THE cold weather chaos that saw Merseyrail services grind to a halt earlier this month was only the third time in a decade the provider had declared such a major incident.
Amid snow and ice falling across Merseyside during a cold snap on January 9, services across the Merseyrail network were completely suspended for a number of hours, leaving commuters stranded and trying to find other ways to get to work or around the region. Furious Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram slammed Merseyrail and Network Rail over the chaos passengers experienced on the network and announced an independent review into the problems.
As part of the inquest into what went wrong, bosses from both Merseyrail and Network Rail joined train manufacturer Stadler in front of the Liverpool City Region transport committee to explain themselves. Neil Grabham, Merseyrail managing director, told members how when it became apparent the “fast paced” conditions were becoming more and more serious, the company moved to declare the highest level of incident impacting its ability to deliver for customers.
Mr Grabham said the entire Merseyrail network was suspended for around two hours but a critical disruption incident totalled five hours. He added: “We have to say sorry to the many thousands of passengers that we impacted on that day and prevented making their planned journeys.”
The director said it became apparent by 9.30am that the operator was dealing with a serious incident and services were suspended, with a network wide message issued to seek other modes of transport. A total of 11 trains became trapped and stranded across the network, including one left at Old Roan for around three hours.
He said: “We declared what we call a CSL3, a customer service level three, it’s the highest level of incident impacting our ability to provide customer service on the day. To give a bit of context, the declaration is only the third time in 10 years that we’ve declared an incident of that severity on our network.”
Suzanne Grant, Merseyrail commercial director, said the provider’s website and app was used around 50,000 times, with six formal complaints lodged. She added how a number of customers had become “frustrated” by the language Merseyrail were using around heavy snow and ice that wasn’t visible around some parts of the region.
Matthias Hammerle, head of metro for Stadler, said the train units themselves could withstand temperatures dropping to a low of -25 but would automatically shut down when they cannot make contact with the third rail conductor. As a result of the incidents passengers faced at the start of the year, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram has confirmed Vernon Evritt, transport commissioner for Greater Manchester will lead an independent and objective review of the rail industry’s winter preparations for the Merseyrail network and its response.
