TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993. T ...

owned by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.inter-city Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that run services that connect cities over longer distances than commuter or regional trains. There is no precise definition of inter-city rail; its meaning may vary from country ...

rail services between the major cities and towns of

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 Angles, Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Scandinavian York, K ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The franchise operates almost all its services to and through

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 ...

covering three main routes. The service provides rail links for major towns and cities such as

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, Scarborough,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

and Newcastle. TPE run trains 24 hours a day, including through New Year's Eve night. TPE trains run between , and at least every three hours every night of the week. The franchise operates across the West Coast Main Line, Huddersfield Line,

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running b ...

and part of the Tees Valley line. The majority of TPE's

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles ca ...

was procured during the late 2010s under ''Project Nova''. These consist of the ''Nova 1'' () BMU trainsets, the ''Nova 2''

CAF Civity The CAF Civity is a platform of regional passenger trains which is manufactured by Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles. Available as both diesel, electric and battery-electric multiple unit, the ''Civ ...

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the ...

, and the ''Nova 3'' Mark 5A fixed-formation carriages paired with Class 68

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s. These have replaced older rolling stock, such as the

Bombardier Turbostar The Bombardier Turbostar (sold as the ADtranz Turbostar until 2001) is a family of diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger trains that was built by ADtranz and later Bombardier Transportation at Derby Litchurch Lane Works in the United Kingdom be ...

170/3s and Siemens Desiro 350/4s, as well as some of their Siemens Desiro 185s, although these are still used on some routes. TPE has facilitated an operational shift towards more inter-city style services, although the commuter market remains important.

History

The TransPennine Express brand was launched in the early 1990s by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

Regional Railways Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''. Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...

sector. It became part of Regional Railways North East and, on 2 March 1997, was privatised along with the majority of British Rail. Its first private sector operator, Northern Spirit, as well as its successor,

Arriva Trains Northern Arriva Trains Northern was a train operating company in England owned by Arriva that operated the Regional Railways North East franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. Arriva resumed operating Northern train services again on 1 April 201 ...

, opted to maintain the brand. In 2000, the

Strategic Rail Authority The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for the railway industry. Its motto was 'Britain's railway, properly delivered'. I ...

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, the remaining services being operated by a new Northern franchise. In July 2003, the TransPennine franchise was awarded to a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Keolis Keolis is a multinational transportation company that operates public transport systems. The company manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus and funicular services. ...

, and the services operated by Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western were transferred to First TransPennine Express on 1 February 2004. On 11 November 2007, the services from

to and via the West Coast Main Line formerly operated by

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in t ...

were transferred to First TransPennine Express. In August 2014, the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

announced FirstGroup, Keolis/ Go-Ahead and

Stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are dra ...

had been shortlisted to bid for the next franchise. During December 2015, FirstGroup was awarded the franchise of TransPennine Express. The effective date of the new franchise was 1 April 2016 and will run until 31 March 2023, with an option to extend for two years. The company remains First TransPennine Express, but has branded the services as TransPennine Express. As part of a recasting of the franchise map by the Department for Transport, services from to ; Manchester Airport to ; and to were transferred to the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016. TransPennine Express was one of several train operators impacted by the 2022 United Kingdom railway strike, which was the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who participated in

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increa ...

due to a dispute over pay and working conditions.

Services

The TransPennine Express routes are subdivided into three operations: * ''North Route'', which includes all routes that pass through the core section between

and ; * ''Anglo-Scottish Route'', which consists of services on the West Coast Main Line; * ''South Route'', which includes services running on the Hope Valley line and the South Humberside Main Line. As of December 2022, the following services operate off-peak, 7 days a week: {, class="wikitable" , - ! colspan="3" , North Route , - ! width="50" , Route , , , , Calling at , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , , , * Alternates with services from to . , - , to , , , , * Alternates with services from to and from to . , - , to , , , , * Alternates with services from to . , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , , , * 2 additional trains per day run between and only. , - ! colspan="3" , South Route , - ! width="250" , Route , , , , Calling at , - , to , , 1 , , , - ! colspan="3" , Anglo-Scottish Route , - ! width="250" , Route , , , , Calling at , - , to , , , , * runs between and only. * Alternates with services to , see below. , - , to , , , , * Alternates with services to , see above. , - , to , , , , {{cslist, {{rws, St Helens Central, {{rws, Wigan North Western, {{rws, Preston, {{rws, Lancaster {{rws, Oxenholme Lake District, {{rws, Carlisle, {{rws, Lockerbie, {{rws, Motherwell (1tpd) {{Notelist {, width=100% , - valign=top , {{North TransPennine , {{South TransPennine , {{TransPennine North West & Scotland

Rolling stock

When TransPennine Express began operation, it inherited a fleet of four Class 170 and 51 Class 185 DMUs as well as ten Class 350/4 EMUs from First TransPennine Express. The Class 170s were transferred to

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Rail ...

