A new rail service between Rochdale and London is being introduced to the benefit of BBC staff working at its northern outpost. Plans for a route terminating in Rochdale, nestled in the Pennine Hills 10 miles north of Manchester, will aid those travelling to the BBC’s Media City office in Salford. Rochdale, a former mill town of 110,000 people, last had its own rail connection to the capital a quarter of a century ago. Passengers from the area will benefit from a new three-hour service along the West Coast Main Line to London Euston, travelling at speeds of up to 125mph. FirstGroup, which is behind the proposal, said the service will support around 1.6 million people in the region. Operations are planned from 2027 under FirstGroup’s Lumo brand, requiring a fleet of around half a dozen new trains. Japan’s Hitachi is expected to be best-placed to secure the procurement contract, having supplied Lumo’s existing five-train fleet from its plant in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. The trains will operate under overhead wires as far as Manchester and be equipped with batteries to complete the last few miles on the unelectrified line to Rochdale. At the heart of the plan is the...