New 100mph trains have arrived at last
NORTHERN has unveiled brand new 100mph trains for the Chester to Leeds train service, which call at Runcorn East.
From last Monday new Class 195 diesel trains operate the route which launched in May.
These trains include air conditioning, free wi fi and charging points with state-of-the-art driver cabs and controls.
Stations along the route include Runcorn East, Frodsham, Helsby, Warrington Bank Quay, Earlestown, Newton le Willows, Manchester Victoria, Rochdale, Halifax and Bradford.
On October 14 members of the media were invited to attend a special event at Chester railway station to mark the arrival of the fleet of new trains.
They were welcomed aboard a return trip between Chester and Earlestown with the special service sent on its way by Chester’s famous Roman soldiers, courtesy of Roman Tours.
The train was also officially named Deva Victrix, the original Roman name for Chester, by Northern managing director David Brown in the presence of Cheshire West And Chester Council deputy leader Karen Shore and Mary Hewitt, strategy and policy director for Arriva, which owns Northern.
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Mr Brown said: “We are very proud at Northern to be here at Chester to launch the latest of our batch of new trains that will be operating across the north of England. It’s a huge investment. It’s about £500m worth of investment by Arriva in transforming rail journeys across the north of England.”
Northern has ordered 101 new trains as part of the £500m investment in rail in the North. There are already a 20 new trains operating on a number of routes and the trains introduced on the Chester to Leeds route will see the overall number increase to 29.
Faster and more frequent modern trains were promised under the ‘Northern Connect’ project, includi ing the new cross Pennine service although given the number of stops, the end-to-end duration of the Chester to Leeds service is actually no faster than currently with journey times of about two-and-a-half hours.
But it is direct so there are no changes.
It’s hoped the service will be used by commuters and tourists, helping to generate jobs across the region.
Northern provides 2,800 local and regional train services every day across the north of England, serving a population of nearly 15 million. There are now 100 million passenger journeys made on its network each year.