Merseyrail timetable cancellations January 2022

TheSel · 12 Jan 2022

Merseyrail are reducing to a thirty minute frequency on all lines from Monday 17 January (until further notice)

https://www.merseyrail.org/plan-your-journey/30-minute-timetable.aspx

Due to the ongoing impact of the Omicron COVID-19 variant affecting staff availability, there will be changes to the Merseyrail timetable.

From Monday 17 January until further notice, a 30-minute timetable will run from the start to the end of service on all lines.

The temporary timetable will be in place on Mondays - Saturdays. Sunday timetables will not change.

Prior to this, between 10 and 16 January, there will be pre-planned cancellations in place on the Merseyrail network. The list of cancellations can be viewed here.

Additionally, there are numerous 'planned cancellations' affecting services this week.

https://www.merseyrail.org/plan-your-journey/train-cancellations.aspx

Unfortunately, due to the impact of the Omicron COVID-19 variant affecting staff availability, some trains will be cancelled from Saturday 8 January until Saturday 15 January.

The list of trains that will not run from Monday 10 January are listed below. Please note that different trains are cancelled on these dates. There are no planned cancellations for Sundays.

RailUK Forums

Llandudno · 12 Jan 2022

TheSel said:
Merseyrail are reducing to a thirty minute frequency on all lines from Monday 17 January (until further notice)

https://www.merseyrail.org/plan-your-journey/30-minute-timetable.aspx

Additionally, there are numerous 'planned cancellations' affecting services this week.

https://www.merseyrail.org/plan-your-journey/train-cancellations.aspx

Let’s hope the 30 minute frequency is operated by 6 car trains.

I would imagine the reduced frequency could lead to some long waits at interchange stations such as Kirkby, Ormskirk, Hunts Cross, Chester and Bidston?

Vinnym · 13 Jan 2022

Not surprised at this reduction in service. With Covid related absences, Also I travelled last week mid morning Old Roan to Orrell Park, surprised to see a six carriage train off peak, only six people in the. Carriage I got on.. let’s hope it’s back to 20 mins and hopefully 15 mins later this year.

Jamesrob637 · 13 Jan 2022

Post #2 sums things up well.

D821 · 14 Jan 2022

I asked the other day if the service would be 6 car and no one seemed to know.

jamesst · 14 Jan 2022

D821 said:
I asked the other day if the service would be 6 car and no one seemed to know.

Pretty much everything bar the Ellesmere Ports and 1 off peak West Kirby circuit are booked as 6 cars Monday to Saturday daytime.

D821 · 14 Jan 2022

jamesst said:
Pretty much everything bar the Ellesmere Ports and 1 off peak West Kirby circuit are booked as 6 cars Monday to Saturday daytime.

Thanks!

jamesst · 14 Jan 2022

D821 said:
Thanks!

No worries!

TheSel · 21 Jan 2022

Update to this situation.

From the Merseyrail Website, detailed here:

Due to increased staff availability, additional services will will run on Southport line from Monday 24 January.

It goes on to list the services as:

0756, 0956, 1356 and 1556 Southport - Liverpool Central (calling all stations)
0853, 1053, 1453 and 1653 Liverpool Central - Southport (calling all stations)

... in each case, running Monday to Saturday inclusive.

D821 · 21 Jan 2022

I must admit that this hasn't worked out too bad. The 6 car sets have meant that things haven't been overcrowded.

Bletchleyite · 21 Jan 2022

D821 said:
I must admit that this hasn't worked out too bad. The 6 car sets have meant that things haven't been overcrowded.

To be fair it's just the Sunday service, and other than between about 0730-0845 and 1645-1815 or thereabouts Sundays are vastly busier than Monday-Friday on Merseyrail these days, and it copes fine. Not as convenient as 4tph, but 4tph 3-car and 2tph 6-car provide exactly the same capacity. Odd to think that shops in Liverpool city centre were closed on Sundays entirely (even though not legally required to be so) as recently as the late 1990s.

I have wondered if it'd be a worthwhile cost saving to drop to half hourly between about 1000 and 1600 Monday-Friday permanently to save costs - it's half empty, and evenings after 1900 are already half hourly and always have been.

TheSel · 21 Jan 2022

Bletchleyite said:
To be fair it's just the Sunday service, and other than between about 0730-0845 and 1645-1815 or thereabouts Sundays are vastly busier than Monday-Friday on Merseyrail these days, and it copes fine. Not as convenient as 4tph, but 4tph 3-car and 2tph 6-car provide exactly the same capacity. Odd to think that shops in Liverpool city centre were closed on Sundays entirely (even though not legally required to be so) as recently as the late 1990s.

I have wondered if it'd be a worthwhile cost saving to drop to half hourly between about 1000 and 1600 Monday-Friday permanently to save costs - it's half empty, and evenings after 1900 are already half hourly and always have been.

Not entirely accurate, I'm afraid.

Pre-Covid, Southport-Hunts Cross was every 15 mins all day, until 2300 or so off each end.

geoffk · 21 Jan 2022

Just in time for the ending of restrictions and more commuters going back to work.

