Private company

First TransPennine Express

Former train operating company

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 cities of Northern England as well as Scotland. The franchise operated all its services to and through Manchester covering three main routes.2 It is part of FirstGroup plc.1 It ceased to exist in 2016.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Feb 1, 2004Founded1

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Tpenewclass185
Photo: Fkmd, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

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 cities of Northern England as well as Scotland.2

Corporate structure

First TransPennine Express is part of a group headed by FirstGroup plc. 56 entities, 5 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

The TransPennine Express brand was launched in the early 1990s by British Rail, and maintained by the privatised operator Northern Spirit and its successor, Arriva Trains Northern.

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 while the remaining services were to be operated by a new Northern franchise. In July 2003, the TransPennine Express franchise was awarded to a joint venture between FirstGroup and Keolis, and the services formerly operated by Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western were transferred to First TransPennine Express on 1 February 2004.

The franchise was originally scheduled to end on 31 January 2012; however, in August 2011, the Department for Transport awarded First TransPennine Express a contract extension until March 2015. Included was a clause to allow the end date to be brought forward to April 2014 to coincide with the end-date of the Northern Rail franchise. In March 2013, the Secretary of State for Transport announced the franchise would again be extended until 1 April 2016. Despite this announcement, the long-term future of the franchise remained uncertain; local transport authorities and consultancies proposed merging Trans-Pennine services into other franchises, speculating that this would increase efficiency on the rail network. Specifically, the Manchester Airport to Scotland service could be transferred to the InterCity West Coast franchise after the electrification of lines around Manchester by 2018, while the south Trans-Pennine route between Manchester and Cleethorpes could be transferred to East Midlands Trains, who operated an hourly service on the Manchester to Sheffield section.

In June 2014, the DfT confirmed that there would be two separate franchises in the north of England, one focused on delivering intercity rail services and the second to provide local rail services. At the time, proposals were made to transfer services including York to Scarborough and Doncaster to Cleethorpes services to the Northern franchise and transfer the Nottingham to Liverpool portion of the Norwich to Liverpool service operated by East Midlands Trains to the TransPennine franchise.

During August 2014, the DfT announced that FirstGroup, Keolis/Go-Ahead and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the next franchise. On 9 December 2015, FirstGroup was awarded the franchise in its own right with TransPennine Express taking over on 1 April 2016.

From Wikipedia’s article on First TransPennine Express, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

North TransPennine

As a result of timetable changes in May 2014, five trains per hour instead of four operated on the core route between Manchester and Leeds on the Huddersfield Line. This was made up of the following services:

1tph between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle via Manchester Victoria

1tph between Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough via Warrington Central and Manchester Piccadilly

1tph between Manchester Airport and York via Manchester Piccadilly. This was also a 24-hour service.

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1tph between Manchester Airport and Middlesbrough via Manchester Piccadilly

1tph between Manchester Piccadilly and Hull.

Most services between Manchester Airport and Newcastle ran early morning/late evenings.

Under Arriva Trains Northern, Newcastle services continued to Sunderland. When First TransPennine Express first took over the franchise it extended the Manchester to Hull service to Bridlington, a decision later reversed.

In May 2014, an hourly service between Liverpool Lime Street and Newcastle Central was introduced. It ran non-stop between Liverpool and Manchester Victoria and onward to Newcastle via Leeds reducing journey times between Liverpool and Manchester by 15 minutes and Liverpool to Leeds by 25 minutes.

South TransPennine

An hourly service operated from Manchester Airport to Cleethorpes via Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport, Sheffield, Doncaster and Scunthorpe.

TransPennine North West

TransPennine North West used sections of the Styal Line, Manchester to Preston Line, West Coast Main Line, Furness Line and Windermere Branch Line. These services were formerly operated by First North Western with the exception of the Scottish routes, which were previously operated by Virgin CrossCountry from Manchester Piccadilly.

Following timetable changes in May 2014 the following services operated:

1tph between Manchester Airport and Blackpool North. Some services also ran to/from Barrow-in-Furness and Windermere which are detached/attached at Preston. A number of peak services start or terminate at Preston.

1tph between Manchester Airport and Glasgow Central or Edinburgh Waverley (alternating). Most of these services used Class 350s (some Edinburgh services run in 8 car formations) however a number of peak services were run by Class 185s via Bolton/Wigan North Western and Bolton/Chorley.

With the completion of the first stage of the North West electrification programme, the Scottish services were operated from 8 December 2013 by newly arrived Class 350 electric units and rerouted to stop at Wigan North Western after joining the West Coast Main Line close to Newton-le-Willows. Most stops at Bolton and Chorley were withdrawn as a result. With a number of peak services still operating via Bolton/Chorley or Bolton/Wigan North Western.

From Wikipedia’s article on First TransPennine Express, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Owners

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. Succeeded Arriva Trains Northern1
  2. Succeeded First North Western1
  3. Succeeded by TransPennine Express1

Timeline

  1. Mar 31, 2016Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. Feb 1, 2004Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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