Northern Trains Limited,[4]trading asNorthern, is a Britishtrain operating company that operates local services and medium-distanceinter-city routes in theNorth of England. It is owned byDfT Operator for theDepartment for Transport (DfT), after the previous operatorArriva Rail North had its franchise terminated at the end of February 2020; this was amid widespread dissatisfaction over its performance, particularly in respect of poorly implemented timetable changes.
The company commenced operating the Northern franchise on 1 March 2020; the DfT had opted to hand the operation of the franchise over to theoperator of last resort. At the commencement of operations, Northern publicly stated that its immediate aims were to improve service reliability and to proceed with the introduction of new rolling stock. For the latter, both theClass 195diesel multiple units andClass 331electric multiple units were brought into service fully during December 2020.
Services have been disrupted by wider events, particularly theCOVID-19 pandemic. Northern was also affected by the2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes, the largest national rail strikes in the UK in three decades. Although strikes stopped in 2024, the franchise has been affected by rest day working restrictions that have continued to regularly affect Sunday services into 2025.[5]
Long-term changes will include procurement of up to 386 new trains totalling 896 carriages, with planned introduction in 2030 in two phases with a further phase to be developed. These new trains will replace most of the current fleet including all ageingSprinter trains,Class 323 andClass 333 units. The company will benefit from streamlined fleets to reduce both training and maintenance requirements, allowing for operational improvements as well as reduced carbon emissions.[6]
In December 2015, the Department for Transport (DfT) awardedArriva a contract to operate the Northern franchise as Arriva Rail North. It commenced in April 2016 and was originally scheduled to run until March 2025.[7][8] Within two years, the franchise was being widely criticised, in particular for troubled implementation of a new timetable in May 2018 that resulted in widespread delays and cancellations.[9][10] Later in 2018, performance continued to suffer, with many passengers protesting and a reduced service on Saturdays due toindustrial action.[11][12][13][14] By November 2018, Arriva were re-evaluating their future involvement in the franchise due to a combination of declining passenger numbers as a result of the chaotic May 2018 timetable change and increasing compensation claims as a result of falling punctuality.[15]
In June 2019, the DfT's operator of last resort, DfT OLR Holdings (later renamedDfT Operator), conducted due diligence into the franchise believing both the operational and financial performance to be "unsustainable".[16] In October 2019, theSecretary of State for Transport,Grant Shapps, issued a request for proposals to incumbent operator Arriva and the operator of last resort, which would result in termination of the franchise with either Arriva to be awarded a short-termmanagement contract or the operator of last resort to take over.[17] In January 2020, Shapps publicly criticised Arriva's operation of the Northern franchise and suggested that the Government may step in to revoke its franchise agreement, bluntly referring to the service as "completely unacceptable".[18]
On 29 January 2020, the DfT announced its decision to terminate Arriva Rail North as operator of the franchise, to be taken over by the DfT's operator of last resort.[19][20][21] This was the first time that a franchise has been removed from a train operating company due to poor performance sinceConnex South Eastern in 2003. On 1 March 2020, the franchise became directly operated by DfT OLR Holdings with the stated objective to "stabilise performance and restore reliability for passengers".[22][23]
By mid-2020, Northern had considerably curtailed its services in response to the significant decline of passenger travel amid theCOVID-19 pandemic.[24][25] From 15 June 2020, both passengers and staff on public transport in England, including Northern services, were required to wear face coverings while travelling, and that anyone failing to do so would be liable to be refused travel or fined.[26][27]
In 2021, Northern was given a contract by the DfT to run services for three years, with an optional extension of a further two years.[28] The contract was updated in 2022, to run until 1 March 2025.[29]
Northern is one of several train operators affected by the2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes, which were the first national rail strikes in the UK for three decades.[30] Its workers are amongst those who voted to take industrial action due to a dispute over pay and working conditions.[31] Northern urged the travelling public to avoid travelling on its services on any of the planned dates for the strikes, being only capable of operating a minimal timetable due to the number of staff involved.[32][33]
Multiple campaigns were conducted to request increase in services to the line,[38] but in 2022,Transport for Greater Manchester published two surveys in relation to the line.[39]
As of May 2023, there is one train per day betweenSheffield andCleethorpes, viaGainsborough Central andBrigg. This service runs on weekdays only.[40] The service was suspended between January and October 2022, due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[41] Between October 1993 and May 2023, this service ran on Saturdays only, but had three trains each way and on weekdays; a few peak services terminated atGainsborough Central.
Northern took over all of the rolling stock operated by its predecessor, namely Class142,144,150,153,155,156,158,170 and195diesel multiple units and Class319,321,322,323,331 and333electric multiple units. All Class 321 and 322 units were withdrawn in mid-2020 and moved toGreater Anglia.[42] All Class 153s were sent to storage by December 2021.[43] 23Class 156 units were transferred fromEast Midlands Railway, which includes eight of the nine Class 156/9 units formerly used by Greater Anglia,[44] although they were renumbered back to 156/4s before the transfer.[45] For the December timetable change in 2022, five more Class 156 units were transferred.[46] The final Class 156 units were delivered in May 2023.[47] The Class 319s were withdrawn on 2 January 2024.[48]
Between October 2023 and July 2024, 17 Class 323 units were transferred from West Midlands Trains to Northern Trains.[49][50]
In August 2023, Northern issued a tender to acquire a contract for up to 450 new trains to replace the older rolling stock in their fleet.[59]
In 2024, Northern issued a tender for up to 329 new trains.[51] The 329 trains are made up of 45 three-coach electric multiple units, 16 four-coach electric multiple units, 108 three-coach bi-mode units, 128 four-coach bi-mode units and 32 four-coach battery electric multiple units.[60]
In January 2025, Northern revealed that they had shortlisted five companies for the replacement of Classes 150, 155 and 156, as well as a fleet of 12 extra EMUs for trans-Pennine electrification. The five companies areAlstom, CAF,Hitachi, Siemens andStadler. The remaining units will be bi-mode with a pantograph and diesel/battery power; Northern aims to start introducing the new fleet in 2030.[61][62]
According to an interview with Northern's Strategic Development Director Rob Warnes, the fleet options are as follows:[63]
^Milner, Chris (March 2025). "Northern begins procurement for up to 450 new trains to replace second generation units". Headline News.Rail Express. No. 346. p. 11.
^"Customer Information". Northern OLR Holdings. 30 January 2020. Archived fromthe original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved30 January 2020.Q: What are Northern Trains Limited's plans for the franchise? Our initial priority is to continue to stabilise performance across the region and restore reliability for customers. We will then explore opportunities to improve the experience for customers.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
