TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.inter-city rail services between the major cities and towns of

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The franchise operates almost all its services to and through

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

covering three main routes. The service provides rail links for major towns and cities such as

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, Hull,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. TPE run trains 24 hours a day, including through New Year's Eve night. TPE trains run between , and at least every three hours every night of the week. The franchise operates across the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

Huddersfield Line The Huddersfield line is the main railway line between the English cities of Leeds and Manchester, via Huddersfield. It is one of the busiest MetroTrain lines. The route travels south-south-west from Leeds through Dewsbury. After a short west ...

, East Coast Main Line and part of the

Tees Valley line The Tees Valley Line is a rail route, in Northern England, following part of the original Stockton and Darlington Railway route of 1825. The line covers a distance of , and connects to via , and 14 other stations in the Teesdale. The secti ...

. The majority of TPE's

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can ...

was procured during the late 2010s under ''Project Nova''. These consist of the ''Nova 1'' () BMU trainsets, the ''Nova 2''

CAF Civity The CAF Civity is a platform of regional passenger trains which is manufactured by Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles. Available as both diesel, electric and battery-electric multiple unit, the ''Civ ...

EMUs, and the ''Nova 3'' Mark 5A fixed-formation carriages paired with Class 68 diesel locomotives. These have replaced older rolling stock, such as the Bombardier Turbostar 170/3s and

Siemens Desiro The Siemens Desiro (, , ) is a family of diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains developed by Siemens Mobility, a division of the German Siemens AG conglomerate. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, Desiro ML, Desiro UK and the la ...

350/4s, as well as some of their Siemens Desiro 185s, although these are still used on some routes. TPE has facilitated an operational shift towards more inter-city style services, although the commuter market remains important.

History

The TransPennine Express brand was launched in the early 1990s by British Rail's

Regional Railways Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''. Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...

sector. It became part of Regional Railways North East and, on 2 March 1997, was

privatised Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

along with the majority of British Rail. Its first private sector operator, Northern Spirit, as well as its successor, Arriva Trains Northern, opted to maintain the brand. In 2000, the Strategic Rail Authority announced that it planned to reorganise the North West Regional Railways and Regional Railways North East franchises operated by

First North Western First North Western was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the North West Regional Railways franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. History In the lead up to the privatisation of British Rail, the Nor ...

and Arriva Trains Northern. A TransPennine Express franchise would be created for the long-distance regional services, the remaining services being operated by a new Northern franchise. In July 2003, the TransPennine franchise was awarded to a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

between

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.Keolis Keolis is a multinational transportation company that operates public transport systems. The company manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus and funicular services. ...

, and the services operated by Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western were transferred to

First TransPennine Express First TransPennine Express was a British train operating company jointly owned by FirstGroup and Keolis which operated the TransPennine Express franchise. First TransPennine Express ran regular Express regional railway services between the major ...

on 1 February 2004. On 11 November 2007, the services from

to and via the

formerly operated by

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in t ...

were transferred to First TransPennine Express. In August 2014, the Department for Transport announced FirstGroup, Keolis/ Go-Ahead and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the next franchise. During December 2015, FirstGroup was awarded the franchise of TransPennine Express. The effective date of the new franchise was 1 April 2016 and will run until 31 March 2023, with an option to extend for two years. The company remains First TransPennine Express, but has branded the services as TransPennine Express. As part of a recasting of the franchise map by the Department for Transport, services from to ; Manchester Airport to ; and to were transferred to the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016. TransPennine Express was one of several train operators impacted by the

2022 United Kingdom railway strike The 2022 United Kingdom railway strikes are an ongoing industrial dispute in the United Kingdom that has seen the largest instance of industrial action in the country since 1989. It commenced on 21 June after members of the National Union of Rai ...

, which was the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who participated in industrial action due to a dispute over pay and working conditions.

