East Midlands Railway

In March 2017, the Department for Transport announced Arriva, a joint venture between FirstGroup and Trenitalia, and incumbent Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the next East Midlands franchise.[1] Abellio was added in February 2018.[2]

FirstGroup and Trenitalia pulled out of the bidding process in April 2018 to focus on the West Coast Partnership franchise.[3] In April 2019 the franchise was awarded to Abellio, with East Midlands Railway (EMR) to take over the franchise from East Midlands Trains (EMT) on 18 August 2019 for a period of eight years.[4]

In June 2019, Abellio revealed branding and colour scheme using distinct purple and white colours to reflect the heritage of the East Midlands. It also confirmed it would divide the services into three segments:[5]

• EMR Intercity for long-distance services from London St Pancras
• EMR Regional for local services
• EMR Electrics for the London St Pancras to Corby service

EMR operates intercity services from London St Pancras along the Midland Main Line to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield with limited extensions to Lincoln, Leeds, York and Scarborough. EMR also operate the local East Midlands services and inter regional services to Liverpool and Norwich (Express service). Services from Nottingham to Liverpool Lime Street will transfer to another operator during the life of the franchise.[6] The Barton line was expected to transfer from Northern in 2019, but this has been delayed.[7]

Over the course of the franchise, several planned timetable changes are to be made:[6]

• Earlier and later trains between Sheffield and Nottingham to East Midlands Parkway
• Earlier and later trains between Sheffield and London St Pancras and more regular evening service to London St Pancras
• 2 trains per hour between Nottingham and Kettering
• 2 trains per hour between Corby and London St Pancras
• Regular Sunday service between Corby and London St Pancras
• Liverpool to Nottingham transferred to another operator
• Norwich to Nottingham extended to Derby
• Regular hourly Sunday service between Norwich and Derby
• Crewe to Derby service extended to Nottingham and hourly service on Sundays
• Hourly Sunday service between Matlock and Nottingham
• Hourly service between Nottingham and Grimsby Town with limited extension to Cleethorpes
• Hourly Sunday service between Lincoln and Grimsby Town
• Hourly service between Nottingham and Newark Castle
• Hourly Sunday service between Worksop and Nottingham and later evening services on weekdays
• Additional peak services between Nottingham and Grantham
• Earlier and later trains between Nottingham and Boston
• Later evening service on weekdays and a new Sunday service
• Hourly through service between Doncaster and Peterborough via Lincoln
• New Sunday service between Doncaster and Lincoln
• Enhanced Sunday service on Barton to Cleethorpes route
• 2 trains per day between Lincoln and London St Pancras
• Newark Northgate to Grimsby Town service cut back to Lincoln except to for the limited extension to Cleethorpes and timed to run with LNER's London Kings Cross - Lincoln service

East Midlands Railway inherited a fleet of InterCity 125s, Class 153, Class 156, Class 158, and Class 222s from East Midlands Trains. Nine 8-carriage InterCity 125 sets have also been transferred from London North Eastern Railway, with the first set having entered service on 4 May 2020.[9][10]

Current fleet

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top Speed		Number	Cars	Routes Operated and Notes:	Built
				mph	km/h
Shunting locomotive
	08[11]		Shunter	15	24	4	N/A	Stock movements	1952–62
EMR Intercity
InterCity 125	43		Loco	125	200	18	6 or 8	Inter-City Midland Main Line Nottingham – Skegness (Summer Saturdays only)	1976–82
						6
						23[12]
	Mark 3		Coach			136			1975–88
						78
Bombardier Voyager	222 Meridian		DEMU	125	200	4	4	Inter-City Midland Main Line	2003–05
						17	5
						6	7
EMR Regional
Sprinter	153 Super Sprinter		DMU	75	120	3	1	Regional routes	1987–88
	156 Super Sprinter					24	2	Regional routes	1987–89
	158/0 Express Sprinter			90	145	26	2	Regional routes	1989–92

