The Department for Transport has announced a new competition that will see the Class 142/143/144 pacers transformed into new places.
Rail Minister Andrew Jones announced that a call for ideas will be launched on how the Pacer could be renovated to continue to serve communities. An old Pacer could be transformed into a community space, a café or even a new village hall.
This summer, rail industry partners will launch a competition offering community groups the opportunity to put forward their plans to convert a Pacer into a new public space.
The Pacer is to be donated by rolling stock company Porterbrook.
Offering more comfortable seats and improved accessibility more than 100 new trains will be rolled out by Northern and TransPennine Express from this year.
As part of a significant investment by both government, Network Rail and train operators as part of the Great North Rail Project to transform the national rail network, delivering more than 4,500 new carriages to UK passengers.
Making the north one of the best-connected regions in the UK is at the heart of the government’s ambition for a thriving Northern Powerhouse.
An investment by the Department for Transport of £13 billion through to 2020 to renew transport across the region. It is focused on supercharging transport connections for years through their support for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
The government will also be investing around £3 billion further in 2019 and 2024. This is to upgrade the Transpennine route between Manchester, Leeds and York in order to deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys with a higher quantity of seats.
The recent release and launch of a new timetable which has seen around 1,000 extra services a week across the country. The timetable was released on Sunday 19 May 2019.
What did the officials say?
Rail Minister Andrew Jones said:
The Pacers have been the workhorses of the north’s rail network, connecting communities for more than 30 years, but it is clear that they have outstayed their welcome.
That is why they are being phased out completely to make way for new or fully-refurbished trains, improving journeys and creating space for 40,000 more passengers
Through this competition we can ensure that the Pacer can be transformed to serve a community near where it carried passengers in an entirely different way. What we need now are creative and exciting proposals from the public, alongside ideas from businesses keen to support this competition, as we say goodbye to Pacers on our railway.
Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry MP said:
Making the north one of the best connected regions in the UK is at the heart of our ambition for a thriving Northern Powerhouse. Replacing Pacers with a brand new fleet of trains is not just great news for passengers, it now provides this exciting opportunity for our grassroots community groups across the north to bring people together through this competition.
I travelled to school on a Pacer train and I look forward to getting on board again to see how these old carriages will continue to provide a valuable service for many years to come.
Senior sponsor at Network Rail, Andrew Morgan, said:
As part of the Great North Rail Project, we have lengthened platforms, remodelled track and altered Victorian structures across the north. These upgrades have paved the way for new and refurbished longer trains, allowing the pacer train to be phased out.
Managing Director of Arriva Rail North, David Brown, said:
Northern is introducing 101 new trains worth £500 million, the first of these new trains will be carrying customers this summer, and at the same time we will start to retire the Pacer trains. Using a Pacer as a valued community space is a very fitting way to commemorate the service they have provided since they entered service a generation ago.
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They should be located in regional areas as temporary offices to enable key decision-makers at the DfT to get out and see how the real railway actually works (or does not) . Railway colleagues tell me that their lack of adhesion in poor rail conditions gained the Pacers the soubriquet of ‘Torvil & Deans…’ they would skate anywhere!
What about converting Class 142, Class 143 & Class 144 Pacers into school classrooms, training rooms, rest rooms, garden sheds, children’s playroom all these things that could be used instead of send the Class 142, Class 143 and Class 144 Pacers to face the scrapyard. And possible use them on charter lines or used at heritage railways in England and Wales.