Services

The TransPennine Express routes are subdivided into three operations: * ''North Route'', which includes all routes that pass through the core section between

and ; * ''Anglo-Scottish Route'', which consists of services on the

; * ''South Route'', which includes services running on the Hope Valley line and the

South Humberside Main Line The South Humberside Main Line runs from Doncaster on the East Coast Main Line to Thorne where it diverges from the Sheffield to Hull Line. It then runs eastwards to Scunthorpe and the Humber ports of Immingham and Grimsby, with the coastal res ...

. As of December 2022, the following services operate off-peak, 7 days a week: {, class="wikitable" , - ! colspan="3" , North Route , - ! width="50" , Route , , , , Calling at , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , , , * Alternates with services from to . , - , to , , , , * Alternates with services from to and from to . , - , to , , , , * Alternates with services from to . , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , 1 , , , - , to , , , , * 2 additional trains per day run between and only. , - ! colspan="3" , South Route , - ! width="250" , Route , , , , Calling at , - , to , , 1 , , , - ! colspan="3" , Anglo-Scottish Route , - ! width="250" , Route , , , , Calling at , - , to , , , , * runs between and only. * Alternates with services to , see below. , - , to , , , , * Alternates with services to , see above. , - , to , , , , {{cslist, {{rws, St Helens Central, {{rws, Wigan North Western, {{rws, Preston, {{rws, Lancaster {{rws, Oxenholme Lake District, {{rws, Carlisle, {{rws, Lockerbie, {{rws, Motherwell (1tpd) {{Notelist {, width=100% , - valign=top , {{North TransPennine , {{South TransPennine , {{TransPennine North West & Scotland

Rolling stock

When TransPennine Express began operation, it inherited a fleet of four Class 170 and 51 Class 185 DMUs as well as ten Class 350/4 EMUs from

. The Class 170s were transferred to Chiltern Railways, where they were converted to Class 168s. Originally it was planned after all the new trains in the ''Nova'' fleet entered service, 22 of the 51 Class 185 DMUs would be returned to

Eversholt Rail Group Eversholt Rail Group is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Angel Trains and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs created as a result of the privatisation of British Rail. Eversholt was established in March 1994 ...

.{{Cite web, title=TfGMC – Item 05b TPE – New Franchise presentation, url=http://www.transportforgreatermanchestercommittee.gov.uk/tfgmc/downloads/file/5158/item_05b_tpe_-_new_franchise_presentation, website=www.transportforgreatermanchestercommittee.gov.uk However these have remained with the franchise and to allow services to be strengthened and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Further cascades of rolling stock occurred over time; shortly following the introduction of the Class 397 sets during 2020, all ten of the Class 350 EMUs were transferred to

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

.{{cite web, last=Briginshaw, first=David, date=23 May 2016, title=CAF to supply trains to TransPennine Express, url=http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/rolling-stock/caf-to-supply-trains-to-transpennine-express.html, access-date=16 February 2016, publisher=International Rail Journal

Project Nova

Upon its instatement, TransPennine Express (TPE) services were particularly heavily trafficked; prior to 2018, the operator reportedly operated the busiest trains in the country, and it was common for some passengers to be unable to be seated during rush hour. Reportedly, the franchise also aimed to reorientation its operations towards inter-city services over its inter-urban routes, although it shall continue to transport large numbers of commuters regardless. As a means of addressing these factors, TPE launched ''Project Nova'', under which the vast majority of their existing rolling stock would be replaced by new-build trainsets with greater capacity. During 2016, TPE signed contracts valued at £500 million with

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

rolling stock manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) to produce the majority of its Nova rolling stock.{{cite web , url = https://www.railmagazine.com/news/rail-features/tpe-s-new-trains , title = TPE's new trains , publisher = railmagazine.com , first = Richard , last = Clinnick , date = 26 August 2019 The Nova fleet is divided into three distinct categories; the ''Nova 1'' being ({{brc, 802) BMU sets derived from the

Hitachi A-train The Hitachi A-train is a family of rail rolling stock built and designed by Hitachi Rail using a common base and construction techniques. The stock is designed to facilitate a number of product life-cycle improvements including ease of manufacture ...

