Northern (train operating company)

Northern is a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operator Northern Rail. A subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains, Northern is the second-largest train franchise in the United Kingdom; its trains call at 528 stations - about a quarter of all stations in the country.

Central to franchise commitments will be a £500 million investment in 101 new-built units – the Class 195 and 331. These will be the first new-build trains for the Northern franchise since the introduction of the Class 333 in 2000 with further orders possible if the new units encourage passenger growth and improve passenger satisfaction. The first units were introduced in July 2019 and the new rolling stock will enable all 102 Pacer trains currently in service with Northern to be retired by the end of 2019. Additionally the Class 319 units will be replaced by the entire fleet of Class 323 units by 2022. It is also planned that a franchise sub-brand, known as Northern Connect, will provide inter-urban services between major cities and towns in Northern England, as well as serving a number of major commuting stations.

Since the franchise began in April 2016, it has been beset by more late trains, poor customer service, frequent industrial action by staff, unpopular irregular calling patterns at commuter stations as part of timetable changes and delays in introducing new rolling stock. Despite passenger growth at the vast majority of train operating companies in the United Kingdom and the Northern franchise operating more services, the number of passengers carried since the franchise commenced in 2016 has declined; this has been attributed to worsening performance. The franchise will run to 2025 with an option for an additional year which is dependent on performance.

History
In August 2014, the Department for Transport announced that Abellio, Arriva and Govia had been shortlisted to bid for the next Northern franchise.

In May 2016, the Competition and Markets Authority launched what The Times called an "... unprecedented investigation into the transport department's decision to award the Northern Rail network to Arriva". This was because the parent company Deutsche Bahn also operated the CrossCountry franchise and owned many bus companies in the Northern trains operating area in which 'a significant overlap occurs without competition from other service providers.

Services
Northern took over all the services operated by Northern Rail (also branded Northern) on 1 April 2016 and on the same date, services between Manchester Airport and Blackpool North, Manchester Airport and Barrow in Furness and Oxenholme to Windermere from First TransPennine Express.

Northern took over responsibility for all the stations managed by Northern Rail, as well as Arnside, Barrow-in-Furness, Birchwood, Burneside, Carnforth, Grange-over-Sands, Kendal, Staveley, Ulverston, Warrington Central and Windermere from First TransPennine Express. Northern will staff some currently unstaffed stations. The first stations to be staffed will be Baildon and Ben Rhydding, both in West Yorkshire.

Northern has committed to introducing free Wi-Fi on trains, and new ticketing options including the ability for customers to print their own tickets. In October 2017, the Cleethorpes to Barton-on-Humber service will transfer to East Midlands Trains. The transfer will include Barrow Haven, Barton upon Humber, Goxhill, Great Coates, Grimsby Docks, Habrough, Healing, New Clee, New Holland, Stallingborough, Thornton Abbey and Ulceby stations.

On 1 July 2016, the business was divided into four regions, each headed up by a regional director:


 * Central – regional director based in Manchester
 * East – regional director based in Leeds
 * North East – regional director based in Newcastle upon Tyne
 * West – regional director based in Preston

Table of off-peak services
Below is a list of off-peak services, per the 30 June - 14 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. Northern Connect lines are marked with their colour next to their route.

Northern Connect
From December 2019, Northern will operate a network of twelve Northern Connect interurban express services. Eleven of these will be operated by brand-new Class 195 diesel multiple units and Class 331 electric multiple units, whilst the Middlesbrough to Carlisle via Newcastle route will be operated by refurbished Class 158 units.

Places that will be served by Northern Connect routes include Bradford, Chester, Halifax, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Nottingham, Newcastle, Preston, Sheffield, Barnsley, Lincoln, Wakefield, Wigan and York. The routes transferred from the TransPennine franchise will also be part of the Northern Connect network.

Northern Connect planned future routes and future rolling stock

Rolling stock
Northern inherited the rolling stock operated by Northern Rail, namely Class 142, 144, 150, 153, 155, 156 and 158 diesel multiple units and Class 319, 321, 322, 323 and 333 electric multiple units. To operate services transferred from the TransPennine Express franchise, four Class 185 units were sublet from that franchise to Northern, with this later reducing to two units. As of the May 2019 timetable change, these sublet units have since returned to TPE. To provide additional peak time capacity on the Calder Valley Line, one Class 180 unit is sublet from Grand Central to Northern per weekday.

Class 37/4 locomotives and Mark 2 carriages were hired from Direct Rail Services for Cumbrian Coast line services until December 2018.

The first Class 142 train, 142005, was withdrawn from service on 12 August 2019, with the remaining Class 142s due to be withdrawn before the end of the year.