Kirkdale TMD
Kirkdale TMD is a traction maintenance depot located beside Kirkdale railway station in north Liverpool, England. The depot is the largest on the Merseyrail network; it is located on the Northern Line and is used primarily for stabling units, heavy maintenance and cleaning units both internally and externally. It is owned by Network Rail and operated by Stadler.
An overall view of Kirkdale depot. | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Kirkdale, Liverpool |
| Coordinates | 53.4378°N 2.9852°W |
| OS grid | SJ345939 |
| Characteristics | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Operator | Merseyrail (1976–2017) Stadler Rail (2017–pres) |
| Depot code | KK (1976–pres) |
| Type | EMU |
| Rolling stock | Current: Class 507 Class 508 Class 777 |
| History | |
| Opened | 1976 |
| Original | British Rail |
| Former rolling stock | Class 502 (1976–80) |
Operation of Kirkdale depot was transferred from Merseyrail to Stadler Rail Service UK in October 2017. The depot is Stadler Rail's United Kingdom headquarters and the majority of the company's UK workforce will be based at this site. At Kirkdale, Stadler Rail is responsible for their maintenance setup and staff at the Norwich Crown Point maintenance depot, Glasgow Subway and the future Tyne and Wear Metro maintenance and staff. The site was extended and uprated. Work finished on an extensive re-build in November 2019, allowing the depot to become the main maintenance hub for the new Class 777 fleet.
Although Kirkdale is the largest Merseyrail depot, most heavy maintenance is currently carried out at Birkenhead North TMD. This will be reversed once the new Class 777 fleet is fully introduced.