Northern Electrics

Northern Electrics

Overview
Franchise(s)	Northern (1 April 2016–present)
Fleet size	22
Stations called at	(Main) Liverpool Lime Street Manchester Airport Manchester Victoria Wigan North Western Warrington Bank Quay Preston Blackpool North (In 2018)
National Rail abbreviation	NT
Parent company	Northern
Website	www.northernrailway.co.uk

Northern Electrics is a brand of electric commuter rail services introduced in 2015, operated by Northern. The services operate on the Liverpool to Manchester (via Chat Moss) and Liverpool to Wigan lines.

As a result of complete electrification of these lines by state track operator Network Rail, they became capable of taking more trains at a higher speed, with raised punctuality, reliability and with considerably less pollution than diesel. The first complete day of Northern Electrics services was 22 May 2015.

History

State rail infrastructure owner Network Rail began electrification of the lines between Manchester and Liverpool in 2013 as part of its Northern Hub upgrade programme.^[1] The work was completed in February 2015.

The first electric services between Liverpool and Manchester commenced on 5 March 2015^[2]—the first service operated by Northern Electrics being the Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport route.^[3]

As part of Northern Rail's plans for operation of the newly electrified Liverpool to Manchester lines, an initial 20 Class 319/3 units were transferred from Thameslink following a repaint and internal refresh.^[3] 12 units launched the services early in 2015, with the remaining 8 units due to enter traffic for Northern Electrics in September the same year.

The Class 319s have largely replaced Class 142 Pacer, Class 150 Sprinter and Class 156 Super Sprinter diesel multiple unit stock that were once the mainstay of services between Liverpool and Manchester.

Branding

The Northern Electrics livery is different to the current standard Northern livery - featuring "Northern Electrics" logos and a different design which has a greater emphasis on purple.

Routes

As of December 2015, the routes operated by Northern Electrics are:^[4]

• Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport (1 tph)
• Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Victoria (1 tph)
• Liverpool Lime Street/Liverpool South Parkway to Preston (1 tph)
• Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan North Western (2 tph)
• Liverpool Lime Street to Warrington Bank Quay (1 tph)
• Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport (1 tph)

Also, there are limited services to/from Blackpool North which are still DMUs and this route is not electrified. On Weekends, services between Liverpool and Warrington Bank Quay are still operated by Class 150s, Class 142s and Class 156 units as less class 319s operate on weekends. The 18:00 service from Liverpool Lime Street to Preston, the 06:44 service from Wigan North Western to Liverpool Lime Street, the 07:38 service from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool Lime Street and the 08:38 service from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool Lime Street are run by DMUs on Saturdays.

Further services between Liverpool/Manchester and Preston/Blackpool will be added when Network Rail completes electrification of the Preston to Blackpool lines in 2018.^[1]

Rolling stock

Fleet	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 319/3 & 319/4		EMU	100	161	24 (319/3), 8 (319/4)	Liverpool Lime Street–Manchester Airport Liverpool Lime Street–Manchester Victoria Liverpool Lime Street–Wigan North Western Liverpool Lime Street-Warrington Bank Quay Liverpool Lime Street/Liverpool South Parkway-Preston Manchester Piccadilly-Manchester Airport Further services between Liverpool/Manchester and Preston/Blackpool upon completion of electrification.	1990 (319/3) 1987-88 (319/4)

Gallery

• 
  319363 at Liverpool Lime Street
• 
  Interior of 319363, near Newton-le-Willows
• 
  Side of Northern 319380
• 
  319380 at Wigan North Western
• 
  319363 at Manchester Oxford Road

References

• Porterbrook Brochure