TROUBLE-HIT Arriva last night unveiled its £275m vision aimed at restoring passenger confidence in the region's second biggest rail franchise.

The transport company delivered final details of its bid to transform the Transpennine Express route, which links the North-East with Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.

Plans include 55 new high speed trains to be introduced by May 2006, and the creation of 250 jobs.

Reduced journey times, increased capacity on board trains and a series of station improvements are also prom-ised.

Its subsidiary, Arriva Trains Northern (ATN), currently holds the reins to the franchise, but this runs out in February.

ATN has endured a miserable 12 months during which it was forced to slash its timetable after being hit by a driver shortage.

It was fined £2m by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) for poor performance, which threatened to strip the franchise away.

The new franchise will run for eight years and is being contested by Arriva, a consortium of First Group and French partner Keolis, and the third bidder, Connex.

Both First Group and Connex already operate separate franchises in other parts of the country.

They are also promising multi-million pound investment in new trains and a reduction in journey times.

Arriva says it plans to spend £15m on new facilities at train stations along the Transpennine route, including investment in car parking and new rapid issue ticket machines.

A new customer service centre is also being created to enable customers to contact the company 24 hours a day, and more trains to and from Manchester Airport are promised.

Bob Davies, chief executive of Arriva, said: "Our bid represents outstanding value for money and will deliver safe and efficient inter-city services across the North of England."

The battle for the Transpennine Express franchise is seen as key to attracting new economic development to the North-East and relieving congestion on major arterial roads.

But it has proved a stop-start affair with all three competitors being asked to submit revised bids to the SRA following a request from Transport Secretary Stephen Byers.

Government plans for a review of rail franchises, changes within leadership at the SRA, and the disintegration of Railtrack have also added to the delays.

The SRA will now consider the bids over the next few months, following yesterday's deadline, and will make a recommendation to Mr Byers before a decision on the winner is announced later in the year.

* Six companies including Arriva are in the running for a new northern rail franchise which will combine local rail routes from both sides of the Pennines.