the former transpennine express franchise that operated until 31 march 2016 . for the new franchise operated solely by firstgroup see transpennine express . first transpennine express 185117 departing from scarborough overview franchise s transpennine express 1 february 2004 31 march 2016 main route s north west england yorkshire and humber north east england scotland fleet size 71 units 6 units were subleased from northern rail stations called at 90 stations operated 30 national rail abbreviation tp parent company firstgroup & keolis first transpennine express 1 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 . the service provided rail links for major towns and cities such as edinburgh glasgow liverpool sheffield hull leeds york scarborough middlesbrough and newcastle . previously all services called or terminated at manchester piccadilly 2 but as of may 2014 a new service running between newcastle central and liverpool lime street calling at manchester victoria was announced and launched as part of the northern hub plan . 3 when the franchise was re tendered firstgroup and keolis tendered separately . the franchise was awarded solely to firstgroup . 4 the new franchise drops the first branding and is simply known as transpennine express . contents 1 history 2 services 2.1 north transpennine 2.2 south transpennine 2.3 transpennine north west 3 performance 4 rolling stock 4.1 fleet 4.2 managed stations 5 references 6 external links history edit previous logo the transpennine express brand was launched in the early 1990s by british rail 5 and maintained by the privatised operator northern spirit and its successor arriva trains northern . 6 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 . 7 in july 2003 the transpennine express 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 . 8 the franchise was due to end on 31 january 2012 but in august 2011 the department for transport awarded first transpennine express an extension until march 2015 . 9 included was a clause to allow the 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 . 10 the continuation of the franchise was not certain . local transport authorities and consultancies proposed merging trans pennine services into other franchises to increase efficiency on the rail network . 11 the manchester airport to scotland service could be transferred to the intercity west coast franchise after the electrification of lines around manchester by 2018 . the south trans pennine route between manchester and cleethorpes could be transferred to east midlands trains who operate an hourly service on the manchester to sheffield section . 12 in june 2014 the dft confirmed two separate franchises in the north of england one providing intercity rail services and a second providing 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 . 13 in august 2014 the department for transport announced firstgroup keolis go ahead and stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the next franchise . 14 on 9 december 2015 firstgroup was awarded the franchise in its own right with transpennine express taking over on 1 april 2016 . 15 16 17 services edit north transpennine edit 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 central 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 . 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 edit 170303 at manchester piccadilly an hourly service operated from manchester airport to cleethorpes via manchester piccadilly stockport sheffield doncaster and scunthorpe . transpennine north west edit 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 trains 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 are still 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 . 18 north transpennine legend 2 50 newcastle central 2 36 chester le street 2 30 durham 2 13 darlington 2 38 middlesbrough 2 28 thornaby 2 14 yarm 1 58 northallerton 1 49 thirsk 2 18 scarborough 2 07 seamer 1 50 malton 1 23 york 1 54 hull 1 36 brough 1 30 gilberdyke 1 24 howden 1 18 selby 1 09 south milford 1 08 garforth 1 04 cross gates 0 57 leeds 0 40 dewsbury 0 30 huddersfield 0 13 stalybridge 0 00 manchester piccadilly 0 00 manchester victoria 0 14 manchester airport 0 02 manchester oxford road 0 08 irlam 0 16 birchwood 0 21 warrington central 0 27 widnes 0 38 liverpool south parkway 0 34 liverpool lime street times shown are best times from manchester piccadilly or manchester victoria . view talk edit v t e south transpennine legend 3 02 cleethorpes 2 49 grimsby town habrough 2 27 barnetby 2 12 scunthorpe althorpe crowle thorne south hatfield and stainforth kirk sandall 1 45 doncaster conisbrough mexborough swinton rotherham central 1 21 meadowhall 1 11 sheffield dore chinley 0 30 stockport 0 14 manchester piccadilly mauldeth road burnage east didsbury gatley heald green 0 00 manchester airport times shown are best times from manchester airport . v t e transpennine north west legend 3 26 edinburgh waverley st andrew square 3 20 haymarket 3 29 glasgow central st enoch 3 15 motherwell 3 06 carstairs 2 27 lockerbie 2 06 carlisle 1 51 penrith 2 22 windermere 2 16 staveley 2 11 burneside 2 08 kendal 1 28 oxenholme 2 20 barrow in furness 2 10 roose 2 04 dalton 1 55 ulverston 1 51 cark and cartmel 1 47 kents bank 1 42 grange over sands 1 37 arnside 1 33 silverdale 1 26 carnforth 1 14 lancaster 1 00 preston 0 43 wigan north western 0 19 manchester oxford road 0 16 manchester piccadilly 0 00 manchester airport times shown are best times from manchester airport . performance edit official performance figures released by network rail for period 7 of the financial year 2013 14 were down on the same period last year at 87.8 % ppm and maa up to 12 october 2013 stood at 90.5 % . 19 rolling stock edit first transpennine express inherited a fleet of two and three car class 158 express sprinter trains from arriva trains northern . it also operated class 175 coradias on hire from arriva trains wales . a franchise commitment was the replacement of the entire fleet so in 2005 first transpennine express ordered 56 later cut back by the strategic rail authority to 51 three car class 185 desiros the first of which entered service in march 2006 . most of the class 185s were delivered in firstgroup s neon blue livery . the i in the logo of keolis is used as the i in the transpennine express logo in addition to the first flying f logo . the first eight units were delivered in first s dark blue livery and later reliveried with neon blue vinyls . 350409 at patricroft the class 185 trains proved popular with off peak travellers although these satisfaction levels decrease for passengers undertaking long distance journeys and at peak times . 20 despite the 185s having a higher capacity than two car 158s 185s frequently leave passengers behind due to severe overcrowding at peak times . 21 transport for greater manchester stated in 2007 that projected passenger numbers would probably mean that 100 125 mph 161 201 km h 8 car units would be needed by 2014 . 22 185103 at castleton east junction it was planned to operate all services with the new class 185 desiros . however weight restrictions on the micklefield to hull line restrict the class 185s to 65 75 mph 105 121 km h . to solve this and create extra capacity first transpennine express leased eight class 170 turbostars from late 2006 that were surplus to south west trains requirements and in november 2007 a ninth was transferred from central trains . the class 185 desiros operate across the network the class 170 turbostars on services from manchester to cleethorpes hull and york . since may 2014 services between manchester and scotland have been operated by the class 350 4s electric multiple units . 23 this enabled the diesel trains currently in use on the manchester to scotland services to be transferred to other transpennine express services . 24 the manchester airport to blackpool route will also be electrified allowing further diesel trains to be cascaded on to other transpennine express services . however this will be after the end of the current transpennine express franchise . in february 2012 the department for transport announced that 10 four car electric class 350 desiros had been ordered to operate services from manchester to scotland via wigan after electrification . 25 26 it was confirmed that all the existing rolling stock would remain with the franchise to boost capacity . however in march 2014 it was announced that the nine class 170 turbostars would move to