The company commenced operating the Northern franchise on 1 March 2020, taking over from Arriva Rail North. The prior operator had its franchise terminated early by the DfT in January 2020 amid widespread dissatisfaction over its performance, particularly in respect of poorly implemented timetable changes. The DfT had opted to hand the operation of the franchise over to the operator 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 the Class 195diesel multiple units and Class 331electric multiple units were brought into service fully during December 2020.
Services have been disrupted by wider events, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic. Northern was also affected by the 2022–2024 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]
Following the successful introduction of the new-build Class 195 and 331 fleets in 2020 totalling 290 new carriages, the franchise stated an intent to train manufacturers to replace the ageing Sprinter class trains in 2023. The tender process was formalised in January 2025, with an award due in 2026 and first trains expected into service in 2030. Entailing up to 450 carriages, the programme would involve full fleet modernisation, streamlined fleets to reduce both training and maintenance requirements and reduced carbon emissions.[6]
History
Background
In December 2015, the Department for Transport (DfT) awarded Arriva 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 to industrial 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 renamed DfT Operator), conducted due diligence into the franchise believing the both operational and financial performance to be "unsustainable".[16] 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.[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 since Connex 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]
Changes and events
By mid-2020, Northern had considerably curtailed its services in response to the significant decline of passenger travel amid the COVID-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 Department for Transport 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 the 2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes, which are the first national rail strikes in the UK for three decades.[30] Its workers are amongst those who voted to take industrial action due 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]
Services
Northern took over all the services operated by Arriva Rail North on 1 March 2020.
Table of off-peak services
Parts of this article (those related to the out-of-date service tables) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2024)
Below is a simplified list of frequent Monday to Saturday off-peak services, as of December 2024 timetables.[34] Due to the extensive nature of the network, it has been split by region, then majority rail line. One of the changes to the December timetable is the four trains per day service between Huddersfield and Castleford (which was frequently run as a bus rail replacement service), has been moved to TransPennine Express, and extended to start at Manchester Piccadilly, and run to York via Castleford.[35]
Multiple campaigns were conducted to request increase in services to the line,[39] but in 2022, Transport for Greater Manchester published two surveys in relation to the line.[40]
As of May 2023, there is one train per day between Sheffield and Cleethorpes, via Gainsborough Central and Brigg. This service runs on weekdays only.[41] The service was suspended between January and October 2022 due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic.[42] 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 at Gainsborough Central.
Rolling stock
Northern took over all of the rolling stock operated by its predecessor, namely Class 142, 144, 150, 153, 155, 156, 158, 170 and 195diesel multiple units and Class 319, 321, 322, 323, 331 and 333electric multiple units. All Class 321 and 322 units were withdrawn in mid-2020 and moved to Greater Anglia.[43] All Class 153s were sent to storage by December 2021.[44] 23 Class 156 units were transferred from East Midlands Railway, which includes eight of the nine Class 156/9 units formerly used by Greater Anglia,[45] although they were renumbered back to 156/4s before the transfer.[46] For the December timetable change in 2022, five more Class 156 units were transferred.[47] The final Class 156 units were delivered in May 2023.[48] The Class 319s were withdrawn on 2 January 2024.[49]
Between October 2023 and July 2024, 17 Class 323 units were transferred from West Midlands Trains to Northern Trains.[50][51]
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.[61]
In 2024, Northern issued a tender for up to 329 new trains.[52] The 329 trains are made up of 45 three coach electric multiple units, 16 four coach electric multiple units, 108 three coach multiple mode units, 128 four coach multiple mode units and 32 four coach battery electric multiple units.[62]
In January 2025 Northern revealed that they had shortlisted five companies for the replacement of the classes 150, 155 and 156 as well as a fleet of 12 extra EMUs for Transpennine electrification. The five companies are Alstom, CAF, Hitachi, Siemens and Stadler. The remaining units will be bi-mode with a pantograph and diesel/battery power, and Northern aim to start introducing the new fleet in 2030.[63][64]
^"About Northern". www.northernrailway.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
^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 from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 30 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.
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