Northern is looking to recruit 280 drivers and conductors based in stations in Leeds, York, Sheffield, Doncaster and Huddersfield and ‘no previous rail experience’ needed for the roles

These new roles will be chosen across the North of England and applications will be taken in this year.

New recruits will join the team responsible for running Northern’s more than 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations and they are being recruited as part of a natural replenishment of the workforce as other employees retire, are promoted, or move on to the next stage of their career outside Northern.

Both roles of drivers and conductors do not need previous rail experience, with full training at Northern’s academies in Leeds and Manchester provided.

The driver roles, based in Carlisle, Darlington, Hull, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton and York, come with a starting salary of £23,000 a year, rising to £54,000 once fully qualified.

Conductor roles are based in Carlisle, Doncaster, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Sheffield, Skipton and York, with salaries starting at £22,000, rising to £29,000 once fully qualified.

You can find out more about the recruitment process and how to apply on the Northern website.

Chief operating officer at Northern, Tricia Williams, 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.”

With a large network of employees to be recruited, Northern is actively encouraging women to apply as part of a push to improve the male-female balance of its workforce. The company is also seeking to attract more applicants from under-represented ethnicities to ensure they reflect communities Northern services.

“The rail industry has made great strides in many areas of diversity in recent years - but there is still much to be done,” Ms Williams said.

“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 sectors who hadn’t previously considered the rail industry.

Citing some of the interesting career histories of its 2021/2022 intake, Ms 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.”

Northern is now operating a new timetable. All customers, especially those who have made regular journeys on the same train times, are advised to use the new ‘Check My Timetable’ feature on the website to see changes specific to their location station.