Revealed – the monumental task of keeping Harrogate trains clean from chewing gum and the rest

A total of 695,000 “carriage cleans” are carried out by Harrogate's train operator North across the whole of the north each year.

As Harrogate rail passengers await the start of a new, expanded timetable in less than a fortnight’s time, Northern has revealed the monumental job of keeping the trains clean and tidy.

The rail operator, which runs services on the York-Harrogate-Leeds line, says it carries out 695,000 “carriage cleans” across the north each year – and replenishes 26 million pieces of toilet tissue.

The second largest train operator in the UK, Northern provides nearly 2,000 local and regional services every day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.

In total, more than 100 million passenger journeys are made on its network each year.

The epic task of keeping its fleet of 345 trains clean and tidy falls on the shoulders of 500 train presentation operatives.

Northern has this week released a video highlighting the scale of the job, revealing that its cleaning staff get through 32,759 microfibre cloths, 10,300 sponges, 1,724 litres of toilet cleaner and 2,265 litres of floor and surface cleaners.

Richard Holt, head of train presentation for Northern, said: “It’s a near-military operation to keep the fleet to the high standard we’ve set ourselves in the post-COVID world – and we take every opportunity to carry out cleaning duties throughout the day, between services and during the night."

But Northern said there were a couple of problems highlighted in the new video which were bigger than people might assume.

“Some of the cleaning we undertake is wholly understandable given the natural wear and tear of thousands of people using our trains every day,” said Mr Holt.

"But things like chewing gum on seats and an excess of litter are just two examples of avoidable issues my team has to face.

“I hope this video will make people realise the effort that goes in to keeping Northern’s trains clean and tidy – and think twice about leaving litter behind when they’ve finished their journey.”

Northern’s new timetable will come into effect on Sunday, December 11 – strikes permitting – when the reductions made to rail services on the York-Harrogate-Leeds line during the pandemic will be reversed.