Merseytravel signed a contract with Stadler worth up to £700m in February 2017 to supply and maintain 52 EMUs for the network. Delivery of the fleet, which has been undergoing trial running on the Wildenrath test track in Germany, will continue over the coming months.

The new trains will be phased into service to replace the fleet of 59 class 507/508 EMUs, which date from 1978-1980.

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