, where they were converted to Class 168s. Originally it was planned after all the new trains in the ''Nova'' fleet entered service, 22 of the 51 Class 185 DMUs would be returned to Eversholt Rail Group.{{Cite web, title=TfGMC – Item 05b TPE – New Franchise presentation, url=http://www.transportforgreatermanchestercommittee.gov.uk/tfgmc/downloads/file/5158/item_05b_tpe_-_new_franchise_presentation, website=www.transportforgreatermanchestercommittee.gov.uk However these have remained with the franchise and to allow services to be strengthened and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Further cascades of rolling stock occurred over time; shortly following the introduction of the

Class 397 The British Rail Class 397 '' Civity'' is a class of electric multiple unit built by Spanish rolling stock manufacturer CAF for lease to TransPennine Express by Eversholt Rail Group. A total of twelve five-car units were built to operate servi ...

sets during 2020, all ten of the Class 350 EMUs were transferred to

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

.{{cite web, last=Briginshaw, first=David, date=23 May 2016, title=CAF to supply trains to TransPennine Express, url=http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/rolling-stock/caf-to-supply-trains-to-transpennine-express.html, access-date=16 February 2016, publisher=International Rail Journal

Project Nova

Upon its instatement, TransPennine Express (TPE) services were particularly heavily trafficked; prior to 2018, the operator reportedly operated the busiest trains in the country, and it was common for some passengers to be unable to be seated during

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: o ...

. Reportedly, the franchise also aimed to reorientation its operations towards inter-city services over its inter-urban routes, although it shall continue to transport large numbers of commuters regardless. As a means of addressing these factors, TPE launched ''Project Nova'', under which the vast majority of their existing rolling stock would be replaced by new-build trainsets with greater capacity. During 2016, TPE signed contracts valued at £500 million with Spanish rolling stock manufacturer

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Grupo CAF, literally "Construction and Other Railway Services") is a Spanish publicly listed company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment and buses through its Solaris Bus & Coach subsidi ...

(CAF) to produce the majority of its Nova rolling stock.{{cite web , url = https://www.railmagazine.com/news/rail-features/tpe-s-new-trains , title = TPE's new trains , publisher = railmagazine.com , first = Richard , last = Clinnick , date = 26 August 2019 The Nova fleet is divided into three distinct categories; the ''Nova 1'' being ({{brc, 802) BMU sets derived from the Hitachi A-train family, the ''Nova 2'' trainsets being CAF-built {{brc, 397 Civity EMUs, and the ''Nova 3'' sets consisting of locomotive-hauled CAF-built Mark 5A coaches. The Nova 1 fleet had originally been ordered by TPE's predecessor as part of plans to bolster route capacity by 80%; having contracted with Hitachi Rail Europe for the latter to supply 19 five-car bi-mode trainsets. According to Robin Davis, TPE's Head of New Trains, a major rationale behind the Nova 1 fleet was its bi-mode capability, noting that electrification ambitions often had much uncertainty, while a bi-mode fleet eliminated the operational risk to such uncertainty. Davis also noted that, in the event of largescale electrification being funded and implemented, the Class 802s could have some of their engines removed to reduce roughly 15% of their weight and thus raise their efficiency. Furthermore, Leo Goodwin, TPE's managing director, has observed that while the Class 802s will have an initial maximum speed of 125 mph, they have the capability of being modified for operating at 140 mph if infrastructure upgrades were to permit such speeds at a future date. The Nova 2 trainsets were CAF-built Class 397 EMUs, the design being a member of the preexisting Civity range. Davis observed the Class 397 procurement to be a natural fit in light of TPE's desire to rapidly increase capacity and CAF's reputation for speedily producing limited batches of trains. While the Class 397 is capable of attaining a maximum speed of 125 mph, it shall be limited to a service speed of 100 mph. The Nova 3 trainsets use Mark 5A carriages, locomotive-hauled and designed for its inter-city routes. The choice to procure carriages was unusual for the UK market; it is reportedly the first procurement of such rolling stock since the Mark 4 sets for the InterCity 225 during the late 1980s. Davis claims that the expense of constructing DMUs suitable for inter-city services was prohibitive in comparison, and notes that it is to be operated as a fixed-formation push-pull train, not relying on run-arounds as historically performed by locomotive-hauled sets. From the onset, it was planned for these to be hauled by a small fleet of Class 68 locomotives, requiring minor control-oriented modifications by Stadler to do so. According to franchise documents filed with the

(DfT), considerations have been made to alternatively hauling the Nova 3 carriages with Class 88 bi-mode locomotives, which are closely related to the Class 68; however, this would be dependent on relatively ambitious, and thus far unfunded, suggestions for widespread electrification in the region being fulfilled. On 24 August 2019, the first new trains of the ''Nova'' fleet entered revenue service; these were the ''Nova 3'' sets, comprising a Class 68 locomotive and a rake of Mark 5A coaches. On 28 September 2019, the ''Nova 1'' (Class 802) sets followed, while operations of the ''Nova 2'' trainsets (Class 397) commenced on 30 November 2019. TPE officially launched the ''Nova'' fleet on 22 November at Liverpool Lime Street station.

