Morning!
It's a cold, grey, March morning here on Merseyside
on Merseyrail, where everything is very yellow
The benches are yellow
The help points and the footbridge
and the signage is yellow
So it seems more appropriate than ever
that today's guest, you know who's coming,
it's Northern correspondent, Karl.
In yellow coat.
In yellow. (both laughing)
It's the Merseyrail coat
Last seen at Warrington West if you remember rightly
Yeah. Okay
I should spray the word 777 on that
You've got plenty of room on the back
if you can do that, yeah Like a big seven
because today, join with the hands
we're doing class 777
Yes, these new Stadler-built trains
are now in service on the Merseyrail network
replacing the 45-year-old class 507 and 508 trains
The new triple sevens started on the 23rd of January, 2023
on the Kirkby branch
Other branches will get the trains at a later date
as we'll find out later in the video
Like "Star Trek."
(Geoff laughs)
Beam me up, Merseyrail
Absolutely
Safe to say, they're far better than the old ones
Oh. Oh! Oh!
Oh! Ah, we have light
Oh, don't criticise the seats, Karl
Yeah, let's just say you might end up with a numb bum
But the point is
you're not on these trains for four hours
I suppose you're not
are you? You're on
for like 10 to 15, 20
But, once across the Southport though
you might be on it for a while, I don't know
Would you get a train all the way
from Southport to Hunts Cross?
I don't know
Let us know in the comments
Okay. Okay.
But we need a review from you
Yeah. about all the things
that are new and space-age
Yeah
Maybe we'll just go with the "Star Trek" theme
Karl, what have you spotted?
What have you spotted?
This
What's this? Look at that
This is a green light around the door
(door beeping)
Oh, and look, turns red when it's closing
So if you can't hear the signal
you've got a visual confirmation as well
What've we got up here?
We have a live map, so instead of like the old ones
that used to get stickered on the thing
Sometimes if there's a new station
obviously, they're immediately out of date
But with this, this live gives you arrival times
changing points
(door beeping)
So another thing, if you do that
What was that? Magic?
Yeah, see, you've got the plate here
Yeah. If you just tap that
when it's closing Yeah
it opens the doors again
So if you're a bit slower in a wheelchair
you don't get trapped with the doors
But this is for the level boarding
Yeah. I'll do a cutaway
We all know
(door beeping) that one of the
Shall I do that again? Yeah, yeah
Yeah, there you go, do that
Thank you
One of the greatest things about the new trains
is the level boarding
Yeah
On the old trains, not so much
Quite a gap, wasn't there, on the old one?
Okay. I like that
Do it again
Thanks
That's how it works
It's a little bit like the new DLR train
Walk through, all the way walk through, grab poles
Bike rack being used, like that
This bit, here
Carl, don't put your bag here
No, my friend, because these ...
Look here
You put your pram or buggy here
Nice, right?
Very
You didn't realise that, did you?
No
Flip-up seats. (Karl chuckling)
Wow, okay
And because of that, the plug sockets are here
They've moved them
Where now the other places
they're normally down here
and they've had to move them to here
for the flip-up seats, 'cause obviously
you can't have the plugs where you have the flipping up
You ready to go back to Liverpool Central?
Yeah, let's go
We're just gonna ride it all day, aren't we?
Yeah
By the way, you said you were low on phone data
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I did
Here you are, I've got you 7 gigs
Just take that, all right? Ah, you're a good 'un
Cheers, mate Cheers, mate
Ta, thank you
In the interests of passenger safety.
What's that?
You've spotted something that they've stolen?
Yes, from Manchester Metrolink
What? Now
it's one of the best hacks on Manchester Metrolink going
is that before you get to your stop
you can actually call the door
And you can do the same here?
And you can do the same here
And, look at this, this is what Metrolink doesn't have
is your way is lit
Look at that
How good is that?
Manchester Metrolink, are you watching?
Lights around the door
This is the difference between old and new
Yeah Between the 507s and 508s
The 507s and 508s, of course used to have door buttons
and they're now covered up
Yep And for many years
you had to manually press the button
Yep
But then it changed
Nathan, do you know when?