S&CLER · 21 Jan 2022

Bletchleyite said:
To be fair it's just the Sunday service, and other than between about 0730-0845 and 1645-1815 or thereabouts Sundays are vastly busier than Monday-Friday on Merseyrail these days, and it copes fine. Not as convenient as 4tph, but 4tph 3-car and 2tph 6-car provide exactly the same capacity. Odd to think that shops in Liverpool city centre were closed on Sundays entirely (even though not legally required to be so) as recently as the late 1990s.

I have wondered if it'd be a worthwhile cost saving to drop to half hourly between about 1000 and 1600 Monday-Friday permanently to save costs - it's half empty, and evenings after 1900 are already half hourly and always have been.

Southport had a 15 minute frequency on summer Sundays of course. I think a 20 minute frequency would probably be adequate for all branches (including Ellesmere Port) in present traffic conditions; Merseyrail was reported to be back to 69.9% of pre-pandemic traffic levels recently. That would give 12 tph round the Loop and 9 tph from Sandhills to Central, 6 tph from Hooton and 6 from Birkenhead North. 20-minute frequencies don't mesh too well with 15/30 minutes, so it would be best to have the same frequency on all branches, I think, and not a mix of 20/30 mins. Some of them probably never justified the 15-minute service anyway (New Brighton?), but it was convenient and good marketing to have a uniform frequency. Connections with other TOCs at the extremities would still be reasonable (though at Southport it's not unusual to arrive on a Northern train on time and see a Merseyrail emu pulling out at the very same minute). Pre-war, the Southern's GM Sir Herbert Walker thought that 20 minutes was pretty much turn up and go, about what most people would be willing to wait.

Bletchleyite · 21 Jan 2022

S&CLER said:
Southport had a 15 minute frequency on summer Sundays of course. I think a 20 minute frequency would probably be adequate for all branches (including Ellesmere Port) in present traffic conditions; Merseyrail was reported to be back to 69.9% of pre-pandemic traffic levels recently. That would give 12 tph round the Loop and 9 tph from Sandhills to Central, 6 tph from Hooton and 6 from Birkenhead North. 20-minute frequencies don't mesh too well with 15/30 minutes. It would be best to have the same frequency on all branches, I think, and not a mix of 20/30 mins. Some of them probably never justified the 15-minute service anyway (New Brighton?), but it was convenient and good marketing to have a uniform frequency. Connections with other TOCs at the extremities would still be reasonable (though at Southport it's not unusual to arrive on a Northern train on time and see a Merseyrail emu pulling out at the very same minute. Pre-war, the Southern's GM Sir Herbert Walker thought that 20 minutes was pretty much turn up and go, about what most people would be willing to wait.

It was 3tph for the first few years - certainly long enough for me to remember as a kid when it increased to 4. The advantage of 4/2 is that you only have one set of times to remember, so as you say mixing them is negative.

3/6 would be nice, but I believe the level crossings on the Southport line would make that difficult.

jamesst · 21 Jan 2022

One of the main issues is that running 6 cars all day just isn't sustainable for anything more than a few weeks, it plays havoc with the milage on the units.

Bletchleyite · 21 Jan 2022

jamesst said:
One of the main issues is that running 6 cars all day just isn't sustainable for anything more than a few weeks, it plays havoc with the milage on the units.

Surely running 6 car every 30 minutes results in near enough exactly the same mileage as running 3 car every 15 minutes, as long as you drop off the second unit when you'd traditionally go down to 2tph for the evening on Ormskirks, Kirkbys etc?

jamesst · 21 Jan 2022

Bletchleyite said:
Surely running 6 car every 30 minutes results in near enough exactly the same mileage as running 3 car every 15 minutes, as long as you drop off the second unit when you'd traditionally go down to 2tph for the evening on Ormskirks, Kirkbys etc?

Nope, don't forget mon to fri off peak under the normal pre covid 15min timetable there isnt a 6 car to be seen with units stored at various locations. Whereas at the moment there's actually more units in service for a large portion of the day even with the 30min frequency.
This is one of the reasons that one of the West Kirby circuits is cut back to a 3 car between the peaks even under this latest timetable.

TheSel · 3 Feb 2022

Merseyrail are now advising an increase in service level from Monday 14 February.

Full details here but in summary:

From Monday 14 February:

Southport and Hunts Cross lines - Trains will run every 20 minutes from the start to the end of service.
Ormskirk and Kirkby lines - Trains will run every 20 minutes until 20:00, then every 30 minutes until the end of service.
West Kirby and New Brighton lines - Trains will run every 20 minutes until 19:00, then every 30 minutes until the end of service.
Chester line - Trains will run every 15 minutes from 07:00 until 19:00. They will run every 30 minutes before 07:00 and after 19:00 until the end of service.
Ellesmere Port line - Trains will continue to run every 30 minutes from the start to the end of service.

Pacef8 · 3 Feb 2022

Any idea what happened at James street this evening for the loop to go down ?

D821 · 3 Feb 2022

There was a signal failure around Hamilton Square this morning that led to rail replacement buses from Birkenhead North to Liverpool. I thought it was fixed by this afternoon, I assume it was the same thing.

Merseyrail timetable cancellations January 2022

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Unfortunately, due to the impact of the Omicron COVID-19 variant affecting staff availability, some trains will be cancelled from Saturday 8 January until Saturday 15 January.​

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Unfortunately, due to the impact of the Omicron COVID-19 variant affecting staff availability, some trains will be cancelled from Saturday 8 January until Saturday 15 January.