Northern (Arriva Rail North)

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern (Arriva Rail North)

(02/10/2018 09:38)Barney Wrote:  Northern Rail has come in for a great deal of criticism since Arriva was awarded the franchise but what needs to be remembered is that when the franchise was first tendered, there was no plan to introduce new rolling stock in the near future. It was only after a Select Committee recommendation was this order made, at Arriva's insistence.

https://www.citymetric.com/transport/so-...asons-3952

That article refers to Arriva Trains Northern - they are NOT the current franchise holder but the holder of the Regional Railways North East franchise from when Arriva acquired MTL to when the RRNW and RRNE were merged in to one franchise in 2004.

The ITT for the current franchise required bidders to introduce brand new 'self-powered' vehicles i.e. DMUs or bi-modes, it also specified that they can't be upcycled old carriages i.e. D-Trains. It didn't require bidders to introduce new EMUs but as Porterbrook didn't want to continue to lease the 323s to Northern and there were no suitable replacements (319s can't match the performance of 323s on frequent stops services) they didn't have much choice.

At the consultation stage Philip Rutman (at DfT) suggested the benefit:cost ratio of replacing Pacers was poor due to the fact newer trains are a lot more expensive and routes Pacers were being used on were getting healthy growth. However, Patrick McLoughlin (under pressure from senior people in his own party, the Lib Dems and Rail North) overruled him and specified that Pacers must be replaced.