Northern operate as far as Lancaster, and reappear at Carlisle along with Scottish railways but these are mainly providing local services. With the exception of the Caledonian Sleepers that run through the night, the only long distance TOC are First Trans Pennine running the Manchester Airport to either Glasgow or Edinburgh, or Virgin Trains Euston to Glasgow or Edinburgh. (I know there are a few variation particularly early in a morning i.e. some VT start at Crewe or Birmingham and one FTP starts at Manchester Victoria) but effectively there are just the two day time TOC's serving the same destinations.
On the Northern part of the ECML however things are quite different. Obviously depending on just what station you choose as an example things vary, but Northallerton for instance has VTEC, Grand Central, Cross Country, First Transpennine, and I have just read that Arriva are trying to revive the GNER name to operate a limited stop London to Scotland train service. Not only that but the choice of destinations are vast.
I was just wondering therefore why new services or operators don't seem to come up as much on the northern WCML?
On the Northern part of the ECML however things are quite different. Obviously depending on just what station you choose as an example things vary, but Northallerton for instance has VTEC, Grand Central, Cross Country, First Transpennine, and I have just read that Arriva are trying to revive the GNER name to operate a limited stop London to Scotland train service. Not only that but the choice of destinations are vast.
I was just wondering therefore why new services or operators don't seem to come up as much on the northern WCML?