The franchise was originally awarded to MTL in 1997, with operations commencing on 19 January that year. In February 2000, Arriva purchased MTL and rebranded the operation as Arriva Trains Merseyside in April 2001. On 23 April 2003, the franchise was awarded to a joint venture between Serco and Abellio (now known as Transport UK Group), with operations transferring to the new Merseyrail concession on 20 July 2003 under the oversight of the Merseytravel Passenger Transport Executive.
History
The Merseyrail Electrics franchise was created during the privatisation of British Rail in the mid-1990s. In December 1996, the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising awarded the contract to local transport operator MTL, which at the time also operated bus and other rail services in the Liverpool City Region.[2] Operations commenced on 19 January 1997 under the retained Merseyrail Electrics brand, using the existing fleet of Class 507 and Class 508 electric multiple units. Services covered the Northern Line and Wirral Line, linking central Liverpool with towns such as Southport, Ormskirk, Kirkby, Ellesmere Port, Chester, and New Brighton.
On 18 February 2000, MTL was purchased by Arriva for £84 million, bringing the franchise under Arriva's control.[3][4] On 27 April 2001, the operation was formally rebranded as Arriva Trains Merseyside.[5] The company introduced the standard Arriva corporate livery to parts of the fleet, although many trains retained variations of the original Merseyrail yellow scheme. Day-to-day operations and maintenance continued largely unchanged, with servicing carried out at Birkenhead North depot.
In early 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority and Merseytravel restructured the Merseyrail Electrics franchise into a long-term concession model, designed to be tightly integrated with the local transport executive. On 23 April 2003, the contract to operate the concession was awarded to a joint venture between Serco and Abellio (now known as Transport UK Group).[6] Arriva Trains Merseyside ceased operations on 20 July 2003, when the services and rolling stock transferred to the new Merseyrail concessionaire.
