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.

Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva (legal name Arriva Rail North Limited) was a train operating company in Northern England that 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.

The preceding Northern Rail franchise greatly increased passenger numbers from 73 million to 97 million between 2004 and 2016 and as a result the new franchise was tendered on a growth basis, allowing for a £500 million investment in 101 new-built trains: the diesel Class 195 and electric Class 331. Introduced into service in July 2019, these were the first new-build trains for the Northern franchise since the introduction of the Class 333 in 2000, with further orders possible if the new units encouraged passenger growth and improved passenger satisfaction. The new rolling stock would enable all Pacer trains to be retired by June 2020.

Since the franchise began in April 2016, it had been beset by worsening punctuality, perceived poor customer service, frequent industrial action by staff, and delays in introducing new rolling stock. The franchise was badly affected by the May 2018 timetable fallout and punctuality had struggled to recover. The franchise was scheduled to run until 2025 and had an option for an additional year, which was dependent on performance.

The future of the franchise was first reviewed by the Department for Transport (DfT) in July 2019 deeming frequent weekend cancellations due to insufficient staff to be “unacceptable”. It also voiced concerns about declining passenger numbers despite a 10% increase in timetabled services since the beginning of the franchise in 2016, and an unplanned subsidy increase from £286 million to £404 million following the May 2018 timetable fallout.

Conversely, Arriva contended that there had been “collective system inability”, citing Network Rail’s inadequate timetabling to absorb delays and the DfT’s unwillingness to proceed with improving infrastructure which was part of the Northern franchise bid prospectus in 2014, such as two new “through” platforms at Manchester Piccadilly; these would have eased congestion through the Castlefield corridor and enabled the planned increase in services over the course of the franchise.

On 29 January 2020, it was announced that the Northern franchise would end early on 1 March 2020 – marking the first time a franchise has been removed from a train operating company due to poor performance since Connex South Eastern in 2003. From this date onwards, the franchise became directly operated by the DfT under the brand name Northern Trains with an objective to “stabilise performance and restore reliability for passengers”