The TransPennine Express brand was launched in the early 1990s by British Rail's Regional Railways sector. It became part of Regional Railways North East and on 2 March 1997 was privatised with Northern Spirit and its successor, Arriva Trains Northern maintaining 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 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 between FirstGroup and Keolis, and the services operated by Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western were transferred to First TransPennine Express on 1 February 2004. On 11 November 2007, the services from Manchester to Edinburgh and Glasgow via the West Coast Main Line formerly operated by Virgin CrossCountry 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. In 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. As part of a recasting of the franchise map by the Department for Transport, services from Manchester Airport to Blackpool North; Manchester Airport to Barrow in Furness; and Oxenholme to Windermere were transferred to the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016.
Services
The TransPennine Express routes are subdivided into three operations:
North TransPennine, which includes all routes that pass through the core section between and ;
TransPennine North West, which consists of services on the West Coast Main Line;
Details of each route, including maps and timetables, are on the TransPennine Express official website'. In May 2018, following the transfer of the to Northern stopping service to TPE, regular services ceased between some of the intermediate Pennine stations, most daytime services either stopped at and, or and. Following the December 2018 timetable change, however, regular services resumed between,, and. As of December 2019, the following services operate off-peak, Mondays to Saturdays, with frequencies in trains per hour''' :
Rolling stock
TransPennine Express inherited a fleet of 4 Class 170 and 51 Class 185 DMUs as well as 10 Class 350/4 EMUs from First TransPennine Express, however the Class 170s left for Chiltern Railways to be converted to Class 168s shortly afterwards. It is planned that when all new trains in the Nova fleet enter service, 22 of the 51 Class 185 DMUs will be returned to Eversholt Rail Group. In 2020, all ten of the Class 350 EMUs transferred to West Midlands Trains following a delayed introduction of the Class 397 sets The new trains in the Nova fleet started to enter service in August 2019, with the Nova 3 sets the first to do so on 24 August 2019. The Nova 1 sets followed on 28 September 2019, and the Nova 2 sets on 30 November 2019. TPE officially launched the Nova fleet on 22 November at Liverpool Lime Street station.
Current fleet
Past fleet
Former units operated by TransPennine Express include:
Managed stations
TransPennine Express services run over a large area of northern England and southern Scottish Lowlands. Many of the largest stations they serve are managed by other train operating companies or Network Rail. TransPennine Express manages the following 19 stations:
maintains the Class 185 fleet at Ardwick depot in Manchester with a smaller facility in York. Scottish stabling points for both stock include Polmadie TRSMD and Craigentinny T.&R.S.M.D.. Hitachi will maintain the AT300 fleet at Doncaster Carr and Craigentinny. The new EMUs and loco-hauled sets will be maintained by Alstom, on behalf of TransPennine Express, at Longsight, Edge Hill and Polmadie. TransPennine Express have depots for its train crews at Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport, York, Newcastle, Scarborough, Hull, Cleethorpes, Sheffield, Preston, Liverpool and Glasgow Central.
