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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Ryan Paton

Our Liverpool: Crucial moment as new fleet of Merseyrail trains finally arrives

Hello and welcome to your Tuesday afternoon instalment of the ECHO's new 'Our Liverpool' feature.

In this twice daily round-up, we'll be showcasing some of the best ECHO content, as well as many of the major talking points on Merseyside. Tuesday's digest comes after a busy day for the city as the new fleet of Merseyrail trains arrived.

Commuters have endured a turbulent start to the year as journeys have been been affected by icy weather. However, there was finally some positive news yesterday as the new fleet of state of the art Class 777 trains made the journey from Liverpool Central station to Kirkby.

What it's like to travel on the trains

The ECHO's political editor, Liam Thorp, was fortunate to be on board for the first new Merseyrail train journey yesterday. Liam described a buzz around Central as the maiden voyage could be a crucial turning point that signals the travel chaos that has plagued January could finally be a thing of the past.

You can read the full story here.

What next for the new trains?

The first train is currently in operation on the Kirkby line, but it will unfortunately still take some time before the entire existing fleet is replaced with the new models. The process of phasing in the new trains will happen as more and more drivers are trained up across the network.

After yesterday's first train was launched on the Kirkby line, the rest of that line will be rolled out next. This is expected to take a few months.

After the Kirkby line is fully rolled out and operational with new trains, the next line to be worked on will be Ormskirk. This will be followed by the Wirral line and finally the Hunts Cross line. You can read the full story here.

And finally... farewell to a legend

Paul was a much-loved station cat at Liverpool South Parkway station (MerseyTravel/Twitter)

South Parkway station will "never be the same" after the sad news Paul the cat died over the weekend. The hugely popular Bengal cat lived nearby with owner Steff, but 13 years ago began journeying into the station which became his second home.

He became a celebrity at the station, and would often lounge around on the barriers, brightening up commuters' days and enjoying attention from staff there. ECHO readers paid tribute to the station celebrity here

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