Northern Trains
Northern Trains is a publicly owned train operating company in England which commenced operating the Northern franchise on 1 March 2020. It is operated by DfT OLR Holdings Limited, after the previous operator Arriva Rail North had its franchise terminated at the end of February 2020.
History
In December 2015, the Department for Transport awarded Arriva a contract to operate the Northern franchise. It commenced in April 2016 and was scheduled to run until March 2025.The franchise encountered a number of problems. In May 2018, a new timetable was introduced, however rolling stock and crew shortages resulted in widespread delays and cancellations from which the operator never recovered.
In October 2019, the Secretary 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-term management contract or the operator of last resort to take over. The DfT decided to terminate the franchise with the operator of last resort to take over.
Services
Northern Trains took over all the services operated by Arriva Rail North on 1 March 2020.Table of off-peak services
Below is a list of off-peak services, per December 2019 timetables. It has been slightly simplified due to some routes' irregular service pattern. Due to the extensive nature of the network, it has been split by geographic area. Some services are listed in more than one place.North East
Cumbria and North Lancashire
Preston area
Liverpool
Manchester (via Oxford Road and Piccadilly)
Manchester (via Victoria)
Leeds and West Yorkshire
South Yorkshire and Humber
Rolling stock
Northern Trains took over all of the rolling stock operated by its predecessor, namely Class 142, 144, 150, 153, 155, 156, 158, 170 and 195 diesel multiple units and Class 319, 321, 322, 323, 331 and 333 electric multiple units. On 6 July 2020 7 Class 142s returned to service following the introduction of a new timetable, to aid social distancing on key routes during the COVID-19 pandemic.Current fleet
Future fleet
In April 2020, three 2-carriage Class 150 sets were transferred from Great Western Railway, however these units are not yet in service due to delays in training caused by the Covid pandemic. Also, seventeen Class 323s are to be transferred from West Midlands Trains and eight Class 769s delivered. This will result in the withdrawal of all Class 153, 319 and 322 units.In May 2020, it was announced 10 ex East Midlands Railway Class 153 units would transfer to Northern, replacing 8 Northern 153s.
Past fleet
Former train types operated by Northern Trains include:Depots
Northern Trains' fleet is maintained at Allerton, Blackburn King Street, Botanic Gardens, Heaton, Newton Heath, Neville Hill and Wigan Springs Branch depots.Northern Trains currently has depots for its train crew at Barrow-in-Furness, Blackburn, Blackpool North, Buxton, Carlisle, Darlington, Doncaster, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Liverpool Lime Street, Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Victoria, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton, Wigan Wallgate, Workington and York.
| Depot | Picture | Allocation | Nearest station |
| Allerton TMD | 150, 156, 195, 319, 323, 331 Future: 769 | Liverpool South Parkway | |
| Blackburn King Street TMD | 150, 156, 195 | Blackburn | |
| Botanic Gardens TMD | 08, 155, 158, 170 | Hull Paragon | |
| Heaton TMD | 156, 158 | Newcastle | |
| Newton Heath TMD | 144, 150, 153, 156, 195 | Manchester Victoria | |
| Neville Hill TMD | 153, 155, 158, 170, 321, 322, 331, 333 | Leeds | |
| Wigan Springs Branch TMD | 158, 195, 319, 331 Future: 769 | Wigan North Western |