Background In December 2015, the Department for Transport (DfT) awarded
Arriva a contract to operate the Northern franchise as Arriva Rail North. It commenced in April 2016 and was originally scheduled to run until March 2025. Within two years, the franchise was being widely criticised, in particular for troubled implementation of a new timetable in May 2018 that resulted in widespread delays and cancellations. Later in 2018, performance continued to suffer, with many passengers protesting and a reduced service on Saturdays due to
industrial action. By November 2018, Arriva were re-evaluating their future involvement in the franchise due to a combination of declining passenger numbers as a result of the chaotic May 2018 timetable change and increasing compensation claims as a result of falling punctuality. In June 2019, the DfT's operator of last resort, DfT OLR Holdings (later renamed
DfT Operator), conducted due diligence into the franchise believing both the operational and financial performance to be "unsustainable". In October 2019, the
Secretary of State for Transport,
Grant Shapps, issued a request for proposals to incumbent operator Arriva and the operator of last resort, which would result in termination of the franchise with either Arriva to be awarded a short-term
management contract or the operator of last resort to take over. In January 2020, Shapps publicly criticised Arriva's operation of the Northern franchise and suggested that the Government may step in to revoke its franchise agreement, bluntly referring to the service as "completely unacceptable". On 29 January 2020, the DfT announced its decision to terminate Arriva Rail North as operator of the franchise, to be taken over by the DfT's operator of last resort. This was the first time that a franchise has been removed from a train operating company due to poor performance since
Connex South Eastern in 2003. On 1 March 2020, the franchise became directly operated by DfT OLR Holdings with the stated objective to "stabilise performance and restore reliability for passengers".
Changes and events By mid-2020, Northern had considerably curtailed its services in response to the significant decline of passenger travel amid the
COVID-19 pandemic. From 15 June 2020, both passengers and staff on public transport in England, including Northern services, were required to wear face coverings while travelling, and that anyone failing to do so would be liable to be refused travel or fined. In 2021, Northern was given a contract by the DfT to run services for three years, with an optional extension of a further two years. The contract was updated in 2022, to run until 1 March 2025. Northern is one of several train operators affected by the
2022–2024 United Kingdom railway strikes, which were the first national rail strikes in the UK for three decades. Its workers are amongst those who voted to take industrial action due to a dispute over pay and working conditions. Northern urged the travelling public to avoid travelling on its services on any of the planned dates for the strikes, being only capable of operating a minimal timetable due to the number of staff involved. ==Services==