About Northern

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Northern Rail plays a vital role in the life of the north of England by connecting tens of thousands of people every day to work, leisure, education, health services and more. Our aim is to connect you to opportunities by providing a good, punctual and friendly train service. We have made significant progress since we started operating but there is much more that we want to achieve.

Facts and figures

Northern Rail 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 for eight and three quarter years.

  • We have 4,500 employees providing nearly 2,500 local and regional train services every weekday, making us the largest train operator in the UK.
  • We operate services across the north of England, serving a population of nearly 15m.
  • Our trains call at 519 stations (approximately 20% of all UK railway stations), of which we manage 471. We have staffed and unstaffed stations on our network.
  • We lease around 280 trains, both diesel and electric, which range from seven years old to 24 years old. Most of our trains operate with two or three carriages (almost all train operators lease their trains from rolling stock companies).
  • We provide direct access to three National parks; Peak District, Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire Moors as well as routes into the Lake District.

Who is Northern Rail?
We are owned by a 50:50 joint venture between Serco Group plc, the international services company, and NedRailways, a subsidiary of NS Dutch Railways. In addition to the Northern franchise, they also hold the 25-year concession to operate Merseyrail services.

Serco

www.serco.com
Serco has run the highly successful Docklands Light Railway since 1997 and in summer 2007 it won a further seven-year contract to operate the DLR. Serco has been selected as preferred bidder to 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.

Ned Railways

www.nedrailways.com
NedRailways parent company, NS Dutch Railways, runs the core rail network in the Netherlands. They operate high frequency regional and intercity train services carrying 1.1 million passengers daily. Punctuality, reliability and customer satisfaction rank with the best in Europe.

Working in Partnership

Working in PartnershipWe 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

Achievements We have made significant progress since we started operating in December 2004. Find out more about our achievements.