Northern has released before and after images that illustrate the changes that have taken place during the £350,000 refurbishment of its depot at Neville Hill in Leeds.

The transformation took just 14 weeks, during which an old laundry room was converted into a new and modern production office, a new communication and briefing area with state-of-the-art interactive screens was created, and the lighting was upgraded.

The facility has also been given a deep clean and repainted.

Neville Hill is responsible for servicing 34 trains from nine different fleets. Each day, Northern‘s team of engineers and support staff carry out more than 500 safety and service-critical tasks that enable the trains to operate 260 direct and 825 indirect passenger services.

Northern took over as the sole operator of the depot in 2021.

Since then, it has completed a total clean-up, of the site, reorganised its maintenance teams for a more efficient way of working, improved the depot’s security, refurbished facilities for staff, and installed illuminated walkways to improve the safety of staff wile they are moving about the depot..

The team from Neville Hill also have an ongoing programme of visits to other depots throughout the country to share their experiences with other operators’ TrainCare Centres.

Andrew Marden, TrainCare Centre manager at Neville Hill, said: “I’d like to thank everyone involved in this project, the end result is absolutely fantastic. These changes will mean we can carry on our work to provide the best possible service for our customers.

“A successful Neville Hill benefits not only our customers but the local community too.

“While customers will benefit from better maintained and more reliable trains; the local community will have access to employment opportunities supported by training and apprenticeships.”