When did the doors change to be automatically opened?
As long as you've known it?
As long as I've known it, yeah, yeah
But on the current old units
the doors automatically
open and closeHere, it's a metal plate
over them
But here, they don't
You do have
to press the button, and thathas caught some people out
hasn't it?
Yeah. 'cause they just
expect the doors to open All right
they just stand there and wait?
But the trick is, you can press the button
Yeah. In advance
Yeah. Yeah
See, if you're from Manchester you know what to do
Press the button before you get to the station
(door alarm beeping) There we go
Morning
Exactly
Are you filming me?
Eh, you cheeky
Oh, by the way, happy birthday
Now, ironically, we've timed this wrong
We've come on the week, the week before
Yeah It's a 15 minute service
on the Kirkby branch, on all Merseyrail branches
There's only one unit in operation at the moment
but next week they're gonna run 777s
on all the trains on the Kirkby branch
Then they're gonna run on the Ormskirk branch
And then after that, I'm not sure when it's coming to
the lights do keep coming on and off
And Nathan, why is that?
But, so I need to know when the trains are going
to like, the rural lines
Fortunately, there's a man at Liverpool Central
waiting for us right now that has all the answers
So David's turned up, he was hiding in there
but we'll interview him on the train
Is it the next train in?
It'll be the next train in
Please stand to the back
The train's about to depart
Stand clear.
Back in July, 2021
when I made that trends coming soon video
the lovely David Powell
good morning
was in that video answering some questions
And you're here again
Ta-da
And not by coincidence
We asked Not by
We asked you to be here
We did sort of arrange it, yeah
You're Programme Director
Oh, the lights
Programme Director, Merseytravel
That's right. Yeah
And you helped design these trains?
I certainly did. But the
Oversaw the design process, yeah
But the graphics on the boards said, you know
your trains designed by you
So you did get a lot of pub
you did have a lot of public consultation.
Well that was the most important part of it
was getting the public input
So we worked with a panel
of 40 regular Merseyrail passengers
tested all sorts of features, and I think
we got a much better train as a consequence
of taking their feedback on board
Other questions I have, now the old 507s and 508s
are three car long. They are
Sometimes they double up to be six car
They do
These new ones are four car longs
Yes. Now, are you telling me
that you've gone from a six down to a four
because surely, you can't double a four to a eight
or can you?
Well, yes we can (chuckles) Okay
Yes, they're very much designed
But the platforms aren't long enough
They are
Or they will be
Ah. Yeah, right
So, we're still, we're still doing that work
so we don't need to run them as eight cars yet
But we'll just finish off
we're halfway through the programme
of extending platforms and moving some of the signals.
We just had a blockage, sorry
a line closure down in
down at Liverpool Central where we were closed
for three days
That was us doing work underground to enable us
to turn the eight car trains in the underground headshots
So there's a lot of work going on
to make sure we can run eight car units
on our busier routes
Because how many units are there in total?
50, 54?
There will be 53 of the new trains.
And some will be doubled, and some will still be
Some will run as doubles
and some will run as, yeah, fours and eights
Why do the lights keep coming on and off? (laughs)
Because they are saving energy
Okay
They're detecting the ambient light outside
Okay, I like that
It's an energy saving thing
Energy saving measures
All right. Okay
Headbolt Lane Yes
Now, I've seen a post there that said
that confidently says spring 2023
Really?
Have you ever seen a confident poster?
(Geoff laughs) No. I'm joking
When, Headbolt is happening?
We've got a very very big construction team
working up there at the moment
working really hard with Network Rail
We've got the first battery powered train
in the country doing its tests as we speak
What number is that?
777, what number?
One four zero
One four zero?
Thank you.
So it's been in Germany for a couple of months
It's over here now doing its tests, all going well
I've got another three coming
They'll be with us by the end of March.
So how many out of the fleet of 53
will be battery powered?
Seven. Seven, okay
Seven, and our plan is to get Headbolt Lane open
later on this year
Okay. Spring?
