Northern fleet refurbishment hits 50%

The Class 170 train went into service in the West Yorkshire area and now boasts new livery, refreshed seating, and new lighting, as well as free customer Wi-Fi and at-seat power – features that will be installed on all of Northern’s trains in the future.

It joins the following refurbished trains which are already out and about on Northern’s network, giving customers an improved travel experience:

• 37 Class 150s
• 5 Class 155s
• 30 Class 156s
• 10 Class 158s
• 8 Class 170s
• 32 Class 319s
• 1 Class 333

Northern’s existing fleet of 243 trains is in the process of being fully upgraded to not only include this first phase of cosmetic refurbishment, but also an additional level of digital improvements.

Ben Ackroyd, Northern’s Engineering Director, said: “The refurbishment of our trains is a massive programme of work and a huge investment for Northern - to reach a milestone of 50 per cent is great news.

“We are committed to improving our customers’ on-board experience and the refurbishment programme is really gathering pace. Future work on the refurbishment programme will see the introduction of free customer Wi-Fi, at seat power and customer information media screens on all our trains.”

The refurbished trains will be joined in service by the first of Northern’s new trains in spring and form just part of the wider improvement programme Northern is delivering across its network; this includes the retirement of the Pacer trains, better stations and the introduction of more than 2,000 extras services a week.