Northern (Arriva Rail North)

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern (Arriva Rail North)

(23/02/2020 07:48)Metroline1511 Wrote:  Most trains have had their "by arriva" below "northern" removed or painted over. It would be amusing if the wording "by arriva" were still on any trains by next Sunday!

The franchise spec required the franchise holder to develop a brand which would belong to the franchise, not to the franchise holder. The idea was prevent what happened when Abellio/Serco lost the franchise and had to remove or cover up all instances of the Northern logo as it had been registered as their intellectual property. (Although some passenger notices got missed when they did it and at some stations the white tape covering up the old logo has got removed by mischievous passengers.) Arriva deciding to put 'by Arriva' on the trains has meant they have branding to remove/cover anyway!

I've noticed there's at least one ex-LM 150 which has had the PRM work done and the seat covers and cushions changed but hasn't been repainted. Most of the 150s in a part refurbished station have been given the base colours for the new livery but have not had branding applied. Apparently it was always Arriva's intention to only put the new logo on trains which were brand new or had been refurbished, to try and prevent the new brand being associated with Pacers and 150s which hadn't had any proper internal work done to them for a very long time.