Northern Reviews 

Train from Harrogate to York was cancelled. An announcement said that there would be a rail replacement at Harrogate, when we got off the station staff knew nothing about the bus. It took me 4.5 hours to get home and we were lied to for reasons that are not clear to me. Appalling service, and not the first time this has happened to me by far.

I was on the 12.55 train today from Bishop Auckland to Darlington and the driver was fantastic he drove the train so smoothly and kept the revs right down to say he was good is a understatement. 11 sep 2026

It's a shame Northern railway employee Alex Hornby who is a director under the CEO but for some strange reason he doesn't no who can't be bothered to email customers back I have emailed him 4 times in the last few weeks and I'm still waiting so if he has a senior job position and can't even be bothered to email a northern rail customer back then he is in the wrong job so I hope his boss sees this and maybe she can get him some on the job training because he needs to be able to no how to respond back to emails to which at the moment he can't email?

Flash sale was supposed to end at 23:59 tonight, but they ended it 6 hours early. Can't get their trains to run early or on time, but they feel its OK to screw people over tickets. Had booked hotels to match the tickets I had in my basket that they then refused to sell me!

Often late yes, but one can argue that at least for Manchester/ Sheffield base lovely is tested on assesment day as only in a bad day that one can meet a Northern staff who isn't friendly / easy to talk with and knowledgeable (heck even if one still had a station booth, one can say Northern staff are one of the easiest way to make friends)

I understand sometimes the train are late, but stinky too?

What followed was worse. The information office staff member was on a personal loudspeaker call when I entered to report the incident. I was repeatedly directed back to the same group of staff involved whilst visibly distressed. Nobody helped me. Nobody took it seriously.

I stayed. I obtained the staff member’s badge number — 101090 — at significant personal effort whilst in the middle of a panic attack. I provided valid tickets. I followed every step of Northern’s complaints process correctly.

Northern’s response was to call it behaviour that “may be perceived as rude or discourteous.” That is how they characterised being publicly humiliated in front of other passengers whilst experiencing a mental health crisis.

They refused compensation. They refused to disclose any outcome of their internal review. They didn’t even request my tickets until I challenged them.

If you have a mental health condition and expect to be treated with basic dignity on Northern Rail, don’t count on it. And if something goes wrong, expect to be managed, not heard.

Greater Manchester & the North will never succeed until Northern Rail is fully dissolved. The operator is covering too big of a spatial area and has failed for decades. The problems are so chaotic we are actually moving house due to daily issues and the misery caused. The transition to public ownership has done nothing and our line’s quality (Headbolt Lane to Manchester) has deteriorated beyond belief with 2 carriage short formed services.

Every single day Northern is shortforming its services. We only have a 1 per hour service, which should be 4 carriages but is always 2 now. I can’t physically board on the way home and put daily complaint, delay repay and ombudsman cases in. I’ve had to involve my MP & the rail minister too. Northern merely reply with the standard “all carriages are out or in maintenance” and have been doing this for over 2.5 years. The situation is now out of hand, with every single train short formed.

As a daily commuter I’ve never seen the trains in such a poor state with regards to short forming. Major issues include:

- all services being short formed of 2 carriages on a daily basis

- Northern admitting to reducing advance tickets to urge people not to travel due to the rolling stock issues

- ticket prices going up if you live on the Greater Manchester boundary

- taking >10 months to reply to the Transport Watchdog given consistent issues and even then with a generic reply

- awful customer service who refuse refunds, partial refunds or vouchers for short formed services. They are rude and send copy & paste replies

The rolling stock issue is extremely serious, with even the rail magazine showing recently that there’s a huge short forming issue with no end in sight. Northern commuters are meant to hold tight to beyond 2030 for any improvement which is insane. Northern Rail needs to be fully broken up and the DfT needs urgent intervention to prevent serious incidents from happening due to short forming. There also needs to be a partial refund (or full refund) given the short forming issues. Each day I don’t know if I’ll make it home from work and, with only 1 train per hour, there are no other options for me.

Finally! Pleasantly surprised- they now have ‘railway safety officers’ wearing yellow hi-vis vests aboard the trains. Within 10 minutes of the journey some youth was blasting out his chavy music across the whole carriage and for once it was dealt with. The officer came over and politely told him to switch it off - thank you!!! This IS an essential role!!!!!

