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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 Nederlandse Spoorwegen) 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,^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[2]^[4] 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.^[5]

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'.^[7]

Routes

Depots

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:

Rolling Stock

Current fleet

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.^[20] 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.^[21]

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.^[22] 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 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), formed of 2, 3, and/or 4 cars, capable of operation in multiple, and gangwayed throughout, both within units and units in multiple.^[23]

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.^[24] 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.

References

^ "National Rail Timetable". Network Rail.
^ ^a ^b "Serco-NedRailways Announced as Preferred Bidder for new Northern Rail Franchise" (PDF). Strategic Rail Authority (2004-07-01).
^ "Mid Cheshire Rail Report No.61". Mid Cheshire Rail Users Association (Autumn 2004).
^ "Mid Cheshire Rail Report No.62". Mid Cheshire Rail Users Association (Christmas 2004).
^ Northern Rail (2007-08-16). Northern Rail Wins Public Transport Operator of the Year. Press release. http://www.northernrail.org/news/16. Retrieved on 2008-05-31. "Northern Rail has been voted public transport operator of the year in the National Transport Awards 2007. The judges praised the company, which runs local and regional trains across the north of England, for its success in attracting 20% more passengers since it started in 2004."
^ "Four week period ending 5 December 2008" (PDF). Northern Rail.
^ "New Northern Rail Franchise Signed". Strategic Rail Authority (2004-10-19). Retrieved on 2008-12-22.
^ ^a ^b "Manchester to Buxton Railway Timetable" (PDF). Northern Rail (2008-05-02). Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
^ "Manchester to Manchester Airport Local Stopping Service Railway Timetable" (PDF). Northern Rail (2008-05-02). Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
^ Adam Morson (2008-03-10). "Rush-hour trains may be scrapped". Knutsford Guardian. Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
^ http://www.manchester-forum.co.uk/index.php/topic,2991.0.html
^ "Manchester to Stoke via Macclesfield Railway Timetable" (PDF). Northern Rail (2008-05-02). Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
^ "Nottingham to Sheffield and Leeds Railway Timetable" (PDF). Northern Rail (2008-05-02). Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
^ "Leeds to Manchester and Selby to Huddersfield Railway Timetable" (PDF). Northern Rail (2008-05-02). Retrieved on 2008-11-18.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Yorkshire and Humber Route Utilisation Strategy Draft". Network Rail.
^ "Metro and Northern introduce new look for Yorkshire trains" (2006-11-10). Retrieved on 2009-01-06.
^ "Northern launches first regular direct service between Nottingham and Leeds for 25 years" (2008-12-15).
^ "New services and new trains for Manchester-Blackpool North" (2008-12-15).
^ http://www.siemens.nl/transportation/getfile.asp?id=152
^ "Appendix B - Indicative Number of Additional Vehicles required by English TOCs by 2014". Rolling stock plan. Department for Transport (2008-01-30). Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
^ "HLOS industry seminar talk" pg. 19. Department for Transport (2008-01-31). Retrieved on 2008-12-22.
^ "Invitation to tender issued for 200 new diesel train carriages". Department for Transport (2008-12-22). Retrieved on 2008-12-22.
^ "2008/S 236-313671 Contract Notice". Official Journal of the European Union (2008-12-04). Retrieved on 2008-12-22.
^ "Britain announces tram-train trials", Railway Gazette International (Railway Gazette Group), 2008-03-18, http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2008/03/8270/britain_announces_tram_train_trials.html, retrieved on 31 May 2008, "The project is a partnership between DfT, train operator Northern Rail and infrastructure manager Network Rail, and will look at the environmental benefits, operating costs and technical suitability of the tram-trains. Industry watchdog Passenger Focus will lead research into user perception of tram-trains, which will replace conventional rolling stock on the 60 km unelectrified route linking Huddersfield, Barnsley and Sheffield."

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