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Northern Rail
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Northern Rail (often referred to simply as Northern) is a train operating company that has operated local passenger services in the north of England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-NedRailways, is a consortium formed of NedRailways (the British unit of ) and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems. When it won the Northern England franchise, the consortium had already secured the contract to operate north-west England's Merseyrail network in 2003.
o-NedRailways was announced as the 'preferred bidder' for the Northern franchise by the Strategic Rail Authority on 1 July 2004, and signed the agreement to operate the franchise on 19 October.
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Encyclopedia
Northern Rail (often referred to simply as Northern) is a train operating company that has operated local passenger services in the north of England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-NedRailways, is a consortium formed of NedRailways (the British unit of ) and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems. When it won the Northern England franchise, the consortium had already secured the contract to operate north-west England's Merseyrail network in 2003.
Introduction
Serco-NedRailways was announced as the 'preferred bidder' for the Northern franchise by the Strategic Rail Authority on 1 July 2004, and signed the agreement to operate the franchise on 19 October. However, the new operators did not actually take over from the previous operators (First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern) until 12 December 2004. The reason for the delay was because Serco NedRailways assumed that some Class 142 Pacer trains would be freed up in the near future when Manchester Metrolink services started between Manchester and Oldham. Due to a substantial delay in extending the Metrolink, it was clear that this was not going to be the case.
Northern run a mix of commuter routes, rural routes and some longer distance services around Cheshire, Co. Durham, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and Yorkshire. Northern’s services also extend to the north Midland counties of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire. Some services are supported by Passenger Transport Executives. In December 2008 the operator started an express service from Leeds to Nottingham calling at Wakefield Kirkgate, Barnsley, Sheffield, Dronfield, Chesterfield, Alfreton, Langley Mill and Nottingham.
The franchise is planned to run for a maximum of eight years and nine months, with the final two years subject to performance targets being achieved. The franchise does not require them to purchase or lease new trains.
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.
Performance
In the period 6 November 2008 to 5 December 2008 Northern’s punctuality varied between 81.0%, for services in the South Manchester group to 93.2%, for services in the Teeside and Tyne and Wear areas.
In the same period reliability varied from 97.5%, in the north Manchester area to 99.4% in West and North Yorkshire.
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 the ORR rate punctuality (PPM) at 91.0% and an MAA of 89.6% for the second quarter of the financial year 2008/9 and the 12 months up to 30 September 2008.
Routes
Timetable booklets for routes marked WY are only produced by Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.
Northern Rail also run some parliamentary trains. These include:
Depots
The Traincare depots for Northern Rail are located in:
- Hull Botanic Gardens (BG)
- Blackpool North LMD (BP)
- Barrow-in-Furness (BW)
- Heaton (Newcastle upon Tyne) (HT)
- Neville Hill (Leeds) (NL)
- Newton Heath (Manchester) (NH)
- Sheffield Station (SM)
Additionally, Northern Rail also has a Depot Access Agreement (DAA) with West Coast Traincare to undertake Level 1 to 4 Maintenance at its Manchester Traincare Centre (Longsight LO) on the Northern Rail operated Class 323 EMU's and Servicing on its Class 142 and Class 15x DMU's.
An further DAA covers Servicing of its Class 142 and Class 15x DMU's at West Coast Traincare's Liverpool Traincare Centre (Edge Hill CS).
December 2008 service changes
A number of significant timetable changes were made by Northern Rail in December 2008:
- The Buxton to Blackpool North was replaced by a Buxton to Manchester Piccadilly service and a Manchester Victoria to Blackpool North service.
- The Hazel Grove to Manchester Piccadilly service became a DMU service due to a shortage of EMU Traction post-December 2008. At the same time the service was extended to Preston via Bolton.
- An additional hourly all-stations Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport service started. (Transpennine Express services ceased to serve stations between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport except Heald Green.)
- Constraints on the West Coast Main Line caused by extra London to Manchester trains resulted in only an hourly peak service from Manchester Piccadilly to Chester via Altrincham, with a half-hourly service only available from Stockport onwards. It also resulted in two less peak local trains from Crewe to Manchester. These two occurrences have prompted an online petition.
- Virtually all Manchester Piccadilly to Macclesfield services were extended to Stoke-on-Trent calling at Congleton and Kidsgrove .
- A new hourly Express Service from Leeds to Nottingham started calling at Wakefield Kirkgate, Barnsley, Meadowhall, Sheffield, Dronfield, Chesterfield, Alfreton and Langley Mill.