family, the ''Nova 2'' trainsets being CAF-built {{brc, 397 Civity EMUs, and the ''Nova 3'' sets consisting of locomotive-hauled CAF-built Mark 5A coaches. The Nova 1 fleet had originally been ordered by TPE's predecessor as part of plans to bolster route capacity by 80%; having contracted with Hitachi Rail Europe for the latter to supply 19 five-car bi-mode trainsets. According to Robin Davis, TPE's Head of New Trains, a major rationale behind the Nova 1 fleet was its bi-mode capability, noting that electrification ambitions often had much uncertainty, while a bi-mode fleet eliminated the operational risk to such uncertainty. Davis also noted that, in the event of largescale electrification being funded and implemented, the Class 802s could have some of their engines removed to reduce roughly 15% of their weight and thus raise their efficiency. Furthermore, Leo Goodwin, TPE's managing director, has observed that while the Class 802s will have an initial maximum speed of 125 mph, they have the capability of being modified for operating at 140 mph if infrastructure upgrades were to permit such speeds at a future date. The Nova 2 trainsets were CAF-built Class 397 EMUs, the design being a member of the preexisting Civity range. Davis observed the Class 397 procurement to be a natural fit in light of TPE's desire to rapidly increase capacity and CAF's reputation for speedily producing limited batches of trains. While the Class 397 is capable of attaining a maximum speed of 125 mph, it shall be limited to a service speed of 100 mph. The Nova 3 trainsets use Mark 5A carriages, locomotive-hauled and designed for its inter-city routes. The choice to procure carriages was unusual for the UK market; it is reportedly the first procurement of such rolling stock since the

Mark 4 Mark 4 is the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It tells the parable of the Sower, with its explanation, and the parable of the Mustard Seed. Both of these parables are paralleled in Matthew ...

sets for the InterCity 225 during the late 1980s. Davis claims that the expense of constructing DMUs suitable for inter-city services was prohibitive in comparison, and notes that it is to be operated as a fixed-formation push-pull train, not relying on run-arounds as historically performed by locomotive-hauled sets. From the onset, it was planned for these to be hauled by a small fleet of Class 68 locomotives, requiring minor control-oriented modifications by Stadler to do so. According to franchise documents filed with the Department for Transport (DfT), considerations have been made to alternatively hauling the Nova 3 carriages with Class 88 bi-mode locomotives, which are closely related to the Class 68; however, this would be dependent on relatively ambitious, and thus far unfunded, suggestions for widespread electrification in the region being fulfilled. On 24 August 2019, the first new trains of the ''Nova'' fleet entered revenue service; these were the ''Nova 3'' sets, comprising a Class 68 locomotive and a rake of Mark 5A coaches. On 28 September 2019, the ''Nova 1'' (Class 802) sets followed, while operations of the ''Nova 2'' trainsets (Class 397) commenced on 30 November 2019. TPE officially launched the ''Nova'' fleet on 22 November at Liverpool Lime Street station.

Current fleet

{, class="wikitable" , - style="background:#f9f9f9;" ! rowspan="2" , Family ! rowspan="2" , Class ! rowspan="2" , Image ! rowspan="2" , Type ! colspan="2" , Top speed ! rowspan="2" , Number ! rowspan="2" , Carriages ! rowspan="2" , Routes operated ! rowspan="2" , Built , - style="background:#f9f9f9;" ! mph ! km/h , - ! ! colspan="9" , Diesel multiple units , - , rowspan="2" ,

, rowspan="2" ,

185 Year 185 (Roman numerals, CLXXXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lascivius and Atilius (or, less frequently, year 938 ...

