Trains across the Liverpool City Region will be brought back into public control in two years following a landmark move by Merseyside leaders. When the current Merseyrail concession ends in 2028, the city region’s combined authority (CA) will take over the operation, which would allow decisions to be made on services at a local level.
As a result, work will now begin to form plans ahead of the existing contract ending in the next two years. Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram described the move as a “truly a historic decision for the Liverpool City Region”.
In keeping with the World Cup, Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council, and former railway worker, cut a jubilant figure as he declared, “Merseyrail’s coming home”. The public ownership of the network would work alongside the move to bring buses back in-house, which will begin from September.
Since March, work has been ongoing to assess the legal requirements, financial implications, and operating model. This has been in partnership with the Department for Transport.
It was concluded that public ownership is “deliverable, achievable, and secures the best option for securing strategic control” of the network, according to the Metro Mayor. This would also allow the CA to set services to suit communities rather than for profit.
Mr Rotheram said, “This is one of the most significant decisions we’ll take in shaping the future of transport in this city region. It’s a much bigger question than who operates the railway, it’s about who it works for.
“For too long, decisions about services that people rely on have been taken at an arm’s length rather than the communities they affect.” The Metro Mayor said it was the leaders’ belief that “public transport should work in the public interest.”
The decision to take public ownership of the service was not a criticism of Merseyrail, according to Mr Rotheram, which he described as the “backbone of our transport network” but rather an “opportunity to write the next chapter of the success story”.
Cllr Robinson said that the “momentous” decision to move toward public ownership was “something I used to dream of when I was working nights at Lime Street station and other places around this country.”
He added, “I can give you countless examples of my working life where the interests of shareholders were always put over and above the interests of the travelling public, communities and economy that a rail network is meant to serve.” While England couldn’t get the job done on Wednesday, the Liverpool Council boss took great pleasure in declaring “Merseyrail is coming home.”
Transition to public ownership will require workforce transfer arrangements, organisational design development, leadership recruitment and ongoing engagement with employees and recognised Trade Unions.
Image credit: Merseyrail
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