Northern Rail

Northern Rail (often referred to simply as Northern) is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-NedRailways, is a consortium formed of Abellio (formerly 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. The current managing Director of Northern Rail is Ian Bevan.

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 2004. However, the new operator did not actually take over from the previous operator (First North Western and Arriva Trains Northern) until 12 December 2004. This was because Serco NedRailways assumed that some 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 became clear that this was not going to be the case.

Northern runs 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 to  calling at, , , , , ,  and.

The franchise was planned to run for a maximum of eight years and nine months, with the final two years subject to performance targets being achieved. It was announced in May 2010 that Northern had beaten these targets and the two-year extension was granted. This means that the franchise will end on 15 September 2013. The franchise does not require the company 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. When the extension of its franchise was announced, Northern stated that it had improved punctuality from 83.7% in the 12 months to December 2004 to 91.6% in the 12 months to May 2010, meaning that around 200 more trains per day were on time than in 2004.

Performance
In the period 15 October 2009 to 14 November 2009, Northern's punctuality was 91.1% and reliability was 92.2%. Northern's passenger charter targets are 91% for punctuality and 99% for reliability.

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 91.6% and an MAA of 91.6% for the fourth quarter of financial year 2009/10 and the 12 months up to 31 March 2010.

Routes
Timetable booklets for routes marked WY are produced only by Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive.

Northern Rail also runs some parliamentary trains. These include:


 * to (weekly in one direction only. Does not run during the winter)
 * to (four journeys to and from Ellesmere Port, with two journeys extending to Warrington (one on Saturdays) and no services on Sundays)
 * Sheffield to York via (two journeys per day)
 * to (weekly in one direction only)

Former routes
Services on the route from Thorpes Bridge Junction, Newton Heath to Rochdale East Junction via Oldham, known as the Oldham Loop Line, ceased on 3 October 2009. The line is being converted to Metrolink operation.

Depots
The Traincare depots for Northern Rail are at:
 * 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)
 * Workington (WK) (overnight cleaning for Cumbrian Coast)

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 EMUs and servicing on its Class 142 and Class 15x DMUs.

A further DAA covers Servicing of its Class 142 and Class 15x DMUs at West Coast Traincare's Liverpool Traincare Centre (Edge Hill CS).

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 was due to receive 24 new-build or cascaded EMU vehicles to allow for this and provide additional capacity. The original plan also stated that further DMU stock was 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 22 December 2008 the Department for Transport announced that it had issued an invitation to tender for 200 new carriages to form diesel multiple units, some of which were intended for Northern Rail. 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 mph, formed of 2, 3, and/or 4 cars, capable of operation in multiple, and gangwayed throughout, both within units and units in multiple. The order was postponed in July 2009, following the announcement of the electrification of Liverpool to Manchester via Newton-le-Willows. Northern will now get ex-Thameslink EMUs (most likely British Rail Class 319s) to run Liverpool to Manchester services, allowing the diesel units currently used on that route to be cascaded to other lines.

As part of a trial of the feasibility of the tram-train concept, Northern will operate newly built electric tram-train units between Rotherham and Sheffield after plans for a diesel tram-train trial between Huddersfield and Sheffield were deemed not to be economically viable for a trial.