Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by

Serco-Abellio Serco-Abellio (formerly Serco-NedRailways) is a joint venture between Serco and Abellio, each owning 50%. The joint venture formed and owns one train operating company in Northern England. It has operated the Merseyrail franchise since July 200 ...

that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

, and operated the most stations of any train operating company in the United Kingdom. Northern Rail was replaced on 1 April 2016 by

Arriva Rail North Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva (legal name Arriva Rail North Limited) was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operato ...

History

In 2000 the Strategic Rail Authority announced that it planned to reorganise the North West Regional Railways and Regional Railways North East franchises operated by

First North Western First North Western was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the North West Regional Railways franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. History In the lead up to the privatisation of British Rail, the Nor ...

and Arriva Trains Northern. A TransPennine Express franchise would be created for the long-distance regional services, with the remaining services to be operated by a new Northern Rail franchise. On 1 July 2004 the Strategic Rail Authority awarded the franchise to Serco-NedRailways, beating

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. The franchise was awarded for six years and nine months, with a two-year extension subject to performance targets being achieved. Serco-NedRailways' bid had assumed that some Class 142 ''Pacer'' trains would be released imminently when

Manchester Metrolink Manchester Metrolink (branded locally simply as Metrolink) is a tram/ light rail system in Greater Manchester, England. The network has 99 stops along of standard-gauge route, making it the most extensive light rail system in the United Ki ...

services started between

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

. Due to a substantial delay in extending the Metrolink, it became clear that this was not going to be the case. As a result, the contract signing was delayed, and the services operated by First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern did not transfer to Northern until 12 December 2004. In May 2010 the Department for Transport confirmed that Northern had met the performance targets, and the franchise was extended for two years until September 2013. In May 2012 the Department for Transport granted Northern a six-month extension until 31 March 2014. In March 2013 the Secretary of State for Transport announced the franchise would be further extended to February 2016. In August 2014, the Department for Transport announced Abellio,

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Govia Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 1996 as a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) to bid for rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. History Establi ...

had been shortlisted to bid for the next franchise. On 9 December 2015, it was announced that Arriva trading as

had been awarded a new franchise to run from 1 April 2016 through to March 2025. Before Abellio and Serco's Northern Rail franchise came to an end, unit 158906 received a refurbishment on one of its carriages which included free Wi-Fi, destination displays showing the expected time of arrival, and USB ports at each table.

Services

Additional services

In December 2008 Northern Rail introduced an express service from to calling at , , , , , , and using a unit. The 10:17 service from Sheffield on Sundays continues to Carlisle creating a direct train service between Sheffield and Carlisle for the first time since the demise of British Rail. The service returns from Carlisle at 15:10. In May 2015 Northern Rail announced the re-introduction of a direct service between Blackburn and Manchester Victoria via Burnley following the reopening of the

Todmorden Curve The Calder Valley line (also previously known as the Caldervale line) is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes ...

. The service operates hourly, seven days a week.

Former services

Services on the route from Thorpes Bridge Junction,

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial R ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

East Junction via Oldham, known as the

Oldham Loop Line The Oldham Loop Line was a local railway route in Greater Manchester, England, used by trains that ran from Manchester Victoria to Rochdale via Oldham Mumps. Services on the line at the time of its closure were operated by Northern Rail. The l ...

, ceased on 3 October 2009. The line was subsequently converted for

operation and reopened as a Metrolink route in 2012. Northern Electrics was a brand offering electrified rail from Liverpool to Manchester.

Performance

Northern Rail won Public Transport Operator of the Year 2007 at the National Transport Awards and was praised by the judges for attracting 20% more passengers since 2004. When the extension of its franchise was announced, Northern Rail stated that it had improved punctuality from 83.7% in the 12 months to December 2004 to 91.6% in the 12 months to May 2010, meaning that around 200 more trains per day were on time than in 2004. In the period 15 October 2009 to 14 November 2009, Northern's punctuality was 91.1% and reliability was 92.2%. Northern Rail's passenger charter targets were 91% for punctuality and 99% for reliability. The franchise agreement commits to a 15% reduction in delays in the first five years and to a new 'incentive/penalty regime' and a more 'local focus on performance'. The latest official figures released by NR (

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

) rate punctuality ( PPM) at 91.9% and an MAA of 90.7% for period 7 (2013/2014) and the 12 months up to 12 October 2013. The annual report for 2012, published in March 2013, of the ''

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and t ...

