[1] It includes all railway stations in Merseyside that currently have regular timetabled train services.
In respect of rail services, it is responsible for awarding the Merseyrail franchise to private operators,[2] and for setting zonal boundaries for season ticket fares.
The following table lists the name and three-letter code of each station, the year it first opened, the metropolitan borough in which it lies, the zone(s) in which it is situated, the train operators who currently provide its services and the number of passengers using the station in the 2014–15 and 2015–16 financial years as collated by the Office of Rail Regulation a Government body.
[4] The rail network is divided into four lettered areas, which are subdivided into numbered zones: Fares for weekly and longer-period rail, bus and intermodal season tickets are set according to the number of zones and/or areas passed through.
The Merseyrail area extends into some adjacent boroughs which are not part of Merseyside; for fare-setting purposes, additional zones F (yellow) and G (orange) cover these.