Northern hits century in station improvements

During the past 18 months, as well as the shelter installations, Northern has also refurbished 35 waiting rooms, installed improved CCTV at 35 stations and upgraded the public address systems at two stations.

Customer information has also been upgraded with the introduction of 49 new screens at stations which offer live train running information within shelters and waiting rooms.

David Brown, Managing Director at Northern, said: “We made a commitment to improve our stations for customers across the North and we are making significant progress.

“Almost 200 waiting shelters or rooms have been improved or installed giving customers a better environment in which to start or complete their journey.

“And with the installation of new, modern, information screens and high quality CCTV, our customers can travel with more information on a network that is safer than ever.”

The Better Stations programme is a multi-million pound scheme designed to improve more than 400 Northern stations and introduce more than 600 new state-of-the-art ticket vending machines.

The project will continue throughout 2018 and 2019 and, when finished, will see the installation of:

• More than 160 new shelters
• Almost 120 refurbished shelters
• 50 refurbished waiting rooms
• Nearly 50 new customer information screens
• Improved public address systems at 68 stations
• Better CCTV at more than 150 stations
• More than 600 ticket vending machines
• More than 40 new seating areas

Better stations is just one part of Northern’s wide reaching modernisation programme, which will also see the introduction of 98 brand new trains and the refurbishment of the rest of its fleet (243 trains) – as well as the introduction of 2,000 extra services each week.

David added: “We are part way through a programme of improvements which will transform rail travel in the north of England.

“Earlier this month we officially unveiled our new trains and in just a few weeks they will be out on the network, giving customers a travel experience that is a genuine step change for Northern and the rail industry.

“In recent weeks we launched our first digital refurbished train – showing the standard all Northern customers will enjoy – with new seating, improved layout, free Wi-Fi, air conditioning and at-seat charging points. And, of course, we will be retiring all Pacers by the end of 2019.

“When our improvement work is complete we will have delivered the rail service we know our customers want and need. One that provides more services, more choice, greater reliability, and all delivered in a vastly improved travelling environment.”