MTL (transport company)

MTL Trust Holdings

Moving with the times
Industry	Transport
Fate	Sold Out
Successor	Arriva
Founded	1992
Defunct	2000
Headquarters	Merseyside
Products	Rail transport, Bus transport, Coach travel

MTL Trust Holdings was an English bus, coach and train operator based in Liverpool. MTL was originally the operating company of the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive. To comply with the Transport Act 1985, this was divested into a new independent company, Merseyside Transport Limited (MTL). Merseytravel retained a shareholding, but this was purchased by MTL in 1993. On 17 February 2000, MTL was purchased by Arriva.

MTL was awarded two railway franchises in 1997, during the Privatisation of British Rail. Both franchises were taken over by Arriva in 2000.

Northern Spirit was a large franchise operating services across the whole of Yorkshire, including the Settle & Carlisle line and much of the North East. The franchise also included TransPennine Express trains from Liverpool and Blackpool to Scarborough, Hull and Newcastle. The franchise was rebranded as Arriva Trains Northern in April 2001.

Merseyrail Electrics was responsible for running the Merseyrail network in Merseyside. All services were subsidised by Merseytravel. The franchise was rebranded as Arriva Trains Merseyside in April 2001.

The original bus division, Merseybus, introduced several new brand names, many outside of Merseyside, expanding into Manchester, North London, Lancaster, Warrington and South Lancashire. The company also owned Sightseers, a coach holiday business and had a full ABTA travel agency, "The TravelShop", in Williamson Square, Liverpool and in Eastbank Street, Southport.