- » Northern
- About Northern
About Northern
Mission and Vision
Northern plays a vital role in the north of England by connecting tens of thousands of people to work, leisure, education and more every day.
Our aim is to connect you to opportunities by providing a reliable and friendly train service.
We have made significant progress since we started but there is much more that we want to achieve.
Who is Northern Rail?
We are owned by a 50:50 joint venture between Serco Group plc, the international services company, and Abellio, a subsidiary of NS Dutch Railways. In addition to the Northern franchise, they also hold the 25-year concession to run Merseyrail services.
Facts and figures
Northern was formed in December 2004 when our parent companies won the franchise contract (awarded by the UK Government) to operate train services in the north of England until September 2013.
- We have 4,800 employees providing nearly 2,550 local and regional train services every weekday, making us the largest train operator in the UK.
- We run trains across the north of England, serving a population of nearly 15m.
- Our trains call at over 500 stations (approximately 20% of all UK railway stations), of which we manage 462.
- We lease around 290 trains, both diesel and electric.
- We provide direct access to three National parks; Peak District, Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire Moors as well as routes into the Lake District.
www.serco.com
Serco has run the highly successful Docklands Light Railway since 1997 and in summer 2007 it won a seven-year extension. Serco will operate and maintain the Dubai Metro, which is planned to become the world’s most extensive driverless metro system. Serco Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Abellio (formerly NedRailways) is aimed at acquiring and operating public transport businesses in Europe.
In the UK, Abellio holds a strong position on the rail market through its well performing rail concessions Merseyrail and Northern Rail, both operated in 50-50 joint venture with Serco. In June 2009 Abellio entered the UK bus market through the acquisition of Travel London and Travel Surrey, now operating under the name Abellio London and Abellio Surrey, operating bus services in Central London, South London and Surrey.
On mainland Europe, Abellio has acquired a position in the German bus and rail market through the acquisition of Abellio Deutschland, operating bus and rail services in several federal states, in 2008. In the Czech Republic Abellio has established a position on the bus market through the acquisition of Probo Bus late 2008. The company operates national, regional and municipal bus services, with over 70 routes, mainly west of Prague and is one of the best-run Czech bus companies.
Through its Best Practice programme Abellio systematically supports the performance of its businesses. The programme provides a platform for exchanging knowledge, experience and expertise across Abellio’s parent company Netherlands Railways and Abellio’s businesses and gives staff the opportunity to share common (and differing) capabilities, grow their own experience base, and build relationships across the family of companies. The programme offers activities such as biannual international seminars, site visits, secondments, benchmarks, and workshops, managed by functional leaders within Abellio.
For more information on Abellio, please visit www.abellio.com
Working in Partnership
We are passionate about making a positive difference to the communities that we serve but making that happen takes hard work and a commitment to building strong, effective partnerships. Find out more about our working partnerships.
Achievements
We have made significant progress since we started operating in December 2004. Find out more about our achievements.