The firm bidding for MTL - the group which runs the Northern Spirit rail franchise - said today it will press ahead with plans to introduce new electric trains on its Airedale and Wharfedale lines.

A spokesman for Sunderland-based bus group Arriva, which is making a £34.7 million bid for transport group MTL, said today: "Arriva has no plans to change that order."

The £120 million investment plan will bring 16 new electric trains to the lines by the end of the year.

Management at Liverpool-based MTL, which mostly runs services in Merseyside towns, has agreed to the offer, with Arriva also taking on MTL'S £50 million of debt.

Now MTL bosses will be seeking the approval of their shareholders for the takeover.

Helen Kidman, chairman of the Wharfedale Rail Users' Group, said: "I do not know about the bid but I know that Arriva is another bus company. I cannot comment on Arriva because I do not know about their track record. They will have to go ahead with plans for new electric trains because the requirement is in the contract. The Shadow Strategic Rail Authority will insist on it if they say they do not want to do it."

A spokesman for MTL said the firm won the Northern Spirit franchise in 1997 and it ran out in 2004.

He said: "Profitability has been lower than expected due to higher labour costs, lower revenue and higher fuel costs.

"Northern Spirit was also looking for subsidies from the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority which it did not get."

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