Northern Trains publishes tender for 323s refurb

Northern Trains has put out a tender to refurbish its fleet of 17 (51 vehicles) class 323 trainsets, which it has taken from West Midlands Railway.

Northern currently has 34 323s operating across its network however some have remained in West Midlands Railways branding inside the carriages since they transferred over to Northern in 2023.

The tender specifies that the work will be carried out at Northern’s Manchester International Depot and estimates that work will commence in September, with April 2026 the current deadline for completing. It also asks for prospective bidders to provide options for an additional two trainsets which Northern is looking to bring onto lease to cover any “timetable requirements whilst various other fleets are being taken out of service for repair works outside of the scope of this tender.”

The unit numbers which are being refurbished are 202, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 212, 213, 217, 218, 219, 220, 241, 242.

A Northern spokesman said: “We are planning to refurbish a number of Class 323 units before using them to run services for our customers.

“We are looking to hire a company to repaint the inside of the carriages, replace the seat covers and lay new flooring.”