Royal Train UK tour
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge embark on a three-day UK tour on the Royal Train to pay tribute to key workers.
ALMOST one year later than planned, Northern ran its final Pacer-operated passenger train on November 27.
The 1636 Kirkby-Manchester Victoria brought to an end some 35 years of Pacer operation in the north of England, which in recent years has become an increasingly political topic - mainly used as an example of a lack of investment in the region compared with in the South.
“The Pacers have kept millions of northerners on the move. But while they have served us well and provided some communities with rail services they may have otherwise lost, it is time to give them a well-earned rest,” said Northern Regional Director Chris Jackson.
Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps said the withdrawal of the final Pacers marks a new era for transport in the North.
“The Pacer fleet has connected communities on the Northern network for over 30 years, but today marks the sun finally setting on trains that have become loved by some, but hated by many,” he said.
The final Pacer in use was 142004, which was paired with 150225 for its last day in traffic. Part of the dispensation for their continued use was that Pacers had to run in multiple with a fully compliant Class 15x Sprinter.
The use of Pacers in the late 2010s drew repeated criticism from local mayors, including Andy Burnham (Greater Manchester) and Dan Jarvis (Sheffield), over delays to new trains and the lack of investment.
On June 30 2019, the day before CAF Class 195s entered traffic with Northern, Burnham told the BBC: “It now looks like they [Pacers] will still be screeching and trundling across the North next year.”
Even as recently as November
25, the Pacers were being used by politicians as an example of a lack of investment in railways in the north of England.
In a House of Commons debate about infrastructure spending, Damien Moore (Conservative, Southport) said: “We also want to see new rolling stock on our tracks. The north of England is unique, but there is a wonderful comparison.
“The north of England shares similarities with Iran. They are the only places in the world still using Pacer trains - of course, in Iran, they are reserved fleet, not the current fleet that they use when they can get them round. That is quite a damning indictment of what we need to do in this country to get improved rolling stock out on our rails.”
Moore failed to acknowledge that Great Western Railway and Transport for Wales continue to use the trains.
When it was awarded the Northern franchise, Arriva promised to remove the two-car diesel multiple units from service by the end of 2019.
The December 31 2019 deadline for trains to meet new accessibility regulations also presented what appeared to be a final date for the DMUs, but delays to their
CAF replacements and the late delivery of cascaded trains meant dispensation was required for them to remain in traffic.
This was granted until May 30
for Class 142s and August 31 for Class 144s, before being further extended until the end of the year for 12 Class 142s and all the ‘144s’.
Withdrawals began in August 2019, with the first set ceremonially scrapped in December last year ( RAIL 894). The Class 144s were stored at the start of the first lockdown in March (by which point the Government’s Operator of Last Resort had replaced Arriva), and they never returned to main line service.
Great Western Railway told RAIL on November 30 that it planned to remove its eight Class 143s from traffic by the December timetable change.
It is also understood (but not confirmed) that Transport for Wales plans to stop using its 30 Pacers at the same time, with three already withdrawn. However, the operator told RAIL 919 that two diagrams may be kept until May 2021 depending on the availability of Class 769 FLEX units.