Overheard recently: “This is a nice train. Must be one of the new ones.” Well maybe not quite, but new colours appearing increasingly on our trains mean refurbishment by Northern under the Arriva-run franchise. A good start, work in progress — brighter, lighter, more welcoming outside and in. With great patience we await fully operational onboard information, along with the free wifi also promised by end of decade.
We hope Northern will confirm news of more modern Class 170 trains (freed up by Scottish electrification) for Leeds-Brighouse-Manchester trains. Better still, the promise is brand new trains on Calder Valley “Northern Connect” services to Manchester Airport, Chester, Liverpool, Blackpool and York by 2020, to tackle overcrowding as well as modernise the ambience. And Pacers really will be gone.
Header Image: “Northern Rail Class 158 DMU – 158753” flickr photo by Transport Pixels https://flickr.com/photos/levien66/35312717880 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
Halifax and District Rail Action Group 