Current fleet

{, class="wikitable" , - style="background:#f9f9f9;" ! rowspan="2" , Family ! rowspan="2" , Class ! rowspan="2" , Image ! rowspan="2" , Type ! colspan="2" , Top speed ! rowspan="2" , Number ! rowspan="2" , Carriages ! rowspan="2" , Routes operated ! rowspan="2" , Built , - style="background:#f9f9f9;" ! mph ! km/h , - ! ! colspan="9" , Diesel multiple units , - , rowspan="2" , Siemens Desiro , rowspan="2" ,

185 Year 185 ( CLXXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lascivius and Atilius (or, less frequently, year 938 ''Ab urbe con ...

, rowspan="2" , Class 185 at Manchester Piccadilly

, align=center, DHMU , align=center, 100 , align=center, 160 , align=center, 51 , align=center, 3 , North Route, South Route , align=center, {{nowrap, 2005{{ndash2006 , - , colspan="7" , Class_185_TPE_(2016)_Diagram

, - ! ! colspan="9" , Bi-mode multiple units , - , rowspan="2" , Hitachi AT300 , rowspan="2" , 802/2 ''Nova 1'' , rowspan="2" align="center" , TPE NOVA 1 Manchester Victoria

, align=center, BMU , align=center, 124 , align=center, 200 , align="center", 19 , align=center, 5 , * Liverpool Lime Street – Newcastle * Manchester Airport – Newcastle * Edinburgh-Newcastle * Edinburgh-Manchester Airport , align=center, 2017{{ndash2019 , - , colspan="7" , TPE Class 802 2

, - ! ! colspan="9" , Electric multiple units , - , rowspan="2" ,

, rowspan="2" , 397 ''Nova 2'' , rowspan="2" align="center" , Lancaster -TPE 397006 arriving from Glasgow

, align=center, EMU , align=center, 125 , align=center, 200 , align="center" , 12 , align=center, 5 , Anglo-Scottish Route , align=center, {{nowrap, 2017{{ndash2019{{cite web , url= http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/news/2016/05/more-new-trains-for-the-north-and-scotland/ , publisher= First Transpennine Express , title= More new trains for the North and Scotland , date=20 May 2016 , - , colspan="7" , TPE Class 397 w-pantgraph

, - ! ! colspan="9" , Locomotive hauled stock , - , Stadler UKLight , Class 68 ''UKLight'' , align=center, TransPennine Express 68019 Brutus at Gresty Bridge, July 2018

, align=center,

Diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

, align=center, 100 , align=center, 160 , align="center" , 14New-build DRS Class 68s to operate TPE's Mk 5 rakes
– PressReader.com. Retrieved 30 March 2017. , rowspan=3 align=center, 5 , rowspan=3, * Liverpool Lime Street – Scarborough via Manchester Victoria * Manchester Airport – Redcar Central via Manchester Victoria , align=center, 2016{{ndash2017 , - , rowspan="3" , CAF , rowspan="3" , Mark 5A ''Nova 3'' , align="center" , TPE Mark 5 TS 12718 at Crewe Carriage Shed

TPE Mark 5 TS 12718 at Crewe Carriage Shed

, align=center,

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

, rowspan=2 align=center, 125 , rowspan=2 align=center, 200 , align="center" , 52 , rowspan=2 align=center, 2017{{ndash2018 , - , rowspan="2" , TPE NOVA 3 Manchester Piccadilly

, align=center,

Driving Trailer A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK and Ireland) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or two driver compartm ...