, rowspan="2" , Class 185 at Manchester Piccadilly

, align=center, DHMU , align=center, 100 , align=center, 160 , align=center, 51 , align=center, 3 , North Route, South Route , align=center, {{nowrap, 2005{{ndash2006 , - , colspan="7" , Class_185_TPE_(2016)_Diagram

, - ! ! colspan="9" , Bi-mode multiple units , - , rowspan="2" , Hitachi AT300 , rowspan="2" , 802/2 ''Nova 1'' , rowspan="2" align="center" , TPE NOVA 1 Manchester Victoria

, align=center, BMU , align=center, 124 , align=center, 200 , align="center", 19 , align=center, 5 , * Liverpool Lime Street – Newcastle * Manchester Airport – Newcastle * Edinburgh-Newcastle * Edinburgh-Manchester Airport , align=center, 2017{{ndash2019 , - , colspan="7" , TPE Class 802 2

, - ! ! colspan="9" , Electric multiple units , - , rowspan="2" ,

, rowspan="2" , 397 ''Nova 2'' , rowspan="2" align="center" , Lancaster -TPE 397006 arriving from Glasgow

, align=center,

EMU The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The emu ...

, align=center, 125 , align=center, 200 , align="center" , 12 , align=center, 5 , Anglo-Scottish Route , align=center, {{nowrap, 2017{{ndash2019{{cite web , url= http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/news/2016/05/more-new-trains-for-the-north-and-scotland/ , publisher= First Transpennine Express , title= More new trains for the North and Scotland , date=20 May 2016 , - , colspan="7" , TPE Class 397 w-pantgraph

, - ! ! colspan="9" , Locomotive hauled stock , - ,

Stadler UKLight The Stadler Eurolight (known as the Vossloh Eurolight until 2015) is the brand name for a family of 4-axle Bo'Bo' mainline diesel-electric locomotives with sub-20-tonne axleloads for passenger and freight trains produced by Stadler Rail. The Eur ...

, Class 68 ''UKLight'' , align=center, TransPennine Express 68019 Brutus at Gresty Bridge, July 2018

, align=center, Diesel locomotive , align=center, 100 , align=center, 160 , align="center" , 14New-build DRS Class 68s to operate TPE's Mk 5 rakes
– PressReader.com. Retrieved 30 March 2017. , rowspan=3 align=center, 5 , rowspan=3, * Liverpool Lime Street – Scarborough via Manchester Victoria * Manchester Airport – Redcar Central via Manchester Victoria , align=center, 2016{{ndash2017 , - , rowspan="3" , CAF , rowspan="3" , Mark 5A ''Nova 3'' , align="center" , TPE Mark 5 TS 12718 at Crewe Carriage Shed

TPE Mark 5 TS 12718 at Crewe Carriage Shed

, align=center, Coach , rowspan=2 align=center, 125 , rowspan=2 align=center, 200 , align="center" , 52 , rowspan=2 align=center, 2017{{ndash2018 , - , rowspan="2" , TPE NOVA 3 Manchester Piccadilly

, align=center, Driving Trailer , align="center" , 14 , - , colspan="7" , TPE Nova 3

Past fleet

Former units operated by TransPennine Express include: {, class="wikitable" , - style="background:#f9f9f9;" !Family !Class !Image !Type ! mph ! km/h !Number !Carriages !Routes operated !Built !Left fleet , - , Bombardier Turbostar , 170/3 , TPEClass170

, align="center" , DMU , align="center" , 100 , align="center" , 160 , align="center" , 4 , align="center" , 2 , Manchester Piccadilly / Airport-Cleethorpes / Hull / York , align="center" , 2000 , align="center" , 2016 , - ,

, 350/4 , TransPennine Express 350402 at Glasgow Central

, align="center" ,

, align="center" , 110 , align="center" , 177 , align="center" , 10 , align="center" , 4 , Anglo-Scottish Route , align="center" , {{nowrap, 2013{{ndash2014 , align="center" , {{nowrap, 2019{{ndash2020

Future fleet

In 2022, FirstGroup released a provision seeking expressions of interest for suppliers to build a new fleet of at least 15 bi-mode locomotives. These will replace the TPE Class 68s and the GWR {{brc, 57s.