Future fleet

Existing stock to be added will consist of 21 Class 360s from Greater Anglia, 28 Class 170s (5 from Abellio ScotRail and 23 from West Midlands Trains[13]), 12 Class 171s from Southern (which will be converted back to Class 170s) and 4 Class 180s from Hull Trains,[14][15] those altogether will enable the High Speed Trains, Class 153, Class 156 and Class 158 sets to be withdrawn although some of the gaps will be filled in when Liverpool-Nottingham service is taken over by another operator. The Class 360 will be introduced as a result of the electrification of the Midland Main Line from Bedford to Corby and will displace Class 222 from London-Corby services. The latter will then work on other InterCity Routes where they will replace the HSTs, working alongside the Class 180s.[16][17]

3x 6-carriage HSTs are to be retained until December 2020, when they will be replaced by Class 180s.[18]

33x 5-carriage Class 810 bi-mode trains will be introduced by 2022.,[19][20][21] these will enable the High Speed Trains, Class 180 and Class 222 to be withdrawn.

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top Speed		Number	Cars	Routes Operated	In Service
				mph	km/h
EMR Intercity
Alstom Coradia	180 Adelante		DMU	125	200	4	5	Inter-City Midland Main Line	2020
Hitachi AT300	810		BMU	125	200	33[22]			2022
EMR Electrics
Siemens Desiro	360		EMU	110	180	21	4	London St Pancras – Corby	2020
EMR Regional
Bombardier Turbostar	170		DMU	100	160	23[23]	2	Regional routes	2020–21
						5	3	Regional routes
						4	2	Regional routes To be converted from ex-Southern Class 171s	2022[24]
						8	3

Past fleet

As of January 2020, 18 Class 153s have been withdrawn from EMR's regional fleet, 4 were transferred to Transport for Wales, whilst the remaining 14 units went into storage. These have been replaced by 9 Class 156s transferred from Greater Anglia, providing an equivalent number of coaches. 10 of the 14 Class 153s that have gone into storage will move to Northern Trains to replace 8 Class 153s there. As of June 2020, 6 Class 43s have gone into storage after being replaced by the ex-LNER Class 43s.

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top Speed		Number	Cars	Transferred to	Withdrawn
				mph	km/h
InterCity 125	43		Loco	125	200	6	N/A	Storage	2020
Sprinter	153 Super Sprinter		DMU	75	120	18	1	Transport for Wales (4) Storage/Northern Trains (14)	2019- 2020

Train crew depots are located at:

• London – London route drivers, Train Managers, Customer Hosts and revenue protection officers
• Leicester – Revenue Protection Officers
• Derby – London and Local route Drivers, Train Managers, Senior Conductors, Crew Leaders, Chefs, Customer Hosts and Revenue Protection Officers
• Nottingham – Local route Drivers (although 12 Drivers trained on HSTs for Summer Skegness and Charter trains), Train Managers, Senior Conductors, Customer Hosts and Revenue Protection Officers
• Sheffield – Train Managers, Crew Leaders, Chefs, Customer Hosts and Revenue Protection Officers
• Boston – Local route Drivers and Senior Conductors
• Lincoln Central – Local route Drivers and Senior Conductors
• Norwich – Local route Drivers and Senior Conductors

Trains are maintained at:

• London, Cricklewood (fueling and cleaning of HST & 222)
• Derby Etches Park (heavy maintenance of 222, 153, 156 & 158, light maintenance of HST)
• Nottingham Eastcroft (light maintenance of 153, 156 & 158)
• Boston (cleaning of 153, 156 & 158)
• Arriva TrainCare, Crewe (light maintenance of 153, 156 & 158)
• Leeds, Neville Hill (heavy maintenance of HST)
• Crown Point (light maintenance of 158)

Shunter drivers are employed by EMR at Derby, Nottingham and Leeds.

On-train catering for standard-class passengers on routes 1 and 2 was, as of September 2010, contracted out to RG (Previously known as Rail Gourmet), which has depots at London St Pancras, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield.

Although all stations are owned by Network Rail, their day-to-day management is handled by train operating companies. EMR manages the following stations: Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby, Market Harborough, Leicester, Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Stamford, South Wigston, Narborough, Hinckley, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Long Eaton, Derby, Peartree, Uttoxeter, Kidsgrove, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Beeston, Nottingham, Alfreton, Sleaford, Boston and Skegness. They also have staff at St Pancras International, although the station itself is managed by Network Rail.

• Official website

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