Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva, was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operator Northern Rail. A subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains, Northern was the largest train franchise in the United Kingdom in terms of the size of the network and the number of weekly services run. Its trains called at 528 stations, about a quarter of all stations in the country; of these stations 476 were operated by Northern. On 1 March 2020, Arriva Rail North Limited ceased to operate and all operations were handed to HM Government's Operator of Last Resort.
An Arriva Rail North Class 195 arriving at Lancaster
The first Class 195 and Class 331 units were introduced in July 2019
Image: Preston Arriva 142037+156488 Colne service
Image: 156489 in NR white
Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated the most stations of any train operating company in the United Kingdom. Northern Rail was replaced on 1 April 2016 by Arriva Rail North.
Class 142 Pacer at Castleton East Junction in 2008
Image: 142066 Castleton East Junction
Image: 150277 Northern Rail Castleton East Jcn
Image: 158755 Castleton East Junction