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Pacer trains enter their fifth decade January 1, 2020

A Pacer train at Berry Brow station in West Yorkshire on New Year's Day 2020Built in Britain in the 1980s from the body parts of buses, Pacer trains should have at last been retired by the end of 2019, particularly as they do not meet disability regulations which have been around for years.

One of the new trains in operationInstead the Government has given a dispensation for them to carry on running until the end of August 2020 as operator Northern still awaits delayed delivery of around half of a fleet of 101 new trains from Spanish train-builder CAF.

Lines in Yorkshire will be the last to see the Pacer trains, the newest of which date from 1987.

A Sprinter train built in York in 1987The brand-new trains will not be directly replacing Pacer services as other equally old trains have been moved North to join the existing fleet, given a new coat of paint and internal refurbishments and are being cascaded down on to the Pacer lines. These include Sprinter units which were being built in York between 1984 and 1987, the same time the Pacers were being built in Derby.

Who operates rail services in Yorkshire? See our Rail travel page.

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