It's a shame, they are good trains in many ways. Cheap and easy to maintain and the ride is on par with Sprinters on welded mainline rail. They ended up with a bad reputation because of their poor performance on jointed rail branch line track. It's also a waste to withdraw perfectly functional rolling stock because it lacks a disabled toilet. I think we'll see the Class 143s at least stick around for 5 years or so. It's madness to scrap serviceable trains when pretty much every TOC in the UK is short of rolling stock.
Part of the franchise agreement states Northern aren't allowed to pay additional leasing costs, doesn't make sense but that's privatisation for you.
As usual the government are running the supposedly privatised railway. Rail privatisation in the UK is just British Rail with even more bureaucracy! I never understood this requirement for every single train to have a disabled toilet, especially a Pacer, which is generally used for local services. We don't insist on every bus having a toilet, let alone a disabled one, so why does a Pacer operating a Cardiff to Penarth service need one? The daft thing is that if the Pacers didn't have any toilet at all, they'd be permitted to remain in service, with minor mods to add PIS, lower door controls and compliant handrails. But apparently it's preferencial to exacerbate the rollingstock shortage by having no trains at all, rather than having a handful without disabled toilets. I expect the Class 143s will get the toilets ripped out and put back into service when someone realises we actually need more trains not fewer trains.
But all that is common sense and that's not allowed on modern British railways! *from what I've heard they'll be allowed to continue in service past the original deadline only if they have the toilets locked out of use and are permanently coupled to class 15x units*
I know I'm months late since they're all gone now, but they still had a 142 coupled to a 150 running from Wigan North Western to Alderly Edge, and occasionally from Wallgate to Southport/Kirkby a few months back, way past when they said they were getting rid of them. I could be wrong but I think that specific 142 was the last ever one they took out of service because I've been to Manchester a few times and they had all gone when I went. Last one I saw in service around Manchester was either the Victoria to Blackburn via Rochdale one, or the Oxford Road to Wigan one. But yes, it is a shame they got rid of them. There's nothing quite as satisfying as hearing the racket of a 142 depart from a platform lol.
