Northern is aiming to recruit 280 drivers and conductors across the North of England by the end of this year.

The new recruits are required to replace other Northern employees who retire, are promoted, or move on to other employment outside Northern. They will join teams responsible for running Northern’s more than 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations.

To apply for either role requires no previous railway experience, as full training will be provided at Northern’s academies in Leeds and Manchester.

Starting salaries for drivers are £23,000 a year, rising to £54,500 once fully qualified. Driver roles are based in Carlisle, Darlington, Hull, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton, and York,

The starting salary for conductors is £22,000 a year, rising to £29,000 once fully qualified, and is based in Carlisle, Doncaster, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton, and York.

With so many vacancies available, Northern wants to improve the male-female balance of its workforce by actively encouraging women to apply. It wants to ensure the company reflects the communities it serves by attracting more applicants from under-represented ethnicities.

Further information about working for Northern and details of how to register for recruitment alerts can be found online at www.northernrailway.co.uk/careers

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “These are fantastic roles for anyone passionate about helping connect people and places across the region.

“We’ll be recruiting throughout the year – so people should register for job alerts on our website.”

“The rail industry has made great strides in many areas of diversity in recent years – but there is still much to be done.

“Drivers and conductors represent a huge proportion of our workforce – if we can attract more people from a wider range of ethnicities and women into these roles, that’ll make a real difference.”

Central to Northern’s recruitment campaign is a plan to attract the best and brightest candidates from other industries who hadn’t previously considered working in the rail industry. Talking about some of the interesting career histories of those who were recruited last year, Williams said:

“Some of the people at the control of our trains today started their career in the prison service, as cabin crew, as social care workers, in a veterinary practice and at least one as a wedding planner! No-one should think either of these roles ‘isn’t for them’ – the railway has much to offer.”

Since December a new timetable has been in operation, and Northern is advising anyone who is used to making regular journeys at the same train times to use the new ‘Check My Timetable‘ feature on its website to check for any changes at their local station.