Northern running new competition to see who can reach the most stations in a single day

A new competition will be held to see who can travel to the highest number of railway stations in the North of England in a single day.

Passengers can now apply here for a place in The Great Race Across the North, which will be held on Saturday, 25 July.

Ten people will be selected to take part and they can compete solo or bring a friend.

The prize for the winner is a fantastic night out for two people in Manchester, with a one-night stay at the luxurious Midland Hotel in Manchester, a rum tasting experience at Salford Distillery with meal at The Black Friar and tickets to The Cube. 

The competition is being held to mark the launch of the Northern Explorer ticket, which allows passengers to travel right across the North and make as many stops as they want for just £35 a day.

Each person selected to take part in the competition will be issued with a free Northern Explorer ticket before they set off from a station in Manchester at 10am on July 25.

They will then see who can reach the highest number of stations that day by travelling on Northern services, which run to more than 500 destinations.

At each station, the contestants will need to get off and take a photograph of themselves at the entrance, before catching the next Northern train.

Anyone who wants to take part should apply on Northern’s website. Those who are selected will be contacted via email.

It comes as the new Northern Explorer day ticket goes on sale today. It provides passengers with the ultimate flexibility, allowing them to travel across the North of England on Northern-operated services.

As well as buying tickets individually, customers can also save money by buying Northern Explorer tickets for up to four people and up to four days. 

The fare can be bought from ticket vending machines, at station ticket offices and online up to 12 weeks in advance.

It replaces a number of Ranger and Rover fares, which were valid on different parts of the Northern network, and is designed to be more convenient and straight forward. 

Alex Hornby, Commercial and Customer Director at Northern, said: “The new Northern Explorer ticket is part of our continuing strategy to provide simpler, better value ticketing for customers.

"We have worked hard to make it as simple as possible and to reduce the barriers to travel – one ticket, one price, and access to our whole railway.

"While we think the ticket will be ideal for leisure days out, we’re just as excited to see who can use it to make it to the most stations in a day by travelling on our trains.

“Our customers will be spoilt for choice as they can reach everything the North has to offer by train.

“They can go up to Northumberland National Park or down to the Peak District, visit Blackpool on the west coast or Scarborough on the east coast – and all of the destinations in between.”

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,650 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.