Pacer trains have started to be retired from Northern Rail services and are heading for the scrap yards.

Originally designed as buses, the trains were meant to be a quick and temporary fix for a train shortage in the 1980’s.

However, the trains have lasted almost 40 years, doubled the intended life span.

The first 10 of the 102 Pacer trains on Northern Rail’s network have been retired from the railways, with 70 scheduled to be off the tracks by the end of the year, according to Northern Rail.

It will be take until the spring of 2020 for all the Pacers to be removed, with the 101 replacement trains gradually being introduce up until May of next year.

Having been originally designed by British Leyland as buses in the 1980s, a lack of trains and the lack of money to produce new ones, meant Leyland’s design was shifted from use on the road to use on the rail.

Speaking at Salford Cresent, Ellie said how she “commutes three times a week” and that she “pays a lot of money, £14 a day”.

“I think the biggest problem is how packed they are, the amount of people that get on the train. I don’t know why they don’t put more carriages on it”

Lewis, another regular commuter from Hazel Grove said that “on the way back the train is always delayed. A lot of delays are caused by a lack of train driver so maybe they should be looking at that.”

The intended life-span of the Pacers was meant to be around twenty years before being replaced, but they ended up surviving, in particular for more rural routes in the North West.

At last however, their time has come to be retired off the rails, with one being preserved in the National Railway Museum.

While the removal of the Pacer trains has been a big ask from many people for a while now, it does not satisfy all of Northern’s customers.

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