Who We Are

Free travel on Northern services

Everyone who works at Northern, plus their partners/spouses and dependents, can travel for free right across our full network of services (subject to eligibility criteria).

Added travel discounts

Northern’s generous travel package includes significantly discounted travel on many other UK and European rail services, and special offers for friends and wider family.

Training and career development

Comprehensive training is offered based on your individual needs, along with a range of online learning courses available through our learning management system and continuous learning that leads to gaining recognised qualifications.  

Generous holiday entitlement

We guarantee incredibly generous holiday entitlement. The amount varies from role to role, so please ask your recruiter for the details.

Defined benefit pension scheme

Northern’s contributory, defined benefit pension scheme is exceptional, with a generous top-up of 1.5 times your contribution.

Maternity and paternity benefits

At Northern, we understand the importance of family life, so we offer additional maternity and paternity pay and leave. We offer nine months of maternity and two weeks of paternity leave, both on full pay.

Uniformed roles

We provide everyone in customer-facing roles with a practical, liveried uniform, so they can proudly represent the face of Northern.

Cycling to work

If you sign up to Northern’s cycle to work scheme, you’ll be able to save up to 42% on the cost of a bike, while also spreading the cost throughout the year. (Did you know you don’t actually need a car driving license to become a train driver?!)

Recognition programmes

A range of Recognition Programmes show how much we appreciate our people. These include Continuous Service and Proud to be Northern Awards events, which celebrate loyalty and exceptional customer service.

Employee support

Our Employee Assistance Programme provides 24-hour advice, support and information, 365 days a year, and offers access to extensive counselling services.

Northern perks 

Northern Perks offers loads of exclusive benefits for everyone who works at Northern, including retail discounts, instant vouchers, cashback, wellbeing support and much more.

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• We have over 7,000 employees providing more than 2,500 services every day, making us the largest train operator outside London, and the second largest in the UK.
• 100 million passengers travel with us each year.
• We serve a network of 15 million people.
• Our trains call at nearly 550 stations (that’s approximately 20% of all UK stations!) and we manage 477 of those.
• There are 345 trains in our fleet.

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We strive to make a positive contribution to the economic, social and environmental vitality of local areas, as well as focusing on employability. We work in various ways to support the communities we serve, ranging from sustainable development projects to smaller, local activities that respond to local needs.

We have a wide variety of outreach activities, from helping young people take part in positive social action, to increasing awareness of training and career opportunities across our industry. 

We know that women, especially those from ethnic minorities, are still under-represented in the rail industry, so a key focus involves working with local education groups to help all young people discover the huge range of careers that are open to them.

We have developed our Early Careers Programmes in partnership with community groups which offer excellent apprenticeships and ‘Year in Industry’ opportunities giving young people the chance to create and deliver their own community projects and develop valuable transferable skills.

Northern’s Communities Team works with schools, colleges and higher education providers to bring our employment opportunities into classrooms, so young people get exposure to the huge range of career opportunities in our industry. The team also works with various departments across Northern to welcome students and educators into the workplace, helping them understand the scale and complexity of the business. 

A key focus of our outreach work with young people is sharing the new direction the rail industry is taking, as it modernises and embraces the digital age.  The rapid pace of change makes it even more vital that we engage with a dynamic future workforce, which reflects all the communities we serve in the North.

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