Rolling stock › In serviceData updated
Class 777 unverified
Stadler's articulated four-car METRO train, designed for Merseyrail and bought outright by the Liverpool City Region rather than leased. A 960 mm floor and sliding steps give level boarding at all six doorways a side, and the cars are open from end to end. Seven Class 777/1s carry batteries and run beyond the third rail to Headbolt Lane.
Drawing to come
- Type
- Electric multiple unit (seven also battery-electric)
- Builder
- Stadler (bodyshells made in Hungary, bogies in Spain, final assembly in Switzerland and Poland)
- In service
- since 2023
- Operators
- Merseyrail
- Formation
- 4 cars, articulated and walk-through, 64.98 m; two run together as eight cars
- Trains in fleet
- 53
- Fleets
- Merseyrail: 53
- Top speed
- 75 mph (120 km/h); 100 km/h (62 mph) on battery (777/1)
- Power
- 750 V DC third rail, 2,100 kW at the wheel (maximum); the 777/1s also carry a 320 kWh traction battery, with a range of 55 km in normal service (Stadler). Prepared for 25 kV AC overhead
- Train length
- 64.98 m
- Car height
- 3.828 m
- Car width
- 2.82 m
- Profile
- main-line
- Walk-through
- Yes
- Air-conditioned
- Yes
- Seats per train
- 184
- Total capacity
- 162 fixed and 22 tip-up seats, one class, and 302 standing at 4 people per m² (Stadler, 2020 and 2021); the 2016–17 design had 182 seats and 8 tip-ups, and 486 in all with two wheelchair spaces
- Status
- In service: 53 units (46 Class 777/0 and seven battery Class 777/1), owned by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and maintained by Stadler at Kirkdale and Birkenhead North. They replaced the Class 507s and 508s by November 2024.
This page is marked unverified: its figures haven’t yet been confirmed by an official source or a published history. The foot of the page says what’s in doubt.
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DTS | Driving trailer standard (DTS), on a trailer bogie at the cab end and sharing a motor bogie with the next car; the battery and its roof cooling are on these cars in the 777/1s | 1 double | |
| MS | Motor standard (MS), between motor bogies shared with the cars either side | 2 double |
Sources
- METRO Merseyrail EMU, Merseytravel, Liverpool (data sheet MMER0921e), Stadler, 2021 (52 four-car units ordered February 2017; 750 V DC; 64,980 mm, 2,820 mm wide, 3,828 mm high; 960 mm floor; six 1,300 mm doorways a side; 162 seats and 22 tip-ups; 302 standing; 120 km/h; 2,100 kW; prepared for 25 kV and ERTMS; authorised July 2021)
- METRO Merseyrail EMU, Merseytravel, Liverpool (data sheet MMER1216e), Stadler, December 2016 (as designed: 182 seats and 8 tip-ups)
- METRO Class 777 IPEMU, Merseytravel, Liverpool (data sheet MMER_IPEMU0922e), Stadler, September 2022 (777/1: owner Merseytravel; 184 seats; LTO-NMC battery of 320 kWh; 55 km range; 100 km/h on battery; battery under the end cars, cooling on the roof)
- Stadler signs contract to build and maintain 52 metro trains for Liverpool City Region (media release), Stadler, 16 February 2017 (contract for 52 trains, 486 passengers (182 seated); maintenance for 35 years; Kirkdale depot)
- First authorisation of Class 777 Mersey electric multiple units numbered 777001 - 777052 (letter to Stadler Rail Valencia), Office of Rail and Road, 15 July 2021 (first authorisation 15 July 2021, units 777001 to 777052; vehicles DTS(B), MS(C), MS(D), DTS(A); 75 mph; up to two units coupled)
- Mersey Electrics Class 777 and system upgrade, Rail Engineer (Malcolm Dobell), 23 February 2023 (53 units, seven with batteries; first in service 23 January 2023; bodyshells from Hungary, bogies from Spain, assembly in Switzerland and Poland; air conditioning; tare 100 t; bought without a leasing company)
- Table 6314: rolling stock vehicles by traction type and operator, Office of Rail and Road, 20 November 2025 (Merseyrail's 212 electric vehicles, March 2025)
- Merseytravel, Merseyrail, accessed 7 October 2026 (trains bought and owned by the Combined Authority)
- Rail history made yet again as Mayor hails the launch of the UK's first battery powered trains in the Liverpool City Region, Merseytravel, 5 October 2023 (battery units serve Headbolt Lane from 5 October 2023; seven fitted)
- Five months on: how UK's first battery-powered trains are faring at Headbolt Lane, RAIL, 27 February 2024 (seven Class 777/1s; six one-tonne LTO batteries)
- Merseyside's Royal Train departs for preservation, Class 507 Preservation Society, 2 January 2025 (the 777s took over the last Class 507 workings in 2024)
- Rolling Stock Class 777 Moves (notice 2021/S 000-004880), Find a Tender (Merseytravel), 10 March 2021 (Stadler's maintenance depots at Kirkdale and Birkenhead North)
- British Rail Class 777, Wikipedia, accessed 7 October 2026 (door arrangement, 777/1 numbers, start of construction (last resort))
unverified car lengths: no source gives them; only the unit length (64,980 mm). Stadler's data sheets carry a vector side elevation that could be measured when the train is drawn, doors: Stadler gives six 1,300 mm doorways a side; one on each end car and two on each middle car, and double leaves, are from Wikipedia and photographs, seats: Stadler's 2016 sheet and its 2017 release, and Rail Engineer (2023), give 182 seats and 8 tip-ups; Stadler's 2020 and 2021 sheets and its 2022 battery sheet give 162 and 22 (184), battery: Rail Engineer gives three tonnes on each end car; RAIL gives six one-tonne batteries; both give 320 kWh, as Stadler does, speed on battery: Stadler's battery data sheet gives 100 km/h; Wikipedia reports 80 km/h in Stadler's 2022 press release, the 777/1 unit numbers (777140 to 777152, even numbers) are from Wikipedia, citing Modern Railways, built: construction began in 2018 (Wikipedia); the first unit reached Britain in January 2020 (Rail Engineer); no completion date found