More than 40,000 people applied to work at Northern last year

And with 436 jobs advertised, that means there were an average of 94 applicants for each role across the whole of 2020.

More than 6,000 people now work for Northern with the promise of more jobs in the future as the operator continues to be a key contributor to the region’s economy.

In the past year Northern has employed more drivers and conductors and, crucially in a year impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, bolstered its cleaning teams with additional jobs created to help keep customers safe and trains and stations looking their best.

Tricia Williams, Chief Operating Officer at Northern said: “Its great to see that so many people want to work for Northern and want to help us achieve our goal of making a positive impact for the north of England.

“We’ve recruited to more than 400 posts in the past year and whether the roles have been based on the frontline, in engineering, in our control rooms or in one of many support functions they all have the same aim – to put customers at the heart of our business and to deliver the best possible rail service.

“We are extremely proud of our people and, at the end of 2020, celebrated some of the outstanding contributions they made during a very challenging year thanks to our Proud to be Northern awards.”

The coming year promises to bring even more job opportunities with Northern and the search has already begun to find talented people to join the rail industry

Brian Currie, People Director at Northern, added: “We specifically want to reach out to those who may not have previously considered a career in the rail industry before.

“We are keen to deliver a diverse workforce that represents the communities we serve and want to attract more black, ethnic minority, female and younger people to rail.

“Our message to prospective employees is that, whoever they are and whatever their background, they can trust that Northern is a great place to work and a great place to forge a career.”