The franchise was established in March 2020 with the immediate aims to improve service reliability and the introduction of new rolling stock in the Class 195 and 331, which was successfully completed in December 2020.
History
In December 2015, the Department for Transport (DfT) awarded Arriva a contract to operate the Northern franchise. It commenced in April 2016 and was scheduled to run until March 2025.[4][5]
The franchise encountered a number of problems. In May 2018, a new timetable was introduced, however rolling stock and crew shortages resulted in widespread delays and cancellations from which the operator never recovered.[6][7][8]
In October 2019, the Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, issued a request for proposals to incumbent operator Arriva and the operator of last resort, which would result in termination of the franchise with either Arriva to be awarded a short-term management contract or the operator of last resort to take over.[8] The DfT decided to terminate the franchise with the operator of last resort to take over.[9][10][11]
Services
Northern took over all the services operated by Arriva Rail North on 1 March 2020.
Table of off-peak services
Below is a list of off-peak services, per December 2021 timetables.[12] 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.
All trains continue north. 11 trains per day continue to Barrow-in-Furness, see below.
4 trains per day continue to Windermere, see below.
3 trains per day between Barrow-in-Furness and Manchester Airport have been removed Monday - Saturday until December 2022 resulting in some gaps of 2 hours between services every 5–6 hours. An hourly service runs on a Sunday.
3 trains per day between Barrow-in-Furness and Manchester Airport have been removed Monday - Saturday until December 2022 resulting in some gaps of 2 hours between services every 5–6 hours. An hourly service runs on a Sunday.
All trains continue north. 11 trains per day continue to Barrow-in-Furness, see above.
4 trains per day continue to Windermere, see above.
3 trains per day between Barrow-in-Furness and Manchester Airport have been removed Monday - Saturday until December 2022 resulting in some gaps of 2 hours between services every 5–6 hours. An hourly service runs on a Sunday.
3 trains per day between Barrow-in-Furness and Manchester Airport have been removed Monday - Saturday until December 2022 resulting in some gaps of 2 hours between services every 5–6 hours. An hourly service runs on a Sunday.
The service is generally hourly but there are some 2-hour gaps throughout the day.
On Sundays 1 train runs every 2 hours creating an hourly service between Leeds and Knottingley when combined with the service via Streethouse, see below.
The service is generally hourly but there are some 2-hour gaps throughout the day.
On Sundays 1 train runs every 2 hours creating an hourly service between Leeds and Knottingley when combined with the service via Castleford, see below.
An hourly service is provided between Hull and York when combined with the semi-fast service, see above.
Future services
Many of the additional services promised at the December 2017 and December 2019 recasts never materialised following the problems which arose at the May 2018 timetable recast (the delayed December 2017 recast.) In January 2021, the government initiated a consultation proposing three options for the May 2022 recast.[13]
Option A involves few changes but does involve reducing the frequency of Buxton services, diverting all Southport services into Manchester Victoria and re-routing Cumbria to Manchester Airport services via Bolton. Option C involves a significant recast to standardise services, which would see at least half-hourly services on most commuter lines in the Manchester area and more evenly spaced services e.g. services every 15 minutes at Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme. However, option C does include some non-standard services operating at peak time e.g. Southport to Manchester Oxford Road and Wigan to Hazel Grove. Option B involves making more changes than option A but involves less significant changes than option C would see. Option A would see the fewest services overall, whereas option C would see the most.
[14]
17 Class 323s are to be transferred from West Midlands Trains.[19][20] This will result in the withdrawal of all Class 319 units.[21] 15 Class 156s are to transfer from East Midlands Railway, which includes the 9 Class 156/9s formerly used by Greater Anglia,[22] although they will be renumbered back to 156/4s before they are transferred.[23] The transferral of these units is already underway, with more to follow.[23]
