Battery trains will begin operating each hour between Liverpool Central and Headbolt Lane.
The battery technology removes the need for a live third rail, which could enable the Merseyrail network to run in places previously inaccessible, including as far as Manchester, Wrexham, Warrington, Preston and Runcorn.
Exciting development!
Right, but the fact that most services where this is applicable will not be frequent such as in Canada, parts of the US, rural EU/UK, and elsewhere in the world, though winter performance may still need significant improvements.
Some trains already operate on hybrid power where the diesel-electric generator gives power where there are no wires and then switches to fully electric where there are. A sufficiently capable battery would just be a variation of that, and be relatively easy to implement, instead of or alongside with track electrification.
Also means you can get some of the merseyrail services running all the way to Crewe, meaning fewer changes and better connectivity (though now HS2 is cancelled, how much benefit that will actually bring is in question).