, align="center" , 14 , - , colspan="7" , TPE Nova 3

Past fleet

Former units operated by TransPennine Express include: {, class="wikitable" , - style="background:#f9f9f9;" !Family !Class !Image !Type ! mph ! km/h !Number !Carriages !Routes operated !Built !Left fleet , - ,

, 170/3 , TPEClass170

, align="center" , DMU , align="center" , 100 , align="center" , 160 , align="center" , 4 , align="center" , 2 , Manchester Piccadilly / Airport-Cleethorpes / Hull / York , align="center" , 2000 , align="center" , 2016 , - , Siemens Desiro , 350/4 , TransPennine Express 350402 at Glasgow Central

TransPennine Express 350402 at Glasgow Central

, align="center" , EMU , align="center" , 110 , align="center" , 177 , align="center" , 10 , align="center" , 4 , Anglo-Scottish Route , align="center" , {{nowrap, 2013{{ndash2014 , align="center" , {{nowrap, 2019{{ndash2020

Future fleet

In 2022, FirstGroup released a provision seeking expressions of interest for suppliers to build a new fleet of at least 15 bi-mode locomotives. These will replace the TPE Class 68s and the GWR {{brc, 57s.

Managed stations

An example of TPE signage at Scarborough

TransPennine Express services run over large areas of northern England and southern

Scottish Lowlands The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lo ...

. Many of the largest stations they serve are managed by other train operating companies or

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 len ...

. TransPennine Express manages the following 19 stations:{{cite web , url = https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/407939/northern-and-tpe-stakeholder-briefing-document-and-consultation-response.pdf , title = Stakeholder Briefing Document and Consultation Response , publisher = Department for Transport , date = 27 February 2015 {{Div col, colwidth=15em * {{rws, Barnetby * {{rws, Brough * {{rws, Cleethorpes * {{rws, Dewsbury * {{rws, Grimsby Town * {{rws, Huddersfield * Hull Paragon * {{rws, Malton * {{stn, Manchester Airport * {{rws, Middlesbrough * {{rws, Northallerton * {{rws, Scarborough * {{rws, Scunthorpe * {{rws, Seamer * {{rws, Selby * {{rws, Stalybridge * {{rws, Thirsk * {{rws, Thornaby * {{rws, Yarm {{colend Some stations from the former franchise operator First TransPennine Express were transferred to

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

. These include {{rws, Arnside, {{rws, Barrow-in-Furness, {{rws, Birchwood, {{rws, Burneside, {{rws, Carnforth, {{rws, Grange-over-Sands, {{rws, Kendal, {{rws, Staveley, {{rws, Ulverston, {{rws, Warrington Central and {{rws, Windermere.

Depots and servicing

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...

maintains the Class 185 fleet at Ardwick depot in Manchester with a smaller facility in

. Scottish stabling points for both stock include

Polmadie TRSMD Polmadie Traction and Rolling Stock Maintenance Depot (T&RSMD), also known as Polmadie Depot, Polmadie Traction Depot and Polmadie Carriage Maintenance Depot (Glasgow) is a railway maintenance depot on the West Coast Main Line in the Polmadie ...

(Glasgow) and Craigentinny T.&R.S.M.D. (Edinburgh).

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...

maintains the Class 802 fleet at Doncaster Carr and Craigentinny.{{cite web , url = http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/traction-rolling-stock/single-view/view/hitachi-awarded-transpennine-express-multiple-unit-contract.html , title = Hitachi awarded TransPennine Express multiple unit contract , publisher =

Railway Gazette International ''Railway Gazette International'' is a monthly business magazine and news website covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by transport ...

, date = 31 March 2016 The new EMUs and loco-hauled sets will be maintained by Alstom, on behalf of TransPennine Express, at Longsight (Manchester), Edge Hill (Liverpool) and

Polmadie Polmadie (; gd, Poll Mac Dè, lit=Son of God pool) is a primarily industrial area of Glasgow in Scotland. Situated south of the River Clyde, Polmadie is close to residential neighbourhoods including Govanhill (to the west) and Toryglen (south-e ...

(Glasgow). During 2020, in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, TPE invested £1.7 million into highly stringent rolling stock cleaning practices; these reportedly represented a 70% upsurge on pre-COVID-19 hygiene practices. TransPennine Express have depots for its train crews at Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport (conductors), York, Newcastle, Scarborough, Hull, Cleethorpes, Sheffield, Preston, Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow Central.

Criticism

The TransPennine Express service is often criticised. A satirical article in 2022 called it the "ironically named TransPennine Express. You'd hate to take the non-Express service. It might be quicker to walk."{{cite news, last=Crace , first=John , title=Urgent question on railways chaos sends the Tories running for the hills , newspaper=The Guardian , date=1 December 2022 , url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/01/labours-urgent-question-over-train-chaos-highlights-tory-party-derailment

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

* {{Commons category-inline * {{Official website {{s-start {{s-bef, before= First TransPennine Express
(

joint venture) {{s-ttl, title=Operator of TransPennine Express franchise , years=2016–2023 {{s-aft, after=incumbent {{s-end {{UK TOCs, current, state=collapsed {{FirstGroup {{Authority control FirstGroup railway companies Railway companies established in 2016 Train operating companies in the United Kingdom 2016 establishments in England British companies established in 2016