page_title: City Line (Merseyrail)
section_title: Branding
hierarchical_section_title: City Line (Merseyrail) / Branding
caption_attribution_description: English: Thatto Heath railway station
context_page_description: The City Line is the name given to local and regional stopping rail services out of the main line platforms of Liverpool Lime Street railway station. It appears on some maps of the Merseyrail network as red, and covers the Liverpool–Wigan line, the two routes of the Liverpool–Manchester lines, the Liverpool-Crewe Line, Liverpool-Chester line via Runcorn and the Liverpool-Blackpool line.
  Branded under the Merseyrail name, the routes are operated by Northern Trains on behalf of Merseytravel. Unlike the Merseyrail network, which is a partially underground rapid transit/commuter rail system with largely isolated infrastructure, the City Line serves a larger area using main line routes shared with regional, national, and high-speed services.
context_section_description: Due to the division between local transport operator Merseytravel and regional franchise operator Northern Trains, the City Line is inconsistently branded. Timetables published by Merseytravel displayed at stations use the City Line branding referring to several operators, whilst Northern Trains (and other operators using parts of the same routes) do not refer to the line in their own publicity or onboard trains. Additionally, main line stations operated by Merseytravel carry Merseyrail branding, despite being separate from the electric rapid transit/commuter network and being absent from some official Merseyrail maps. This is also true of some stations of the Transport for Wales operated Borderlands line, which is not branded as a Merseyrail service on any maps published by Merseytravel, yet stations inside Merseyside are branded Merseyrail.
caption: Thatto Heath station on the electrified Liverpool to Wigan City Line. The station is branded Merseyrail with trains operated by Northern Trains.
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