page_title: British Rail Class 153
section_title: Northern England
hierarchical_section_title: British Rail Class 153 / Operations / Post privatisation / Northern England
caption_attribution_description: English: BR Class 153, no. 153316, at Carlisle, on 27th August 2004. This unit is operated by First North Western and is painted in 'North Western Trains' livery. Deutsch: British Rail Dieseltriebwagen Baureihe 153 Nr. 153316 in Carlisle am 27. August 2004. Diese Einheit wird von First North Western betrieben und trägt die North-Western-Trains-Lackierung.
context_page_description: The British Rail Class 153 Super Sprinters are single-coach railcars converted from two-coach Class 155 diesel multiple units in the early 1990s. The class was intended for service on rural and branch lines where passenger numbers do not justify longer trains.
context_section_description: The Northern Rail franchise started operations in December 2004. It inherited the fleets previously operated by Arriva Trains Northern (ATN) and First North Western (FNW), whose routes the new franchise incorporated. Northern Rail's successor Arriva Rail North at one point operated the largest fleet of Class 153 units.
  Northern Rail inherited a fleet of eight units from FNW, which were used on local services around Manchester, Chester and on Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle and Preston to Ormskirk services. The fleet was repainted in the now obsolete North Western Trains blue and gold livery. Prior to becoming part of Northern, four former FNW units were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise, since the lines operated by FNW in Wales were transferred to this new company.
  A larger fleet of 12 units were inherited from ATN. They are used on various local services around Leeds, Doncaster and Sheffield. One regular job is the Cleethorpes to Barton-on-Humber services, which see a unit stable at Cleethorpes overnight and Sunday. Other jobs are the Lincoln to Scunthorpe via Retford and Sheffield, and the Saturday only Sheffield to Cleethorpes via Retford.
  In December 2007, two units were taken off lease from Northern and transferred to East Midlands Trains.
  In the first half of 2018, five units were transferred from Great Western Railway on a temporary basis to boost capacity until the new Class 195 units enter service; three of these then moved to Abellio ScotRail in 2019, with the remainder to follow in 2020. On 1 March 2020, Northern's Class 153 units transferred to new operator Northern Trains.
caption: First North Western 153316 at Carlisle in August 2004
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