'' stated that Northern Rail transported 263,000 passengers daily. The customer satisfaction decreased to 80%. In May 2011 Northern Rail received the "Sustainable Business of the Year" award.

Criticism

Approach to fare evasion

Northern Rail had a reputation for its rather tough approach on fare evasion, and was known to take passengers to court for underpaying by a matter of pence.

Rolling stock

Northern Rail operated a large diesel fleet, which was used on most services. There was also a smaller electric fleet used on shorter distance services around Leeds and Manchester and on services between Liverpool and Manchester. Northern Rail inherited a fleet of Class 142, 144, 150,

153 Year 153 ( CLIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rusticus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 906 '' Ab urbe cond ...

155 Year 155 ( CLV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 908 ''Ab urbe condita'' ...

156 Year 156 (Roman numerals, CLVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silvanus and Augurinus (or, less frequently, year 90 ...

and 158 diesel multiple units and Class

321 Year 321 ( CCCXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Crispus and Constantinus (or, less frequently, year 1074 ' ...

, 323 and 333 electric multiple units from Arriva Trains Northern and

. In October 2006 Northern Rail leased six former

Central Trains Central Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated a variety of local and inter-regional trains from 2 March 1997 until 11 November 2007. Overview Created out of the Central division o ...

Class 158s that had been on loan to

First Great Western Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Arriva Trains Wales, Central Trains and First Great Western to replace 26 Class 142 ''Pacers''. In the event, Northern Rail received only 19 Class 158s, but did gain eight centre carriages from

East Midlands Trains East Midlands Trains (EMT) was a British train operating company owned by the transport group Stagecoach, which operated the East Midlands franchise between November 2007 and August 2019. Following the Department for Transport (DfT) award of ...

in 2008 that were inserted into Northern's ex-First North Western Class 158s. Twelve of the Class 142s were placed in store, then sublet to First Great Western from late 2007; five were returned to Northern Rail in the autumn of 2008 with the remaining seven following in the autumn of 2011. From December 2008 until December 2011 Northern Rail leased three Class 180s for use on to and services. From July 2011 Northern Rail received 18 Class 150s from

London Midland London Midland was a train operating company in England which operated the West Midlands franchise between 11 November 2007 and 10 December 2017. It was owned by the British transport group Govia. London Midland was created as a result of Gov ...

. In 2011, Northern Rail received the five former Stansted Express British Rail Class 322, Class 322s from First ScotRail. In March 2015 the first British Rail Class 319, Class 319s entered service on the to service.

Fleet at end of franchise

Stations

In 2009, Northern Rail operated 471 stations; more than any other train operating company in the UK. The number fell to 462 later in the same year following closure of the

,Action stations booklet
, Network Rail, 2009 and increased to 463 by 2013.Transformation in Partnership – Northern Prospectus
Department for Transport, June 2014 New stations include Buckshaw Parkway railway station, Buckshaw Parkway in 2011, and James Cook railway station, James Cook in 2014. By 2013, trains operated by Northern Rail called at 526 stations.

Depots

The maintenance depots used by Northern Rail were located at: The train crew depots were located at: To run the Cleethorpes to Barton service, one class 153 was stabled at Cleethorpes overnight and was cleaned, the train crew which ran the service were First TransPennine Express staff.

References

External links

*
Official website
, - {{UK TOCs, defunct, state=collapsed Defunct train operating companies Regional rail in the United Kingdom Companies based in Manchester Nederlandse Spoorwegen Railway companies established in 2004 Railway companies disestablished in 2016 Serco 2004 establishments in England 2016 disestablishments in England History of transport in Greater Manchester