stubbed stripe. The passenger doors are white on the yellow sides and yellow on the brushed metal sides. There is Merseyrail 'M' branding on each of the passenger doors, as well as on the cab fronts. The livery is applied as a vinyl skin. Naming Named units are as follows: 508111 - The Beatles 508123 - William Roscoe (denamed) 508136 - Capital of Culture (denamed) 508136 - Wilfred Owen MC 508207 - James D Rowlands Accidents and incidents On 21 April 1982, unit 508031 was running the 06:34 service from London Waterloo crashed at Shepperton, demolishing barriers and a wall. The train also slid into some new pedestrian crossing lights, rendering them unusable. The crash was initially believed to be the result of braking tests the previous night, which involved applying grease to the tracks, and that the grease may not have been sufficiently cleaned off, however it was later found that the train's brakes were faulty. In 1987, a Class 508 unit collided with the buffer stop at . On 26 October 2005, unit 508124, forming 2W43 17:06 West Kirby return via Liverpool Lime Street, derailed short of Liverpool Central, caused by track gauge widening due to poor track condition. There were no serious injuries. The RAIB report cited incompatibility between Class 508 (and 507) EMUs and the Liverpool Loop track as a causal factor, along with maintenance and other track design concerns. On 6 March 2007, a Class 508/3 unit, forming the 05:00 Tonbridge to Gatwick Airport, derailed near Crowhurst, Surrey, after hitting a fallen tree on the line. None of the eight people on board were hurt. Replacement On 14 May 2012, Merseytravel announced that it was beginning a project for replacement of the 508s and 507s. The lease on the Class 507s and 508s had been extended to 2018. As part of the agreement with Angel Trains, the fleet received a refresh package including external re-livery, internal enhancements and engineering work. On 11 January 2016, Merseytravel announced the short list of companies bidding to build new trains which will replace the Class 507 and Class 508s on the Merseyrail network. In December 2016, Merseytravel announced that Stadler had won the £460million contract and that the new trains were to be delivered from summer 2019 with all the old trains replaced by 2021. The first unit entered service late in January 2023. References Sources Further reading 508