Merseyside’s buses are coming back into public hands. Why not trains too?

Dear readers — back in 2023, metro mayor Steve Rotheram made a big announcement: our buses were finally being brought back into public control. The news aligned us with a number of other local authorities in the UK taking ownership of transport and devolving power; over in Manchester, Andy Burnham was already well underway with plans to introduce the ‘Bee Network’, with West Yorkshire following in their footsteps.

In the Liverpool city region, a publicly controlled bus service is expected to be fully rolled out by the end of 2027. But what about our trains? 

In 2003, Merseyrail signed a 25-year contract with private operators Serco and Transport UK, and since then over £200mn has been paid to shareholders in dividends. With that contract set to expire in 2028, would public control allow for better investment in our railways? In today’s Answers in The Post, we speak to transport experts, members of the transport committee and the combined authority to find out.

But first, your Post briefing.

Your Post briefing

Some lovely news for Chester Zoo’s plants — the zoo has been granted botanical garden status by the Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). The zoo, which cares for hundreds of plant species including exotic and endangered flora, is the first in the UK to receive accreditation by the BGCI, an international organisation dedicated to plant conservation. Philip Esseen, head of plants at Chester Zoo, said the endorsement would help conservation efforts, while BGCI’s Patricia Malcolm said Chester Zoo's contributions to plant conservation means it’s one of only two in Europe to achieve Conservation Practitioner status.

Fancy a swim in the Mersey? New Brighton beach is set to become a “new bathing water” following a campaign for the status. The government says it has “taken swift action to expand the number of bathing sites across the country and support water quality”. An application for New Brighton beach was submitted in 2025 and Hil Hart, who had been pushing for the status as part of the Clean Mersey campaign, told the LDRS the latter were “over the moon”. Clean Mersey has been collecting water samples at the beach, which has still not officially been tested. To read our investigation into the current cleanliness of the river, click here. 

And a new skyscraper has been approved by planners despite no provision for affordable homes. The 28-storey “King Edward’s Tower”, backed by Home Bargains billionaire Tom Morris, is the first part of a £1bn scheme including 255 one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. But the developer's Section 106 contribution – money allocated to pay for community projects such as tree planting or highways changes — was reduced to £100,000 from an initial requirement of £750,000. Furthermore, none of the apartments will be "affordable" as the development "could not viably support it" according to a report. Nevertheless, city regeneration cabinet member Nick Small said the project was a "huge step forward". Let us know what you think about that one…

In today’s Answers in The Post, we speak to transport experts, members of the transport committee and the metro mayor’s team to weigh up the pros and cons of bringing Merseyrail into public control in 2028. 

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