The Merseyrail Electrics franchise was created during the privatisation of British Rail in the mid-1990s. In December 1996, the
Director of Passenger Rail Franchising awarded the contract to local transport operator
MTL, which at the time also operated bus and other rail services in the Liverpool City Region. Operations commenced on 19 January 1997 under the retained Merseyrail Electrics brand, using the existing fleet of Class 507 and Class 508 electric multiple units. Services covered the
Northern Line and
Wirral Line, linking central Liverpool with towns such as
Southport,
Ormskirk,
Kirkby,
Ellesmere Port,
Chester, and
New Brighton. On 18 February 2000, MTL was purchased by
Arriva for £84 million, bringing the franchise under Arriva's control. On 27 April 2001, the operation was formally rebranded as
Arriva Trains Merseyside. The company introduced the standard Arriva corporate livery to parts of the fleet, although many trains retained variations of the original Merseyrail yellow scheme. Day-to-day operations and maintenance continued largely unchanged, with servicing carried out at
Birkenhead North depot. In early 2003, the Strategic Rail Authority and
Merseytravel restructured the Merseyrail Electrics franchise into a long-term concession model, designed to be tightly integrated with the local transport executive. On 23 April 2003, the contract to operate the concession was awarded to a joint venture between
Serco and
Abellio (now known as
Transport UK Group). Arriva Trains Merseyside ceased operations on 20 July 2003, when the services and rolling stock transferred to the new
Merseyrail concessionaire. ==Rolling stock==