Arriva Trains Northern

Arriva Trains Northern

Arriva Trains Northern liveried 153304 at Doncaster station in July 2003
Overview
Franchise(s):	Regional Railways North East 2 March 1997 – 11 December 2004
Main region(s):	North East Yorkshire
Other region(s):	North West North Midlands
Fleet size:	169 until February 2004 141 after
National Rail abbreviation:	AN (NS when Northern Spirit)
Parent company:	Arriva
Website:	www.arrivatrainsnorthern.co.uk

Arriva Trains Northern was a train operating company in England owned by Arriva that operated the Regional Railways North East franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. Arriva resumed operating Northern train services again on 1 April 2016 under the Northern brand.

As part of the privatisation of British Rail, the Regional Railways North East franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising to MTL after it won the contest from a field of Connex, FirstBus, Grand Central, a management/Via-GTI consortium, National Express, Prism Rail and Stagecoach. The franchise commenced on 2 March 1997.

On 21 May 1997, the franchise was rebranded as Northern Spirit with a livery of turquoise with a lime green stylised italic N across the midsection introduced.

In May 1998, the long distance regional services connecting Sunderland, Newcastle, Scarborough and Hull with Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool were sub-branded under the TransPennine Express banner with rolling stock painted in a base colour of maroon with a gold stylised italic N across the midsection. These services would later become a franchise in their own right from 2004, namely the Transpennine franchise, which is currently operated by TransPennine Express.