Passengers on Northern Rail’s service between Littleborough and Manchester Victoria will be given a free book on Saturday, as part of World Book Night celebrations – an event designed to spread the love of books and the passion for reading.

A team from Rochdale Council Library Service will be onboard Saturday evening’s service from Littleborough at 17.45, returning from Manchester at 18.21, and will hand out copies of popular books, such as:

• Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
• Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Attwood
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
• Dissolution by CS Ransom

Ian Sutton from Rochdale Library Service, comments: “We are really looking forward to Saturday’s book giveaway and are hoping that passengers on the services between Manchester and Littleborough will celebrate with us and take a book home. We have 300 copies of various books, all popular titles, that we are sure people will love.”

Lee Wasnidge Area Director West for Northern Rail, comments: “We are delighted to support this activity and I am sure our passengers will embrace the opportunity to receive a free book. So many of our passengers read a book while on the train so this is a great way to communicate the joy of reading to a wider audience.”

World Book Night is Saturday 5 March and represents the most ambitious and far-reaching celebration of adult books ever attempted in the UK and will see one million books given away by an army of passionate readers

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BOOK LOVERS WILL REJOICE ON SATURDAY’S NORTHERN RAIL TRAIN

Northern won praise from the judges for going the extra mile to deliver more for its customers and for improving the punctuality and reliability of services, which helped secure a two-year extension to its franchise, meaning it will run until at least September 2013.

The judges also recognised that at a time when people are watching what they spend, Northern’s value for money fares and determination to provide consistently high levels of customer service has helped to continue to attract new customers.

Judges said: “No growth was built into the franchise specification and no significant investment anticipated. But what a difference the reality has been, which is what made this entry stand out from all the others. Northern’s joint owners – Serco and Abellio – were required to invest £250,00 per year as part of the franchise agreement, so far they have actually invested £25million, and in doing so have been able to attract £80million from external sources – a total of over £100million in six years.”

Ian Bevan, Managing Director said: “We’re delighted to win this award which is fantastic recognition of the efforts of all our employees to continue to improve the service we offer our passengers.

“We’ve worked hard to deliver an increasingly punctual and reliable service, and this was recognised when we secured a two-year extension to our franchise last year. However, we aren’t complacent and everyone is committed to making sure we deliver even more for our customers over the next three years.”

Northern was also highly commended for its Northern Stars customer service recognition scheme and the launch of Skylight, which is the system it uses to monitor sickness absence and was designed by the operator’s own IS team. Northern’s Heaton depot was also commended for being the only maintenance facility to receive Rail Industry Supplier Approval Scheme certification for C4 heavy engineering overhauls.

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RAIL BUSINESS AWARDS SUCCESS FOR NORTHERN RAIL

Wayne Smith, Station Manager Fylde, comments: “The refurbishment has included a £10,000 improvement of the ticket office, which was carried out last December. Unfortunately we suffered some real bad luck, when just two days after our sparkling new office opened, we were hit by flooding. We have obviously had to rectify those problems, and have also improved other areas of the station, particularly the exterior façade, which looks fantastic with its new coat of paint.”

Councillor Tony Ford, Mayor of St Anne’s on Sea, comments: “I am so pleased to see the improvements that have been made to our station. As this is the gateway to our town for so many travellers, it’s wonderful that we can welcome them with such a pleasant environment.”

“We are working closely with Northern Rail and our other partners to improve the appearance of the northern platform which has been in a derelict state for a while.”

Wayne Smith continues: “We have already had some great feedback from passengers telling us how much brighter and more welcoming the station looks and feels and that is exactly what we hoped to achieve.”

Passengers Mr and Mrs Robinson commented: “We are here on a day trip from Preston and the new colours make the station so much brighter and more welcoming than it was before.”

Northern Rail operates more than 200 trains through St Anne’s-on-the-Sea every week, serving over c4,000 passengers.

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MAYOR TONY FORD RE-OPENS IMPROVED ST ANNE’S STATION

Trains that carry tens of thousands of passengers every day between Leeds, Bradford, Ilkley and Skipton are celebrating their 10^th birthday.

Over 110 million passenger journeys have been made on the iconic red electric Class 333 trains since they were introduced on 23 January 2001.

Operated by Northern Rail and built and maintained by Siemens, each of the 16 trains has travelled over one million miles – the equivalent of travelling to the moon and back twice and setting off on the third trip! Their introduction followed the electrification of the Airedale and Wharfedale routes in the 1990s, which was funded by Metro.

Originally introduced with three carriages, the 333s immediately proved popular with passengers and a fourth carriage was added to each train as a trial, before being made permanent in 2007.

Stuart Draper, Engineering Director, Northern Rail said: “Since the Class 333 trains were introduced on the Airedale and Wharfedale lines, we’ve attracted 62% more passengers on some of the busiest routes in Yorkshire.

“With 10 years in service, these trains represent one of the success stories of the rail network. They are now nearly twice as reliable as when they were introduced and also include on board CCTV cameras to help passengers feel more safe and secure.

“We look forward to working with our partners to deliver further improvements for passengers across the north of England.”

