THE Northern franchise operated by Arriva Trains North passed back into public ownership in the small hours of Sunday morning.The franchise is now being run by the Operator of Last Resort, which is a subsidiary of the Department for Transport.Northern has been terminated after a long period of poor performance and fierce public debate, including protests from city Mayors in Northern's large territory, which stretches from Liverpool in the west to Hull in the east. It includes other large cities, including Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and Sheffield, and its trains run on a complex network of local lines. Here is a link to a comprehensive article in Railnews. The main message is "no quick fix". Let's hope that some fix will appear in the short term.