Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has announced a new reduced fare for people using the Headbolt Lane line – which will make it cheaper to travel over the summer weekends!

From this Saturday (13 July) passengers using the Headbolt Lane line of the Merseyrail network will be able to travel at the weekend for just £2 return, £1 return for children.

The exclusive offer is available to all new and returning customers as a goodwill gesture to thank passengers for their patience while the new publicly owned rail fleet has been rolled out on the line.

Mayor Steve Rotheram standing in front of one of the new trains at Headbolt Lane station.

The reduced-price tickets have been paid for by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority from funds recovered from train manufacturer Stadler. They are available to passengers travelling from Headbolt Lane, Kirkby and Fazakerley stations to Moorfields or Liverpool Central.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region said:

“The new Headbolt Lane station is a fantastic new, fully accessible facility delivered by an £80m investment by the Combined Authority. There have been a few teething issues with the new trains serving it, so I wanted to make a gesture of goodwill to thank people for sticking with us.

“While I cannot undo the disruption that passengers have already faced, I hope this gesture demonstrates our appreciation for their patience and understanding. As promised, the performance of the trains has been much better of late and should only continue to improve, offering the world class service local people deserve for years to come.

“I’m really proud of the work I’ve done to improve and expand the local transport network. We’ve frozen bus and rail fares, taken back control of our buses, rolled out the country’s best local trains, and opened two new train stations with four more to follow. We are well on the way in our journey to building the most comprehensive integrated transport network anywhere outside of London.”

The Combined Authority has been working together with Stadler, Merseyrail and Network Rail to improve the availability and performance of the new trains, which have recently returned to a four trains an hour service to the Headbolt Lane line and more robust performance levels, with last week’s performance measure of over 94% among the best on the network.

The move is part of a series of measures brought in by Mayor Rotheram to help reduce the cost of public transport for those travelling in the city region. This includes freezing rail prices on Merseyrail services for six-months, a goodwill gesture refunding season tickets for hundreds of loyal Headbolt Lane Line passengers, bringing down the price of an adult single bus fare to just £2 and holding the price of a MyTicket, which allows under-19s unlimited bus travel, at £2.20.

Headbolt Lane is the newest station on the Merseyrail network and was opened in October 2023, representing an £80m investment with services provided by the battery-powered trains from the Liverpool City Region’s new publicly owned fleet. A further four stations are planned in the next few years at Liverpool Baltic, Daresbury, Woodchurch and Carr Mill.