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So we got invited
to the Traction Maintenance Depot at Kirkdale in Liverpool,
to look at the incredible new Class 777 units,
which are replacing 40-year-old trains.
We predominantly do most of our exam work on this road.
Albeit if we need to remove and replace
any major assemblies,
then it's generally done on free roads,
specifically on roof assemblies.
Any heavy maintenance is done through the wheel lathe.
Like I said previously,
that's why it's got the reinforced floor.
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First time on a 777?
Oh, yes.
(man laughs) Beautiful.
Are the chairs squeaky? That's the question.
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There's a lot that's a first for the UK on this train.
One of the examples is the passenger information displays
that we have here.
Using these it's great that we can now use colour
rather than always having to use dot matrix.
This display will show the position of the train
as it goes down its route. That's what the M is there.
And this moves as the train moves down the route,
then you can see the time of forthcoming stations.
What we did when we were specifying the train
and then we've worked with Stadler
since they won the contract,
was we wanted to maximise the gauge,
so we made the outside of the train as large as we could
to fit within our railway without needing
to do enormous amounts of infrastructure work.
And then we encouraged our designers in Stadler
to maximise the space inside.
And the result is we've got a space that feels a lot larger
than most contemporary British trains.
And one of the images that we'll be showing on these screens
is our views of the CCTV cameras throughout the train.
Again, it's done routinely on buses across the country.
And one of the passengers we consulted with said,
"Why can't we do that on board the trains?"
And I thought that was an extremely good question.
But the intention there
is to let passengers know that they're on CCTV.
If you're considering doing something
that maybe you shouldn't,
maybe you want to go and do it somewhere else,
'cause we'll definitely have your image.
Okay, so here we are in the wheelchair area.
Again, we've spent a lot of time
consulting with a whole range of passengers
about how we'd want this to be configured.
Not just wheelchair users, also regular passengers,
'cause you've got to think about
what's this area gonna be used for
when there isn't a wheelchair in it?
First thing was we wanted to make sure that it was obvious
that this is the wheelchair area.
And that's the reason for the yellow symbol on the floor.
Also very important, we wanna make sure that
all the facilities that are available throughout the saloon
are available in the wheelchair area for a wheelchair user.
So we've got the full-color display here.
We've got a little tray table,
which we've got some of those around saloon.
If you've got a cup of coffee can rest it there.
Got a help point, and we've got charging point,
which is both three pin but also USB as well.
And these seats here, they tip up.
So both of these seats can be held vertically
and that just creates, if required,
extra manoeuvring space for a wheelchair user.
The new 777s are third-rail powered,
but there's also a battery variant,
and that means that a train can run
to a newly-built station proposed at Headbolt Lane,
replacing the point where Northern services
meet Merseyrail services.
And if that's the case, maybe they could
also run past the Ellesmere Port down to Helsby as well.
You can see straight down towards the other end,
whereas on the trains,
as they go on different distances and routes,
they kind of go round the toilets and they're separated.
But when you get on these
and you got your luggage and stuff with them,
you can find somewhere to go, and the bike racks,
don't forget the bike racks, they're really good.
Part of the design is to create separate spaces
for wheelchairs, bike users.
We want to encourage people with bikes to come on the train,
but also we're conscious there's no space on those trains
for somebody with a buggy.
This area is specifically designed
so that a buggy user could come in here
and position the buggy safely out of the aisle
and enjoy their journey.
So the 777, we contracted the initially for 52,
there has been an addition with that with the IPMU unit,
which you've seen on the Live Rail Show.
With that we've got four cars, so the four-car sets,
they're not, in length, an extra car on the existing fleet.
The existing fleet is three cars.
We do go to four car but the 777 is 65 metres in length.
And the old legacy fleet is only 63 plus one.
So there's not a significant distance
with regards to the platform length.
The key one is when we're actually couple up in multiples
so that two metres turns into four metres,
hence why we're having to do the platform extensions
around the network itself.
By the cab, quite a few interesting features here.
It's got a glazed partition,
the door and the window alongside.
At the moment that glass is opaque
but normally it'll be transparent.
If we come through into the cab,
we've got a very nice spacious environment for the driver,
deliberately designed to give the driver a lot of space
and good visibility. And one of the ways of doing that
is by moving the emergency evacuation door
over to one side, rather than being in the middle.
And this has got some really neat technology that enables
you to detrain into the four foot down to track level,
but also to go train to train
when the door on the mating train is on the other side.
I've seen a lot of new modern trains
in recent years that are coming
and improving our transport network.
And it's easy for me to say
that the new 777s are a superb addition.
They have everything and may just be
the best new commuter train that I've ever seen.
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