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Northern trains to be run by UK government from Sunday February 28, 2020

One of the new fleet from Spanish firm CAFTrains operated by Northern across Yorkshire and the North of England move under UK government control from this Sunday (March 1) after Arriva Rail North had its franchise removed.

From Huddersfield, the operator provides services to Denby Dale, Penistone, Barnsley and Sheffield; to Brighouse, Halifax and Bradford; and to Mirfield, Wakefield Kirkgate and Castleford.

Northern continues to run Pacer trains into 2020, beyond their intended expiry dateSunderland-based Arriva, since 2010 a subsidiary of German-government-owned Deutsche Bahn, was awarded the Northern franchise by the UK government in 2016 to run until 2025. However, since taking over the franchise there has been widespread criticism of the company for overcrowding and delays, problems with new timetables, the strike at the company over train guards which involved well over 40 strike days between 2018 and 2019, and recently its 1980s trains.

From Sunday it will be moved under the control of what the UK government calls its "Operator of Last Resort", a company run by its own Department for Transport as Northern Trains Ltd.

Northern announced earlier this month that it had now introduced 75 of 101 new trains planned for its fleet and highlighted its continuing work to refurbish 268 more trains to modern standards. Tickets and timetables will remain valid as usual through the transition.

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