I went to the open day today at Birkenhead North to have a gander at one of the new trains. Man, there's nothing like the smell of new train!
I got a few tidbits of information as well. So far, Merseyrail have only taken delivery of about a dozen trains, and only two of them are service ready. They have to do 1500 miles before they can be certified, so they're running them as much as they can at night.
Looks like they have enough to run the West Kirby and New Brighton routes, but still no word on when they might enter service. The guy I talked to said about bringing them into the Wirral Line first - all at once rather than a phased transition - but I don't know if he just meant West Kirby and New Brighton or Chester and Ellesmere Port as well.
They look pretty amazing, inside and out, although the seating is noticeably much firmer than on the current trains.