Northern Trains Limited, a subsidiary of DfT OLR Holdings Limited, will take control of the franchise. The operator is led by the same team that successfully managed the transfer of Virgin Trains East Coast into public ownership to become LNER in June 2018.

Shapps has asked Mr Robin Gisby and Mr Richard George, who lead the public-sector operator of last resort (OLR), to prepare a plan for Northern in their first 100 days. Shapps says this will be a top-to-bottom review of everything from operational management to rostering patterns and customer experience. It will also include the establishment of a cross-industry task force to deliver recommendations to improve capacity and performance.

Many of the issues affecting Northern relate to inadequate infrastructure, in particular infrastructure manager Network Rail’s failure to deliver key projects such as electrification as well as the late delivery of new trains.

Arriva Trains UK managing director, Mr Chris Burchell, says these issues meant that ultimately the operator was unable to deliver the franchise’s vision to better connect the north of England with more frequent, reliable and modern services. While the operator did deliver the franchise’s first new trains in a generation and introduced more than 2000 extra services per week, Burchell says he recognises that the pace of change was not fast enough.

“The scale of the challenges we faced outside of our direct control were unprecedented, particularly around delayed or cancelled infrastructure projects and prolonged strike action,” Burchell says. “We recognise however that overall service improvements have not come quickly enough, and passengers deserve better. For that, we wholeheartedly apologise. We now stand ready to support government and the OLR to ensure a smooth transfer for our passengers and colleagues alike.”

Masterplan

Shapps has instructed the operator to work with Network Rail to build a comprehensive masterplan to review congestion around Manchester. Reviews will continue into the Castlefield Corridor in Manchester as well as key junctions across the network to deliver the improvements required.

In addition, Shapps announced several improvements for the franchise, which the operator of last resort will oversee.

  • introduce a number of electric trains from elsewhere on the network, boosting capacity for commuters into Manchester and Leeds
  • lengthen platforms at 30 stations by the spring, in addition to the 30 already completed, to allow longer trains to run
  • conduct a deep-clean of all existing trains and the approach to cleaning reviewed to improve the passenger experience, and
  • to build on the recent agreement with the ASLEF union and improve the reliability of Sunday services. 

“This is a new beginning for Northern, but it is only a beginning,” Shapps said in a statement. “Northern's network is huge and complex and some of the things which are wrong are not going to be quick or easy to put right. But I am determined that Northern passengers see real and tangible improvements across the network as soon as possible.”

Smooth transition

Northern Trains said in a statement published on its website that the initial focus of the operation will be to “ensure a smooth transition, stabilise performance and restore reliability for customers.”

The Northern network serves over 108 million passenger journeys per year on 2800 daily services calling at 528 stations in a geographic area spanning Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Lake District, Cumbria and Yorkshire.

“Over the next few weeks, services will continue to run and customers should continue to purchase tickets in the usual way,” the statement said. “We are continuing to work with all other train companies, as well as third parties, such as online ticket retailers. Therefore, tickets purchased for journeys using multiple train companies will still be valid.”

Shapps announced on January 9 that the franchise was no longer financially sustainable and would only be able to continue for a short period.

Arriva Rail North was awarded a nine-year contract to operate the franchise in 2015, with services getting underway on April 1 2016. However, it suffered from poor performance throughout 2019. Northern cancelled more than 200 daily services, or 7-8% of its total, up to the December timetable change. Just 45.6% of all trains arrived on time between December and January with only 33.1% of trains in south and east Yorkshire arriving on time. More than 8% of services were cancelled during the same period.

Shapps said on January 9 that he made the decision to terminate the franchise after seeing the company’s most recently available financial information.