Northern Trains Ltd

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(25/09/2020 06:55)St Helens Rider Wrote:  I maybe alone in this view but I think that over the last few years, the most reliable/stable Northern franchise was when it was run by Serco/Ned Rail, yes they had their fair share of issues but not on the scale we have seen over the last 4 years.

Agreed but one of the advantages they had is there was no requirement for them to refurbish or replace rolling stock meaning any deadlines for work being done to trains could be agreed between them and the relevant ROSCO. Also as it was originally intended that they would keep all trains until the end of the franchise (with the exception of the Oldham loop Pacers) it wasn't appropriate for them to not bother fixing trains which they'll return and to do work to ones less in need of work which they intended to keep.

Although they did seem to have a strong Yorkshire bias e.g. moving the North Western Trains 153s and 158s to Neville Hill, deciding to cascade 142s and 150s out of Neville Hill and convincing Merseytravel that it would work better if the 158s they paid to secure were used in West Yorkshire with the other 158s and promising to use 156s on Chat Moss in lieu.