Travel Safe With Northern

This weekend saw the launch of Northern’s new 55-strong Travel Safe team at Manchester Victoria station.

The team took to the main concourse on Friday afternoon to introduce themselves to customers and hand out some safety related goodies before spending the weekend out and about across the network.

Northern, which is run by Arriva and is the UK’s largest train operator outside of London, has a second colleague as well as the driver on board every service. To supplement this existing presence, the new Travel Safe team will be based across four key cities around the North (Newcastle, Preston, Bradford and Manchester) supporting everyday network activity, late night services, special events and sporting fixtures.

The introduction of the team represents a 150% increase in personnel dedicated to the safety of the train operator’s customers and colleagues. All team members will be accredited under the British Transport Police’s nationally recognised Rail Safety Accreditation Scheme (RSAS).

Alex Hynes, Managing Director for Northern, comments: “The safety of our customers and colleagues is paramount and Northern has an excellent track record for safety and security. We’re delighted that we have been able to increase our safety presence right across the network so significantly.

“The new Travel Safe team is just one of the ways Northern is transforming rail travel by 2020, when customers will see new trains, faster journeys, more seats and extra services.”

Acting Superintendent Susan Peters of British Transport Police said: “We welcome the introduction of the new Travel Safe team and look forward to working alongside our Northern colleagues to ensure a safe and secure transport environment for customers and staff across the route.”

The Travel Safe regional teams will be based as follows:

• Newcastle 13 team members plus one team leader
• Preston 12 team members plus one team leader
• Bradford 12 team members plus one team leader
• Manchester 14 team members plus one team leader