UK: Challenges arising from the coronavirus pandemic mean that the phased introduction of Merseyrail’s fleet of Stadler Class 777 electric multiple-units will not begin this year, transport authority Merseytravel has confirmed.
The pandemic has affected a number of manufacturing and testing workstreams and disrupted critical European supply chains over the past 10 months. This has had a knock-on effect on the rest of the programme.
However, progress has been made in many areas, with testing on the Merseyrail network now well advanced and power supply upgrades due for completion in the New Year.
‘We had hoped to be in a position towards the end of this year to give more clarity about when we might start to see our new trains come into service’, a spokesperson said. ‘Unfortunately, as there is still so much uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and what might happen over the next three to six months we are not able to do so at this time.
‘While we appreciate this is disappointing news, we are doing everything we can to put a revised schedule in place. Our focus is on driving this project forward and we hope to provide further updates regarding the introduction of the new trains as soon as possible.’
The 52 four-car third-rail EMUs are being supplied under a £700m contract awarded in February 2017 which includes maintenance by the manufacturer at a purpose-built depot throughout their 35 year life.
The trains will be owned outright Merseytravel, which will lease them to the operating concessionaire to ensure they remain on the local network. An option to purchase up to 60 additional EMUs could be exercised if services are extended to destinations such as Helsby, Skelmersdale or Wrexham.
The Class 777 units were ordered to replace the Class 507 and 508 fleets which are now over 40 years old. Each four-car unit will provide seats for 182 passengers and room for 302 standing, compared to 192 seats in a three-car Class 507. One pair of sliding doors is provided on each side of the driving cars and two per side of the centre trailers. The total weight of a set is put at 99 tonnes, around 5 tonnes lighter than the old EMUs. Installed power for a four-car unit is 2 100 kW, a significant increase on the 656 kW of the Class 507s, although the maximum speed will remain at 120 km/h.
