The new franchise starts in the autumn
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A joint bid by companies with interests ranging from Australian railways to Copenhagan's metro system has won the new Northern Rail franchise.
The venture by Serco Group and Dutch company NedRailways BV has been picked ahead of First Group by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).
The franchise covers services including
those to Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sheffield.
The service starts in the autumn and will run until 2013.
The new franchise includes the old North Western area which First Group used to run and includes 475 stations and 4,000 staff.
The SRA says it will keep a careful eye on the performance of the new franchise, and its final two years will depend on it reaching targets.
The Serco-NedRailways partnership also runs the Merseyrail franchise.
First operates a number of franchises including Great Eastern, Great Western and the New TransPennine franchise.
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