In 1983, British Rail was sectorised and the services operated by British Rail Provincial later becoming British Rail Regional Railways until privatisation in 1997. Since privatisation the services have been operated by private companies as a train operating company under fixed term franchises with Arriva Trains Northern from 1997 to 2004 and Northern from 2004 and now, with three extensions, until 31 March 2016 (the term has been extended three times, two years, six months and two years respectively) the latter extension being due to the rail franchising process being found to be legally fundamentally flawed.