the passengers' interests, when they're effectively reduced the peak-times capacity on the Southport and Ormskirk lines by 50%, by running 6 cars every 30 minutes rather than 6 cars every 15 mins.

From Merseyrail's own FAQ page: https://www.merseyrail.org/seasonal/covid-19-faqs.aspx

"By providing six-car trains on all services, there will be plenty of space so there should be no risk of overcrowding or increased risk of exposure to COVID-19."
 

prod_pep

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Plenty of space there was not on the Southport route this morning. I don't doubt there was plenty of space on other routes like Ellesmere Port where the capacity has ludicrously gone up.
 

jamesst

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Plenty of space there was not on the Southport route this morning. I don't doubt there was plenty of space on other routes like Ellesmere Port where the capacity has ludicrously gone up.

All comes down to staffing levels, Southport and Ellesmere Port services being crewed by different depots plus the old problem of people herding in a few coaches leaving the others generally quiet.
 

evergreenadam

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Really doing their bit for social distancing. My train into work was rammed this morning on the Southport line - 6 car but still a 50% reduction in capacity. No choice but to be next to people coughing and spluttering their way into work. I'm cross with the decision and the short notice.

There was also a 3 car on the Southport route this morning which is scandalous on what is by far the busiest line on the Merseyrail network.

The trouble with this reduced timetable is the imbalanced capacity. You'll have the Ellesmere Port and New Brighton routes carrying fresh air even in the peaks while the Southport, Ormskirk and Chester services will be very busy at various times of the day. For example, 15 minute 6 cars between Liverpool and Hooton is ridiculous excess.

The Ellesmere Port line was a later extension to the electrified network, in general has it not been much of a success? Presumably people in Ellesmere Port still like going into Liverpool City Centre in normal circumstances or do they gravitate more towards Chester?
 

Bletchleyite

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The Ellesmere Port line was a later extension to the electrified network, in general has it not been much of a success? Presumably people in Ellesmere Port still like going into Liverpool City Centre in normal circumstances or do they gravitate more towards Chester?

It was always going to be relatively low demand - it's small, not very prosperous and not (unlike Chester, Southport and Ormskirk) a destination, nor (unlike Chester, Kirkby, Southport and Ormskirk) is it useful for connections.

Was probably justifiable on the grounds of economic assistance as it won't have cost a lot to do it, but I do wonder if it should have remained as an hourly DMU from Hooton.

Here, have a new thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/should-the-ellesmere-port-line-have-been-electrified.202367/
 

30907

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Plenty of space there was not on the Southport route this morning. I don't doubt there was plenty of space on other routes like Ellesmere Port where the capacity has ludicrously gone up.
Interesting that Liverpool seems to be bucking the trend, do you have any idea why?
 

prod_pep

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Interesting that Liverpool seems to be bucking the trend, do you have any idea why?

It isn't bucking the trend as numbers are clearly down but the peak time trains on the Hunts Cross - Southport route have been full and standing for the last two days. That's because they've dropped capacity by 50% on this route in the peaks.
 

jamesst

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It isn't bucking the trend as numbers are clearly down but the peak time trains on the Hunts Cross - Southport route have been full and standing for the last two days. That's because they've dropped capacity by 50% on this route in the peaks.

I'm afraid it's highly likely there will be further cuts on the way soon although I imagine the peak traffic will likely drop as more government measures are announced .
 

30907

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It isn't bucking the trend as numbers are clearly down but the peak time trains on the Hunts Cross - Southport route have been full and standing for the last two days. That's because they've dropped capacity by 50% on this route in the peaks.
Thanks, nationally the drop is reported as 69%, hence my query.
 

Old Yard Dog

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Ellesmere might as well be a 30 minute single unit shuttle from Hooton TBH.

This barmpot idea was proposed at one point but I persuaded the Ellesmere Port & Neston Public transport liaison committee to vigorously oppose it for a number of reasons ...

The electrification was paid for, inter alia, by council tax paid by EP residents to improve links between EP and Liverpool.

In the absence of ticketing facilities at most stations, EP branch passengers would need to navigate four sets of stairs to buy tickets at Hooton before changing trains.

The plan would threaten the viability of the branch, particularly evening and Sunday services.

The main reason the usage of the branch is less than it should be is absence of car parking at Little Sutton and Overpool. Nearby Hooton, on the other hand has a huge, cheap and very safe car park and enjoys much cheaper fares to most destinations as it is treated as if it were in Merseyside for ticketing purposes even though it is in Cheshire. Hooton also has direct trains to Chester.

And finally, you have got to laugh when people from that soulless monstrosity called Milton Keynes, where even the cows are fake, start looking down their noses at Ellesmere Port.
 

Bletchleyite

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This barmpot idea was proposed at one point but I persuaded the Ellesmere Port & Neston Public transport liaison committee to vigorously oppose it for a number of reasons ...

I wasn't referring to generally, I was referring to the present situation.

And finally, you have got to laugh when people from that soulless monstrosity called Milton Keynes, where even the cows are fake, start looking down their noses at Ellesmere Port.

In all seriousness, give me MK over EP. And yes, I have been to the latter. It was about as nice as Shotton.
 

TheSel

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... It was about as nice as Shotton.

Be fair - Shotton still has a Wetherspoon's. The Ellesmere Port one closed, although they now have one in the posh part, near Overpool Station instead. Not that it matters - they're both shut 'for the duration' [he says, nicely bringing the matter back on topic!]
 

M28361M

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Haven't been travelling much myself for obvious reasons, but looking at Twitter it seems that some services are now down to 3 car, with Merseyrail blaming staff shortages.
 

Bow Fell

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And trying to preserve exam mileage of the units that are left, otherwise there’s going to be a bunch of units out of miles all of a sudden.
 

TheSel

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And trying to preserve exam mileage of the units that are left, otherwise there’s going to be a bunch of units out of miles all of a sudden.

Bearing in mind the temporary relaxation of MoT rules, could not some similar dispensation be granted for 'out of miles' units?
 

M28361M

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Big cuts to the Wirral Line this Sunday, full timetable at https://www.merseyrail.org/seasonal/covid-19-wirral-line-timetable-changes.aspx but in summary:-

As a result of the emergency measures imposed by the Prime Minister earlier this week and an increasing number of station, depot and onboard staff self-isolating due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of changes have been made to the timetable for this Sunday (29 March 2020).
  • There will be a 30 minute service operating on the Chester line between 08:00 and 20:00 calling at all stations.
  • There will be an hourly shuttle service operating between Ellesmere Port and Hooton stations from 08:00 and 20:00. Passengers can change at Hooton station to continue their onward journey.
  • On the West Kirby & New Brighton lines there will be a 45-minute service operating between 08:00 and 20:00 calling at all stations.
  • There will be no changes to services on the Northern Line.

So far, this is only for this Sunday, but I suspect more drastic cuts will be happening soon.
 
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