A RAIL operator running services through Huddersfield has had its franchise extended for a further three years.

First TransPennine Express, which runs trains linking Huddersfield with northern cities including Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and Hull, was due to see its eight-year franchise end on January 31, 2012.

Now the Department for Transport has extended it for a further three years and two months until April 1, 2015.

FTPE managing director Vernon Barker said the decision was good news for the company and its staff.

“This agreement to extend the length of the franchise provides certainty for our plans to continue to improve services for our passengers and reassurance to our staff that the franchise will continue in its current form for an extended period,” he said. “We welcome this opportunity to continue to serve more passengers, to provide an improving quality of service.”

FTPE carries 24m passengers a year, employs 1,000 staff and runs more than 280 train services a day between many of the main towns and cities of the North of England and to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The DfT has also announced that the East Coast line, currently being run in the public sector, will have no new, private-sector franchisee until December, 2013.

When the DfT took over the East Coast from National Express transport company in 2009, it was hoped to have the London to Scotland line back in private ownership by this year.

In recent years, the East Coast has consistently been the poorest-performing train company in terms of punctuality, although many of the major delays have been outside the control of the company.