For the past two years we have tried to avoid using Northern through our local Ulverston station which is only minutes away from our home and instead drive to Oxenholme which is 45 minutes away. Yesterday I made the mistake of going through Ulverston to St Helens using a off peak return ticket, the outbound train was punctual to the minute on it's arrival to St Helens (excellent). I arrived back at St Helens and told by the ticket office that the next train was at 13:56 via Preston to Ulverston. Again the train arrived on time at Preston, However my connecting train was cancelled, I then took an Avanti train at 14:45 to Lancaster thinking I have a better chance of getting a direct train, however not Northern fault but the train was delayed by approx 30 minutes as they had no guard. On arrival at 15:15 I found there was a train from Lancaster to Ulverston at 16:01 due to arrive 16:45. The train was already parked at Platform 2. Great? However due to other cancellations etc this two carriage train was beyond full, entrances, exits and passage between the seats was full of standing passengers and trolleys. The train was delayed as there was no guard available to leave on time. The train was 14 minutes late leaving and again delayed by 15 minutes at the next station Carnforth. Passengers struggled to alight and board the train at station due to the crowded train, eventually arriving 30 minutes late. This is just one of many similar experiences I have had since Northern took over the running of the service. They treat their customers with utter contempt with their cancellations and rolling stock management, knowing their customer will have to put up with it. You haven't got a rating of 1.6 because your customers are happy.

Fully appreciate the broadband between Newcastle and Carlisle stations, makes waiting so much better

I just don’t understand why uk government spends so much on British rails, specially on northern trains, always late or cancel the service cos lot of people delay on work and missing school lessons

Just want to give a shout out to the guy at Barrow in furness (shorts tattoos. Sorry didnt get your name) very calm manner calmed me down last time sorta remembered me this time. Your very lucky to have him working for you. Treat him well 😀

Absolutely Disgraceful Service – Northern Rail

Extremely disappointed and angry with Northern Rail. On Wednesday, 19 August, after completing a 12-hour shift at Manchester Airport, I waited for the 22:17 train towards Blackpool North. The 21:47 service was already delayed and was eventually cancelled.

I arrived home around 1½ hours late. This happens far too often. Customers pay for monthly Season Tickets in advance, yet we are repeatedly given delays and cancellations instead of a reliable service.

This is completely unacceptable and frankly shameful. Northern Rail needs to take responsibility and start treating paying customers with some respect.

The amount of cancellations is absolutely insane.

By cleaning your trains. Absolutely disgusting. Travelling on Manchester line to Southport. Leaving Appleybridge at 11.18 am.

I’d give 0 starts if I could, where do I start. My connecting train (and all other northern trains) from Leeds were cancelled meaning I couldn’t get home. My LNER conductor told me to book a taxi and claim it back from northern. I sent the receipts of the taxi and proof of all trains cancelled to northern, and it took them 24 days to reply to my case despite saying they would be in touch within 10 days. And their response to my claim was “We believe this falls under the responsibility of LNER”. I waited 24 days for this response, and I can’t understand how it’s LNERs fault I had to book a taxi following my train being cancelled. It’s now over a month since I travelled and I still have no refund. The person on the phone never stopped interrupting me, I sat on hold for 50 minutes in total and spent about 5 minutes speaking to someone rude speaking like they were above me.

Delay repayment portal not fit for purpose. Session ends early, have to re-submit all details. Unable to go back to previous screen as filling out form. Consequently have to start from beginning everytime. Portal designed to make it as difficult as possible to claim, as with other train service providers. Rail Ombudsman needs to be appraised of this situation.

If you want to arrive at your destination 30+ minutes late, I’d advise travelling with northern. I don’t think a train has even run on time, always ensuring you miss your connecting train. They cancel trains cause a fly has landed on the tracks or one of the drivers can’t be bothered to get off their arse and drive the train. Don’t worry, if your train is delayed, you’re entitled to delay repay, where they try their hardest to refund you as close to £0 as possible. It’s an absolute joke!

The Newcastle to Carlisle line is a pleasure to travel on. The trains are mainly on time and the staff are friendly and helpful. But the main reasons are that passengers are not tormented with stupid recorded messages at every stop (see it, say it etc) and, if it is warm, you can still open the windows. Please let it continue.