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, East Midlands Trains, First TransPennine, London Midland, Merseyrail, Northern Rail and finally Virgin Trains.
Below is a list of the TOC's including the lines they operate on and links 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 six TOC's out of the seven is Liverpool South Parkway Station on the Lime St - Runcorn line and you may get the added bonus of the odd DB Schenker & Fastline coal 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 from about 2012/13. 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 market the "City Line" with the trains originating from Liverpool Lime St, but these trains are operated by Northern Rail - for further details see below. Click here for copy timetables for the City, Northern & Wirral Lines.
NORTHERN RAIL (NR): This TOC operates trains on behalf of Merseytravel (under the "City Line" banner) within the Liverpool area that originate out of Lime Street Station. NR currently operate a fleet of Class 142's, 150/1, 150/2 and 156's within the area with the majority of them now in their Blue / Purple livery. Currently, there is still (at time of writing) some Class 156's in the old "Barbie" livery, 4 in the ex-Northern Spirit livery, along with 4 Cl142's in the drab Northern plain blue livery with gold star!
Northern Rail 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.
First TRANSPENNINE (TP): Operate from Liverpool Lime St to Warrington Central (via CLC) and onward to Manchester Piccadilly, Huddersfield, Leeds, York, Newcastle upon Tyne and Scarborough. The majority of the trains are operated by the attractive livery 3 coach Class 185's DMU's but occasionally the odd Class 170/3 appears on the service too.
EAST MIDLANDS TRAINS (EMT): Again operates 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 appear on this route but only one has appeared so far on a Clearance Special to Lime St Station. As for liveries of the Units, they are still in a variety including new EMT livery (similar to SWT), Wessex Alphaline, Green Central Trains and ex Maroon Transpennine.
LONDON MIDLAND (LM): Another TOC that operates from Liverpool Lime St with direct trains via the WCML to Runcorn, Crewe, Stafford and Birmingham New St. All trains are now in the new LM livery Class 350/1 & 350/2 EMU's.
VIRGIN TRAINS (VT): Virgin have the WCML franchise which includes the Liverpool Lime St - Runcorn - London Euston service which are naturally operated by the silver livery Class 390 "Pendolino's". On occasions (especially Sunday's) one or pair of their Class 221 DMU's may appear. VT do have a maintenance depot at Edge Hill which currently is having a major revamp.
ARRIVA TRAINS WALES (ATW): Although ATW don't actually serve Liverpool, there trains do appear on lines within Merseyside and accordingly serve some stations in the Wirral (Bidston to Wrexham Central) and North Cheshire (Manchester Piccadilly - North Wales Coast) . ATW currently use Class 150/2, 153, 158, 175/0 and 175/1 DMU's mainly in their turquoise livery but there are still the odd Class 175/1 still in the old "Barbie" livery.
Arriva Trains Wales operate on the following lines:-
Bidston - Heswall - Shotton - Wrexham Central. (Mainly Class 153's but an occasional Class 150/2 DMU appear's).
Manchester Piccadilly - Warrington BQ - Helsby - Chester - Rhyl - Llandudno Junction - Bangor - Holyhead.