More trains from Monday on Merseyrail

Sep 1 2007 By Larry Neild, City Editor, Liverpool Daily Post

A Merseyrail train (200)

TRAIN services on Merseyrail’s Northern Line will be back to normal on Monday following two weeks of disruption caused by a mystery wheel problem.

At the same time, trains will continue to operate an emergency half-hour only service on the Wirral Line.

The problem is being solved by a change in the lubricant grease used.

Services will from Monday morning use the city centre loop, rather than terminate and start at James Street. It means cross-river trains calling at Moorfields, Lime Street and Central.

Last night, a spokesman for Merseyrail said: “After extensive analysis by Network Rail and Merseyrail technicians, a solution has been found to the problems caused by unusual levels of wheel wear that Merseyrail trains have been experiencing over the last few weeks.

“The problem of excessive wheel wear appears to have been caused by a combination of factors which on their own would not have had such an impact on the availability of trains but by their interaction have resulted in over a third of Merseyrail trains having to be taken out of service.”

It is likely to be some weeks until enough trains are available to run the normal published Merseyrail timetable, but   frequencies across the network will start to increase as more trains become available for service.

The improvement in services will come as a relief to parents as schools across the region re-open after the long summer break.

The Merseyrail spokesman added: “The nature of the Mersey- rail network with its very tight curves requires a sophisticated regime of rail and wheel flange lubrication. A review of exact locations of the equipment resul- ing in some minor realignment and the type of lubricating grease used has proved to be the key to solving the problem.

“Over the last few days, tests have been carried out which have shown that the new set-up has gone a long way to resolving the issue of wheel wear.”

Merseyrail technicians are continuing to work round the clock to repair train wheels which have suffered from the unusual wear but this process will take some time, even with the help of using extra wheel lathe capacity in Crewe.

Patrick Verwer, Merseyrail’s managing director, said last night: “It has been a very frustrating time for all concerned, particularly for passengers, as we have messed up their journeys as a result of this unusual problem.

“I am pleased that we are now over the worst and that passengers can look forward to a gradual return to our normal reliable service.”

Simon Whitehorn, Network Rail’s area manager for Merseyside, said: “We have worked day and night to find a solution to the problems. Our experts have considered all options and by a process of elimination resolved the issue. It has been a difficult period but I am glad that we are once again providing a reliable network for Merseyrail trains to run on.”

Merseyrail carries around 100,000 passengers each weekday, making it one of the most intensively used networks in the UK, with 780 trains every weekday.