Off the Pacer

journeys around Kirklees will be on TPE’s modern trains.

Only passengers at Dewsbury, Mirfield, Brighouse and Huddersfield will see the decrepit Pacers – first built in the early 1980s – as they travel to and from Calderdale.

Pacers – which are old Leyland buses mounted on train wheels – were only intended as a temporary stopgap to make up for a shortage of rolling stock, with a maximum lifespan of 20 years.

But there are still over 200 dieselpowered Pacer carriages shaking around northern and south-west England as well as in South Wales.

The move to TPE’s modern fleet is likely to bring increased capacity between key towns and cities in West Yorkshire.

The trains have more carriages and benefit from air conditioning, WiFi and a buffet service.

Chris Nutton, Major Projects Director for TransPennine Express, said: “From May 2018, we will take over operation of local services between Huddersfield and Leeds/Manchester.

“Northern will continue to run local services between Leeds and Hebden Bridge serving intermediate stops including Mirfield. This will enable more direct connections and faster journeys to both Leeds and Manchester using our modern intercity trains with more carriages.

“Customers at stations including Mirfield, Slaithwaite and Marsden will benefit from the replacement of the existing older trains on their service from next year.” First TransPennine Express 185 train and, left, First class interior of the Mark 5A coaches which are due to be delivered to First TransPennine Express from 2018

A spokesman for Northern said: “We recently outlined our commitment to modernise stations and services across our network – this includes the route between Leeds and Hebden Bridge.

“We are in the process of refurbishing our trains and phasing out the Pacers, which will be removed by 2019 and replaced by 281 new, purpose-built carriages.

“Of course, this can’t happen overnight and our trains will be phased in and out of refurbishment in order to ensure minimum impact on daily services.

“We ask customers bear with us whilst we continue to make the significant improvements to their stations and services, delivering a rail service fit for the 21st Century.”