Northern Rail

[sth6168]

RE: Northern Rail
Northern have got the franchise till Feb. 2016 gutted terrible company

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Northern Rail

(28/03/2014 16:57)sth6168 Wrote:  Northern have got the franchise till Feb. 2016 gutted terrible company

This is so that the new TPE and Northern franchises can be let at the same time in 2016.

[Cheshire Lines Committee]

RE: Northern Rail

(28/03/2014 16:57)sth6168 Wrote:  Northern have got the franchise till Feb. 2016 gutted terrible company

Why do you hold that view of them?

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Northern Rail
It's not Northern's fault they have such a dowdy image - they were given a bad hand to start with ie elderly units etc. The realisation is that the North has always had to survive on hand-me-downs from elsewhere (I know Pacers/Sprinters have been based in this part of the world since introduction). Truth of the matter is that until a more balanced (ie less Southern/South Eastern area centred) rolling stock plan is introduced, this will always be the case I'm afraid.

[Sprinterdriver]

RE: Northern Rail
At the end of the day the North will always get hand me downs, the farebox covers about 40% of the operating costs in the north, down south it's about 80%.

SD.

[wirralbus]

RE: Northern Rail

(28/03/2014 16:57)sth6168 Wrote:  Northern have got the franchise till Feb. 2016 gutted terrible company

No matter which company gets the Northern Franchise it will still have that second hand look for a while to come .

Northern always seems to be the mix for spare units from any other franchise that is shedding units when that particular franchise is getting new units , sometimes its just like one big merry-go-round .

[Sprinterdriver]

RE: Northern Rail
At least they managed to get a good number of extra units given that the franchise was let on a no growth basis. Latest figures show Northern are now carrying 47% more passengers across the franchise than at the start of it.

SD.

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: Northern Rail
My single gripe with Northern is the capacity being insufficient at times. The fleet are generally well turned out, I've rarely suffered a delay with them and even the 142s aren't that displeasing to ride - I actually find it somewhat of a novelty.

New stock would be preferential but to be perfectly honest, I don't understand the complaints some passengers have for the type of services Northern run.

[Sprinterdriver]

RE: Northern Rail
But that isn't the fault of the operator. They can only run what they have. There simply aren't spare DMU's sitting around doing nothing.

SD.

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: Northern Rail
Fair enough, perhaps my comment regarding capacity should instead lie with those responsible for the allocation of DMUs to operators then. Either way, running 2 car units along the Wigan to Liverpool corridor during the peaks and particularly on a Sunday is dreadful - it's not all services on a Sunday and it's not every week but it happens too regularly.