As we are about to enter February 2019 Northern Rail still operate a number of Trains from the Pacer Family on their Services, We decided to do some digging to find out how long these Trains have left in Passenger Service.
 |
| 142001 Departing Manchester Picadilly |
Pacer Trains do not meet the DDA Requirements so therefore must be withdrawn before 1st January 2020 meaning any remaining Pacers must go this year. Northern Currently operate Two types of Pacers, The Class 142 with 79 Examples and the Class 144 with 23 Examples.
 |
| 144003 at Leeds Station. |
To get the latest information i yesterday tweeted Northern Rail asking when the Pacers will start to be Withdrawn, Their Reply was: "Hello Terence, our pacers will start to retire once the new trains join our fleet after they pass their UK testing".
 |
| 142005 at Liverpool Lime Street |
Using the information in the Tweet plus the known fact extra Trains are needed in May for the Timetable Change which will see additional Services operated by Northern Rail them new Trains must be due out by that Timetable Change, So Pacers must be due to start being Withdrawn from around the same time.
No matter what time of 2019 the Pacers are withdrawn i will personally miss them, I grew up with them operating my local Railway Service and with them being different to your typical Train it will be a shame to see them go.
Thank you for reading, Why not check out my Youtube Channel!
I was on a Pacer on Monday to Manchester Victoria to get the tram to Bury fro the 40s weekend.They have served me well over the years and more so since retirement and the free pass to use the trains in Greater Manchester.
ReplyDelete