End for the Pacers?

摘要

The Coronavirus outbreak may well have brought the end of Pacer use with Northern Trains and potentially Great Western. Late March saw the few remaining Class 142s still in service with Northern, 142004/23/58/90, all removed from traffic as passenger numbers collapsed. With Department for Transport approvalforthem expiring on May 31, none are likely to see use again, with 142023 now stored at Neville Hill and 142004/58/90, along with 142078, at Blackburn King Street. Meanwhile, the entire Class 144 fleet was stood down at the beginning of April, a series of seven moves over just four days seeing 18 of the class stored at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. Now situated in and around Keighley station are 144001-07/09-14/16/17/19/20/22, while 144008/15/18/21/23 are stored at Heaton. Although the Class 144s have approval to be used until the end of August, passenger numbers are unlikely to recover in time to require them.