- Changes on the Caldervale Line, with the introduction of a limited-stop service between Leeds, Bradford Interchange and Manchester Victoria, and a Leeds-Manchester Victoria stopping service via Dewsbury and Brighouse
Rolling Stock
Current fleet
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Number | Routes operated | Built | mph | km/h | | Class 142 Pacer | | Diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 73 | Stopping Services Across Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Tees Valley, Tyne and Wear, Yorkshire | 1985 - 1987 | | Class 144 Pacer | | Diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 23 | Found on Metro services mostly in West Yorkshire, also in South Yorkshire & North Yorkshire. Also found on the Leeds to Manchester Victoria stopper. | 1986 - 1987 | | Class 150/1 Sprinter | | Diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 17 | Found on local and longer distance services around Cheshire, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, West Yorkshire | 1981 - 1984 | | Class 150/2 Sprinter | | Diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 23 | Found on local and longer distance services around Cheshire, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire | 1983 - 1985 | | Class 153 Super Sprinter | | Diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 18 | Preston - Ormskirk, Leeds - Knottingley, Wakefield Kirkgate - Knottingley, Cumbrian Coast Line. Also seen coupled to other trains for additional capacity. | 1987 - 1988 | | Class 155 Super Sprinter | | Diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 7 | Caldervale Line, Harrogate line | 1987 | | Class 156 Super Sprinter | | Diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 46 | Various longer distance services and increasingly on shorter services across Northern’s network. | 1987 - 1989 | | Class 158 Express Sprinter | | Diesel multiple unit | 90 | 145 | 46 | Express services including York - Blackpool North, Sheffield - Leeds via Barnsley, Sheffield -Bridlington/Scarborough, Leeds - Carlisle, Leeds-Bradford-Manchester Victoria, Nottingham - Leeds | 1989 - 1992 | | | | Class 180 'Adelante' | | diesel multiple unit | 125 | 200 | 3 | Cascaded from First Great Western.
Blackpool North - Manchester Victoria and Hazel Grove - Preston. Being sub-leased from National Express East Coast. | 2000-01 | | Class 321/9 | | Electric multiple unit | 100 | 160 | 3 | Wakefield Line
Leeds - Doncaster | 1989 - 1990 | | Class 323 | | Electric multiple unit | 100 | 160 | 17 | Electrified routes in and out of Manchester Piccadilly:
Manchester Piccadilly - Alderley Edge/Crewe/Glossop/Hadfield/Hazel Grove/Macclesfield/Stoke-on-Trent | 1989 - 1991 | | Class 333 | | Electric multiple unit | 100 | 160 | 16 | Wharfedale Line
Leeds and Bradford - Shipley - Ilkley
Airedale Line
Leeds and Bradford - Shipley - Keighley - Skipton
Leeds-Bradford line | 1999 | | |
Future fleet
In January 2008, as part of the Government's rolling stock plan, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that the fleet of Class 323 trains currently in operation on services in South and East Manchester would be transferred to London Midland where the rest of the Class 323 trains are based in order to form a uniform fleet. Northern are due to receive 24 new build or cascaded EMU vehicles to allow for this and provide additional capacity. The plan also states that further DMU stock is due to be transferred to Northern from London Midland and London Overground. A presentation by the DfT, also in January 2008, indicated that this could include Class 150 units from London Midland.
On December 22 2008, the Department for Transport announced it had issued an invitation to tender for 200 new carriages to form diesel multiple units, some of which are for Northern Rail, to Bombardier Transportation, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, Chinese Sourced Railway Equipment on behalf of CSR Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock, and Hyundai Rotem. The DfT expects to announce its preferred bidder in April 2009 and the units to enter service by 2012. The invitation to tender follows the issuing of a Contract Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union which outlined the scope of the contract to be the supply of between 200 and 250 new DMU vehicles with an option for a further 100. The Contract Notice specifies that those parties expressing in an interest must have the ability to design and manufacture DMUs which are 23 metres in length, capable of a maximum speed of , formed of 2, 3, and/or 4 cars, capable of operation in multiple, and gangwayed throughout, both within units and units in multiple.
As part of a two-year trial into the feasibility of the tram-train concept, Northern will operate five newly built tram units on the Penistone Line from 2010. Because the Penistone Line is not electrified, the new units will require diesel propulsion. However, the plan is a two-phase trial, with the proposed second phase seeing services operating over both the railway and the Supertram network in Sheffield.
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