Let's see whether it's spring
Okay, but hopefully this year
Oh, definitely
Okay Yes
Could, you've got me thinking now
could maybe really
if that's successful Yep
will people then go
hang on a second Yes
I already have
Ellesmere Port Yes
Let's run them to Helsby on battery
Well. Is that a thing?
Yes Go on
Tell us, what can you tell us?
Well, I'll go a bit further
Go on. (chuckles)
If I was gonna go to Helsby, I'd go to Runcorn East
and you would start looking and thinking
could we get ourselves to Warrington?
All on battery? Yes
What's the range of a battery triple seven?
Well, that's what we've been testing
over in Germany for the last few months
Wow
How far can these things realistically go?
We can put a lot of miles into these things
They've got six tonnes of batteries on board
Gosh.
And the performance has exceeded our expectations so far
So routes like the one I've just described to you
Yeah. That's a possibility
Okay. On Monday morning
I'll be going through with our team
looking at what we think the right order to look
at the extensions of the network
So we are intending to expand the network
Talking of the network, where are we?
Where we started this morning at Rice Lane?
I think we're at Rice Lane
The last question is, obviously, it's running
on the Kirkby branch at the moment
Yes. Ironically we've come
in the week before you go all the trains
on the KirKby branch
I know you are a bit cagey on dates
but like, we hear Ormskirk, they're getting them next
Could you expand on that as to what
like, when we're all getting them
when are Southport getting them?
Can you, what can you tell us?
Okay, so Ormskirk are going next
But you don't know when
I know exactly when
(both laugh)
Do you want to tell YouTube?
Yes, as soon as we can get enough drivers trained up
Okay.
It's not this, so it's when Merseyrail
and their colleagues, when we can get enough
through the driving school Okay
We'll also be introducing them in phases
to get them out there as quickly as we possibly can
A few months ahead, we'll be, Ormskirk will move
to being 777s. And then?
And then we're gonna move across and start working
on the Wirral
And then Southport will get them last?
Typically, yes
This year or next year?
Southport might be into next year
Okay. All right
Okay. That's it
Great stuff
Was that all right? Brilliant
Not too tricky?
No. Did I? I'm loving it
Did I answer confidently?
Carl complained about the seats
I think the seats are fine
I blame Karl
He's got. It's the last time
I'm having you as a camera man
He's got a skinny bum
(group laughs)
Thanks David
Cheers Geoff.
Here mate, got you a cake
Got me a cake? Yeah
Thanks very much
You're welcome. I'll put that there
Seven
Seven!
Seven!!
Wouldn't be a Geoff video
without me lying on the floor, right?
Does this look ridiculous?
Oh, I'm demonstrating how there's space
to put your legs, to put your bags
You fit with room underneath the seat
so it's fine, yeah
Because there's nowhere to put your bag above
Could you pass me my bag, Karl?
Thanks
Thanks very much
Carl, if there's no luggage rack, then what's this?
There's half a luggage rack on one side
so there's not here and it's not over there
but there is this one here
So we're coming into Kir, Rice Lane
Rice Lane. I was gonna say Kirkby
No, not Kirkby. We'll finish at Rice Lane
We started at Rice Lane
This is it, last
well, it's not the last name we'll ever be on the 777
But, how was your day Karl?
Yellow
(door alarm beeping)
Here we go
We started at Rice Lane
So we're finishing at Rice Lane
We're book-ending Rice Lane
See you later. See you later, mate
You know you said yellow now, don't you?
Yeah
You know what you've done, don't you?
I gone and ruined the end
I drew a line
for you For you
and everything you do
And the 777
they're all yellow
Oh no.
That's it. Thanks very much
Pleasure
It was, indeed, all yellow
It was
Thanks Merseyrail, thanks to David
Yes, yes
ask people to subscribe to my channel
Subscribe to his channel And all that
love Karl
Thanks mate Cheers
Bye Pleasure
Love your coat
That's it
See you again in the next video
Bye. Bye See ya
* Coldplay's "Yellow" gentle piano music plays *