RAIL operator Northern is coming clean over its carriages.

The firm, which runs services on the Airedale line, has rolled out a new cleaning product which it says will leave its train interiors "clean enough to eat from".

Chemical-free Clean Zero will be used across Northern's fleet of 345 trains.

As part of the move, refill stations are also being installed to reduce single-use plastics.

Richard Holt, for Northern, says: "Customers rightly expect only the highest standards of cleanliness onboard our trains and we are confident that with this new product we'll be able to achieve this.

"Tests have shown it leaves surfaces with the ultra-clean rating which is needed for food preparation, so they are literally clean enough to eat from, and operating theatres.

"Because it is chemical-free it's also better for the environment, and we will be using refillable bottles across our network to cut down on single-use plastic."

Each year, the company's cleaning team carries out 695,000 carriage cleans and works its way through 32,759 microfibre cloths, 10,300 sponges, 1,724 litres of toilet cleaner and 2,265 litres of floor and surface cleaners. It also replenishes around 26 million pieces of toilet tissue and 778 litres of soap.