Managed stations

An example of TPE signage at Scarborough

TransPennine Express services run over large areas of northern England and southern Scottish Lowlands. Many of the largest stations they serve are managed by other train operating companies or

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

. TransPennine Express manages the following 19 stations:{{cite web , url = https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/407939/northern-and-tpe-stakeholder-briefing-document-and-consultation-response.pdf , title = Stakeholder Briefing Document and Consultation Response , publisher = Department for Transport , date = 27 February 2015 {{Div col, colwidth=15em * {{rws, Barnetby * {{rws, Brough * {{rws, Cleethorpes * {{rws, Dewsbury * {{rws, Grimsby Town * {{rws, Huddersfield * Hull Paragon * {{rws, Malton * {{stn, Manchester Airport * {{rws, Middlesbrough * {{rws, Northallerton * {{rws, Scarborough * {{rws, Scunthorpe * {{rws, Seamer * {{rws, Selby * {{rws, Stalybridge * {{rws, Thirsk * {{rws, Thornaby * {{rws, Yarm {{colend Some stations from the former franchise operator

were transferred to Northern. These include {{rws, Arnside, {{rws, Barrow-in-Furness, {{rws, Birchwood, {{rws, Burneside, {{rws, Carnforth, {{rws, Grange-over-Sands, {{rws, Kendal, {{rws, Staveley, {{rws, Ulverston, {{rws, Warrington Central and {{rws, Windermere.

Depots and servicing

Siemens maintains the Class 185 fleet at Ardwick depot in Manchester with a smaller facility in

. Scottish stabling points for both stock include Polmadie TRSMD (Glasgow) and Craigentinny T.&R.S.M.D. (Edinburgh). Hitachi maintains the Class 802 fleet at Doncaster Carr and

Craigentinny Craigentinny ( gd, Creag an t-Sionnaich) is a suburb in the north-east of Edinburgh, Scotland, east of Restalrig and close to Portobello. Its name is a corruption of the Scottish Gaelic ''Creag an t-Sionnaich'' meaning "Foxrock" but more like ...

.{{cite web , url = http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/traction-rolling-stock/single-view/view/hitachi-awarded-transpennine-express-multiple-unit-contract.html , title = Hitachi awarded TransPennine Express multiple unit contract , publisher = Railway Gazette International , date = 31 March 2016 The new EMUs and loco-hauled sets will be maintained by Alstom, on behalf of TransPennine Express, at

Longsight Longsight is an inner city suburb of Manchester, England, located south of the city centre. It is bounded by Ardwick and West Gorton to the north; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park and Fallowfield to the west ...

(Manchester), Edge Hill (Liverpool) and

Polmadie Polmadie (; gd, Poll Mac Dè, lit=Son of God pool) is a primarily industrial area of Glasgow in Scotland. Situated south of the River Clyde, Polmadie is close to residential neighbourhoods including Govanhill (to the west) and Toryglen (south-e ...

(Glasgow). During 2020, in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, TPE invested £1.7 million into highly stringent rolling stock cleaning practices; these reportedly represented a 70% upsurge on pre-COVID-19 hygiene practices. TransPennine Express have depots for its train crews at Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport (conductors), York, Newcastle, Scarborough, Hull, Cleethorpes, Sheffield, Preston, Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow Central.

Criticism

The TransPennine Express service is often criticised. A satirical article in 2022 called it the "ironically named TransPennine Express. You'd hate to take the non-Express service. It might be quicker to walk."{{cite news, last=Crace , first=John , title=Urgent question on railways chaos sends the Tories running for the hills , newspaper=The Guardian , date=1 December 2022 , url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/01/labours-urgent-question-over-train-chaos-highlights-tory-party-derailment

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

* {{Commons category-inline * {{Official website {{s-start {{s-bef, before=

(

joint venture) {{s-ttl, title=Operator of TransPennine Express franchise , years=2016–2023 {{s-aft, after=incumbent {{s-end {{UK TOCs, current, state=collapsed {{FirstGroup {{Authority control FirstGroup railway companies Railway companies established in 2016 Train operating companies in the United Kingdom 2016 establishments in England British companies established in 2016