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<p>The new Northern and TransPennine Express franchises commenced on the 1<sup>st</sup>
April. By the end of 2019, they will have introduced significant improvements in Rolling
Stock.</p><p> </p><p>The Northern franchise will deliver:-</p><ul><li>281 new carriages
including 55 new Diesel and 43 new Electric trains – the first ever new trains specified
for the Northern franchise</li><li>Additional diesel units cascaded from other franchises
– refurbished to ‘as new’ standard</li><li>Removal of all Pacer trains by October
2019</li><li>All retained trains will be refurbished as new including Wi-Fi, media
servers, passenger information systems, CCTV and accessible toilets with baby-change
facilities</li></ul><p> </p><p>This means that 30% of this expanded fleet will be
new and will operate 2000 more services per week –a 12% increase. The additional trains
will provide a 37% increase in morning peak capacity into the North’s 5 major cities
by December 2019.</p><p> </p><p>The TransPennine franchise will deliver:-</p><ul><li>220
new carriages</li><li>All existing trains will be refurbished as new including Wi-Fi,
additional power sockets, and real-time passenger information systems</li></ul><p>
</p><p>This means that 70% of fleet is new, the fleet size increases by two-thirds,
provides 13million more seats, an 80% increase in morning peak seats by the end of
2019.</p><p><br>These delivery plans as bid by the two operators during the Invitation
to Tender process have been contracted within the franchise agreements.</p>
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