Rotheram urges passengers to treat new trains with greater respect

Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram hopes the introduction of Merseyrail’s new Class 777 fleet will result in a “culture change” in which passengers treat the rolling stock with greater respect.

Rotheram (pictured) told ASLEF’s Invest in Rail launch that the fact the trains will be owned by Merseytravel, and not a private rolling stock company, should mean passengers think before putting their feet on the seats.

Asked about the prospects for rail investment in the north of England under a Conservative government, the Labour mayor replied: “I’ve been a long-time advocate of renationalisation - it makes absolute sense.

“While we’re waiting for a Labour government that will have a progressive manifesto for things like renationalisation of the rail system, the bits that we can do as regional politicians is try to wrestle more to ourselves. In my area, I’ve just said we’re not going to go through a TOC [train operating company], we’ll buy the trains ourselves.

“By the way, when we buy them - half a billion pounds worth of trains we’re buying - I hope and expect that the people of the Liverpool city region will treat these trains as if they are their own, because they are.”

He added: “You wouldn’t put your feet up on the couch in the house, so don’t put them on our trains. The reason I’m saying this is because I want to change the culture, I want people to understand that it’s not just about the carriages, the saloons that they sit in. They’re part owners of this system.”