THE benefits of having a new fleet of trains will be demonstrated to York MP Hugh Bayley today.

Mr Bayley was scheduled to visit York Station this morning to see how Northern Rail's new "sprinter" trains were improving the service.

The company, which is based in York, is replacing some of its old 142 fleet - known as "pacers" - with 30 class 158 "sprinter" trains to provide passengers with extra seats on routes across the north of England.

The trains began arriving in March of this year and so far Northern Rail has taken possession of 14 with the rest being phased in before December.

Mr Bayley said: "Northern Rail is investing in additional trains to improve services for passengers. It is important to ease the overcrowding on the busy commuter route to Leeds.

"Train travel reduces the number of cars on the roads, and helps to protect the environment. These new sprinter' trains are a great incentive to take the train."

Northern Rail said the new trains are more comfortable than the old models, and so provide a better quality of ride.

A spokeswoman for the company said: "These sprinter trains will help us to improve and strengthen our services across Yorkshire. There will be knock-on benefits across the North."

She said the new trains would be used on longer journeys, like the York to Blackpool route.

Each train has about 50 more seats than the 142 pacers and can travel at higher speeds on the track.

Mr Bayley will be shown how the new trains are improving Northern Rail's service to passengers at the state-of-the-art control centre at York Station, which is operated jointly by Northern Rail, GNER and the track and infrastructure company Network Rail.

The MP will then visit Northern Rail's headquarters at Northern House, in Rougier Street.

Northern Rail took over the franchise for Yorkshire and Humberside, the north west of England and the North East in 2004. It currently operates 2,500 services a day calling, at 529 stations.