This section is intended to be a quick guide of the TOC's and type of Diesel & Electric Multiple units that operate in Liverpool, Merseyside & North Cheshire. You will find that surprisingly there is good variety of D/EMU classes along with livery variations although this is becoming more standardised within each of the TOC's. Currently, there is seven TOC's that operate in Merseyside including Arriva Trains Wales, Arriva Rail North, East Midlands Trains, TransPennine Express, London Northwestern Railway, Merseyrail, and finally Virgin Trains.
Below is a list of the TOC's including the lines they operate on and links (via headers) to the various timetables which should assist you in getting around the area. Of course take advantage of the various cheaper all day or off peak travel passes. As a suggestion, the best location to note all seven TOC's is Liverpool South Parkway Station on the Lime St - Runcorn line and you may get the added bonus of the odd freight train too.
Below is a list of the TOC's including the lines they operate on and links (via headers) to the various timetables which should assist you in getting around the area. Of course take advantage of the various cheaper all day or off peak travel passes. As a suggestion, the best location to note all seven TOC's is Liverpool South Parkway Station on the Lime St - Runcorn line and you may get the added bonus of the odd freight train too.
MERSEYRAIL (MR): This mainly consists of the third rail lines that originate from Liverpool City Centre and is operated jointly by Serco & Ned Railways on behalf of Merseytravel. Currently they use a fleet of Class 507 & 508 EMU's which are scheduled to be replaced sometime in 2020 by new Class 777 emu's but no definite date for entry into service as yet. The third rail lines are divided into two sections as outlined below covering approx 75 route miles.
WIRRAL LINE - Liverpool Central, James St, Hamilton Square, to Chester, Ellesmere Port, West Kirby, and New Brighton, There is also a link to the Arriva Trains Wales trains at Bidston which go onward to Wrexham Central.
NORTHERN LINE - Hunts Cross, Liverpool Central, Moorfields, Sandhills, to Southport, Ormskirk (onward to Preston) and Kirkby (onward to Wigan Wallgate).
Merseytravel also markets the :-
CITY LINE - with the trains originating from Liverpool Lime St to St Helens, Wigan NW, Preston, Blackpool, Manchester and Warrington, but these trains are operated by 'Northern' - for further details see following link. Click here for copy timetables for the City, Northern & Wirral Lines.
WIRRAL LINE - Liverpool Central, James St, Hamilton Square, to Chester, Ellesmere Port, West Kirby, and New Brighton, There is also a link to the Arriva Trains Wales trains at Bidston which go onward to Wrexham Central.
NORTHERN LINE - Hunts Cross, Liverpool Central, Moorfields, Sandhills, to Southport, Ormskirk (onward to Preston) and Kirkby (onward to Wigan Wallgate).
Merseytravel also markets the :-
CITY LINE - with the trains originating from Liverpool Lime St to St Helens, Wigan NW, Preston, Blackpool, Manchester and Warrington, but these trains are operated by 'Northern' - for further details see following link. Click here for copy timetables for the City, Northern & Wirral Lines.
NORTHERN (ARN): This TOC operates trains on behalf of Merseytravel (under the "City Line" banner) within the Liverpool area that originate out of Lime Street Station. ARN currently operate a fleet of Class 142's, 150/1, 150/2, 156's, 319's and 323's within the area all in their Blue / Purple ex NorthernRail livery or in the new white/spotty livery. Currently, the lines to Manchester (via St Helens Junction) & Wigan NW (via Prescot) are now electrified and that refurbished Class 319 EMU's are operating on these lines. However, ARN will still require a fleet of DMU's to maintain the service on the Cheshire Lines line to Manchester Oxford Rd, via Warrington Central. Northern Rail also have a Depot at Allerton (next to Liverpool South Parkway Station) which currently the Class 156 fleet are based there along with the Class 319 EMU Fleet.
"Northern" operate on the following lines:-
Liverpool Lime St - Huyton - Rainhill - (L&M line) to Manchester Victoria / Airport and Warrington Bank Quay via Earlestown including onward to Helsby and Ellesmere Port.
Liverpool Lime St - Liverpool South Parkway - (CLC line) to Warrington Central & Manchester Oxford Road.
Liverpool Lime St - Huyton - St Helens Central to Wigan NW, Preston and Blackpool, also Ormskirk to Preston
Southport / Kirkby - Wigan North Western / Wallgate - Bolton to Manchester Victoria.
"Northern" operate on the following lines:-
Liverpool Lime St - Huyton - Rainhill - (L&M line) to Manchester Victoria / Airport and Warrington Bank Quay via Earlestown including onward to Helsby and Ellesmere Port.
Liverpool Lime St - Liverpool South Parkway - (CLC line) to Warrington Central & Manchester Oxford Road.
Liverpool Lime St - Huyton - St Helens Central to Wigan NW, Preston and Blackpool, also Ormskirk to Preston
Southport / Kirkby - Wigan North Western / Wallgate - Bolton to Manchester Victoria.
TRANSPENNINE EXPRESS (TPE): Operate from Liverpool Lime St via Newton le Willows (via L&M line) and Warrington Central (via CLC) and onward to Manchester Piccadilly, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Newcastle upon Tyne and Scarborough. The majority of the trains are currently operated by the 3 coach Class 185's DMU's but occasionally the odd Class 170/3 appears on the service too. As from August 2019, the long awaited introduction of the Class 68's and Mk5 coaches are now taking place on the Scarborough service, while the new Class 802 units are slowly being introduce on the Newcastle service. Sadly the TPEx livery is a lot to be desired on their trains and not liked by some quarters of the enthusiast fraternity.
EAST MIDLANDS TRAINS (EMT): They operate from Liverpool Lime St but they again go via Warrington Central (CLC line) to Manchester Piccadilly, then onward to Stockport, Sheffield, Nottingham, Peterborough and Norwich. EMT currently use either Class 156 or 158 DMU's on this service but it has been known the occasional Class 153 DMU has appeared too. There is a proposal for the future that Class 222's may regularly operate on this route but they only seem to appear on Grand National day. As for the EMT livery, it is more or less based on the old SWT livery.
LONDON NORTHwestern RAILWAY (LNwR): Another TOC that operates from Liverpool Lime St with direct trains via the WCML to Runcorn, Crewe, Stafford, Birmingham New St and now London Euston. All services are operated by the Ex London Midland livery Class 350/1, 350/2 and 350/3 EMU's. On rare occasions, a Class 323 EMU or 170/6 DMU will appear too.
VIRGIN TRAINS (VT): Virgin currently have the WCML franchise which includes the Liverpool Lime St - Runcorn - London Euston service which are naturally operated by the white and silver livery 9 & 11 car Class 390 "Pendolino's". On occasions (especially Sunday's) one or pair of their Class 221 DMU's may appear. VT have a maintenance depot at Edge Hill which is fully operational and daily maintains the Pendolino’s.
TRANSPORT for WALES (TfW): Since the reopening of the Halton Junction to Frodsham Junction line, TfW now serve Liverpool Lime Street, as well as serving some stations in the Wirral (Bidston to Wrexham Central) and North Cheshire (Manchester Piccadilly - North Wales Coast) . TfW currently use Class 150/2, 153, 158, 175/0 and 175/1 DMU's in the old ATW turquoise livery, although some units have appeared in the red and white TfW livery. Currently, they are using to two Class 67 loco hauled sets to Manchester Piccadilly and Cardiff Central too but it is proposed from 2020 to use revised Class 67's on ex East Coast Mk4 coaches.