“The huge success and popularity of the Airedale and Wharfedale routes shows the effect that the electrification of rail lines, and the resulting improvements in terms of service and comfort can have,” said Metro Chairman Cllr Chris Greaves.

“There has been a 62% growth in numbers of people using these lines to beat traffic congestion and the quick, comfortable Class 333 trains have been integral to that success.

“Now it’s time to build on that success,” he continued. “We need to see more Government investment in local electrification schemes but just as importantly we need more investment in additional rolling stock – electric and diesel – to continue the growth in our local rail network that we’ve seen in the past decade.

“After all, millions of passengers can’t be wrong.”

Steve Smith, Fleet Manager from Siemens said: “We are delighted to be here today to celebrate 10 successful years of passenger service for the 333s. Today’s milestone is just one step on the journey, as the 333s were supplied as part of a 35 year contract. Siemens is proud to be a long term partner to Angel Trains and Northern Rail.”

Malcolm Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Angel Trains said: “Angel Trains is proud to own these trains, and it’s gratifying to know that they have made such a big contribution towards the passenger growth aspiration on Northern Rail. The partnership between Angel Trains, Northern Rail and Siemens works very well to maximise the benefit to the passenger.”

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YORKSHIRE FLEET OF TRAINS CELEBRATES 10th BIRTHDAY

Northern Rail has launched a challenge for students from schools and colleges across Yorkshire and Humberside to develop a marketing and PR campaign to encourage people aged 15-30 to travel to destinations on the Northern network.

The ‘Marketing and PR Challenge’ is a joint initiative between the train operator and the Young People’s Enterprise Forum (YPEF), supported by Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to give students, aged between 16 and 19, the opportunity to use their creative and commercial skills by undertaking a real-life business project.

The students will be asked to create a campaign for promoting their chosen destination using a number of methods, including posters, TV, radio, newspapers and on-line.

The winning entry will be used as part of Northern’s summer 2011 marketing and PR campaign to promote rail travel to some of the great destinations across the north of England, whether it be for sight seeing, shopping or events.

Richard Allan, Head of Marketing and Communications, Northern Rail, said: “We’re delighted to be launching the ‘Marketing & PR Challenge’ in Yorkshire and Humberside. It gives students a real opportunity to get first-hand business experience and provide an insight into a career in marketing, PR and tourism.

“The Marketing and PR Challenge follows the very successful Engineering Challenge we ran last year which gave students the opportunity to develop their engineering skills by designing and building detailed scale models of train carriages, meeting the most up-to-date customer service and engineering standards.”

Jane Walton, Policy Director, YPEF, said: “Taking young people out of the classroom and into the world of work is an excellent way to inspire them by giving learning a real world context. The Northern Marketing and PR Challenge does just this, putting young people’s creativity and skills to the test to solve a real business task.”

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STUDENTS ASKED TO GET CREATIVE TO PROMOTE RAIL TRAVEL IN THE NORTH

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NORTHERN BECOMES FIRST TOC TO BE ACCREDITED BY THE BRITISH PARKING ASSOCIATION

NORTHERN RAIL today updated its customers across the north of England with information about a strike ballot by the RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) union.

The RMT is balloting Northern conductors for strike action over Bank Holiday terms and conditions, even though those terms and conditions were agreed by the union and have been in place for several years.

For conductors, Bank or Public Holidays have been classed as normal working days since they were “traded” for other benefits, including increased salaries and more annual leave, in restructuring agreements several years ago.

Now the RMT has demanded a new, additional payment for all conductors who work on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December.

Adrian Thompson, HR Director for Northern, said: “We have explained to the RMT that we will honour our agreed terms and conditions but will not make any payments over and above those long-standing agreements.

“We do not think it is reasonable for the RMT to demand a new additional payment for these Bank Holidays.

“This is because the previous additional payments for Bank Holidays were traded for other benefits when the restructuring agreements were implemented.

“The RMT is picking and choosing which bits of the agreement it wants to stick to and then calling for strike action when Northern is simply keeping to the joint agreement.”

Northern has 4,800 employees across the north of England and recognises four trades unions, with whom it works to agree terms and conditions of employment for employees such as train drivers, conductors, station teams and engineers.

The RMT will issue ballot papers tomorrow, Tuesday 7 December, and the result is due on 20 December. If there is a vote for strike action then the earliest that a strike could take place would be Monday 27 December.

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NORTHERN UPDATE FOR CUSTOMERS ON POSSIBLE RMT STRIKE ACTION

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NORTHERN RAIL TRAVEL ADVICE FOR SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER 2010

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URGENT TRAVEL ADVICE FROM NORTHERN RAIL FOR THURSDAY 2 DECEMBER

Due to heavy snow, Northern Rail is unable to run services between Middlesbrough and Whitby until further notice.

Passengers are advised to check for up to date train running information before travelling, online via Northern’s Live Departures page or by phoning National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50.  Alternatively, passengers can call Northern’s Customer Relations team on 0845 00 00 125.

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NORTHERN RAIL TRAVEL INFORMATION MIDDLESBROUGH – WHITBY