New trains arrive ahead of schedule for Yorkshire, East Midlands and Lincolnshire customers

Two brand-new Class 195 diesel trains have been introduced this week, ahead of the proposed main introduction on Sunday 15 December.

Early completion of driver and crew training and the completion of compliance testing along the route has enabled the introduction.

The two trains, are part of a £500m investment in 101 new trains across the north of England, and customers in Leeds, Wakefield, Sheffield, Barnsley, Lincoln and Nottingham will benefit from the latest of these state of the art vehicles.

The new trains are the 34^th and 35^th units to be brought into service since July and, by next week, 52 will be in operation across the network.

Steve Hopkinson, Regional Director for Northern said: “I’m delighted that customers travelling through West and South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the East Midlands will now be served by brand new trains.

“These fantastic trains are a true step-change in travelling experience and we are very proud to be delivering a £500m investment.

“We are working extremely hard to deliver our transformation programme and had planned to introduce the new trains from Sunday 15^th December. Our teams and partners have worked tirelessly and that commitment will enable five of the 10 new trains for the route to be operating by the end of this week.”

Northern is planning to introduce a brand-new train on the Leeds to Lincoln/Nottingham route each day this week – with a total of 10 new trains planned to be in service on the route from Sunday 15 December, when the main national timetable is changed.

The new trains feature free Wi-Fi, air-conditioning, at-seat power and customer information/media screens with real-time information. They are also more spacious for customers and are fully accessible with spaces for wheel chairs and cycles.

Northern’s new trains are part of the largest modernisation programme in a generation that is transforming travel in the north of England. It is currently fully refurbishing its existing fleet of 268 trains, improving its stations and has introduced more than 2,000 extra services every week since 2016.