Following on from the announcement that the Liverpool City Region is now placed in Tier 3 lockdown restrictions, Merseyrail has issued travel advice along with a timetable update.
Due to the impact of COVID-19 and Tier 3 lockdown restrictions in the region, the Ormskirk and Kirkby lines will revert to a 30-minute service from Monday 26 October.
Services between Southport and Hunts Cross will terminate at Liverpool Central, meaning passengers will not be able to travel directly between the stations and will have to change at Liverpool Central. These will continue to be at a 15-minute frequency Monday to Saturday.
Going forward, trains will operate directly between Ormskirk and Hunts Cross, so passengers will not need to change trains at Liverpool Central.
Trains on the Kirkby line will continue to terminate at Liverpool Central.
There will also be slightly extended journey times on the Southport line.
Wirral line services remain unchanged.
As the Liverpool City Region has moved into the Tier 3 category, current travel advice states that those wishing to use public transport should only travel if they need to, such as to work or school and to avoid travel out of the area.
Full timetable information and COVID-19 travel advice can be found here: https://www.merseyrail.org/seasonal/covid-19-information.aspx.
There may be further amendments to our timetable, and we would encourage all customers to check before you travel.
This can be done by visiting our website www.merseyrail.org or the Merseyrail Twitter account @merseyrail for the latest information.
Andy Heath, Managing Director at Merseyrail, said: “Due to the continuing impact of COVID-19 affecting the number of resources we have available, we have had to make the decision to alter a number of our services.
“This change has been needed to ensure that we can continue to run our train service reliably to ensure those that need to travel - whether it be to school, work or for other necessary reasons - can do so.
“As has been the case throughout the pandemic, we are continuing to work tirelessly to ensure our network is as clean and safe for our passengers as possible. Passengers can help us by following the latest travel advice set out by the government as we all get used to the new Tier 3 restrictions”.