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507017 had already left for the West Kirby six when I passed, so it wasn't that. The situation was the same as when the livery was launched, with a completed unit and one in progress in the same lane at the depot. I suppose 507011 could be the other unit, but that was in service on the Northern Line on Monday. Can anyone shed some light, please?

I was onboard 507001 + 507011 this evening, on the Southport line. 507011s middle coach sounded really bad with wheel flats, probably should have its tyres turned whilst on the Northern Line.

507031 the next one

(26/02/2014 21:52)Merseyrail 507/508 Wrote: [ -> ]507031 the next one

Thanks for clearing that up.

I noticed the other day that James Street has the new-style caption boards fitted (not working), which display station names but not the number of carriages. I really don't understand why they would fit these to the underground stations, where it's important to know when a six car is coming to encourage spread of passengers.

Fair enough, there aren't many sixes on the Wirral Line, but if they do this at Central and Moorfields on the Northern Line, there's bound to be chaos at peak times and summer Saturday afternoons. I hope they keep the old boards at these stations.

They could just say (Formed of 3/6 coaches) after the stations have scrolled across. This is what you find in southern reigion stations.

Office of Rail Regulation reports Merseyrail has had the largest decline in passenger numbers than any other TOC, compared with the previous year they are down 6% which really is not a small amount.

Rail journeys in Merseyside are down 5.1% overall, with Merseyrail contributing to the majority of that decline.

Most other TOCs are seeing growth, some at double digit levels.

Bus journeys in Merseyside are also falling sharply each year, so it appears as though transport in the region needs a very thorough review.

Is there a link to these figures? It seems surprising that numbers should be down on 2012, when Liverpool Central was closed for a substantial portion of the year and loadings very evidently took a resultant hit. 2013 seemed a very good year from my own observations, with Grand National attendance at record levels and the beautiful summer we had when the six cars were struggling to cope on the Southport line.

Every single Merseyrail operated station has seen a reduction in passenger numbers, with the exception of Liverpool South Parkway (up 6,716) and Ormskirk, (up 12,130).

Using the ORR/DfT/Merseytravel station usage statistics, I have been able to compare total entry/exits from the 2011-2012 period against the 2012-2013 period.

Some highlights:

The following stations did not lose that many customers in 2012/13 when compared with 2011/12 statistics:

Aughton Park - down 394
Bache - down 4588
Bidston - down 10,936
Capenhurst - down 5226
Hooton - down 10,490
Rice Lane - down 8942
Spital - down 8864
Town Green - down 7648


Some pretty horrific losses there, hopefully they will bounce back in 2013/14, and most of this is attributed to the closure of Liverpool Central.

Well, seeing as the figures are 2012-13 and take into account the closure of Liverpool Central, this isn't too much of a surprise. As I say, 2013 seemed to be a strong year for Merseyrail from the loadings I saw throughout.

Are engineering works taken into account?