East Midlands Railway

**East Midlands Railway** (**EMR**) is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise.

## History

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. Abellio was added in February 2018.

FirstGroup and Trenitalia pulled out of the bidding process in April 2018 to focus on the West Coast Partnership franchise. 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.

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:

* 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

## Services

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. The Barton line was expected to transfer from Northern in 2019, but this has been delayed.

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

* 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

### 2020 Coronavirus outbreak

As part of the British response to the COVID-19 pandemic, East Midlands Railway reduced its services to protect its staff and discourage non-essential travel. As of 18 May 2020, emergency schedules are as follows:

* Intercity
	+ 1tph from St Pancras to Sheffield - calling at Leicester, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Long Eaton, Derby, and Chesterfield
	+ 1tph from St Pancras to Nottingham, calling at Luton Airport Parkway, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, and Beeston
	+ 1tph shuttle between Kettering and Corby
* Regional
	+ 1tph from Liverpool Lime Street to Nottingham, with one train per two hours extended to Norwich
	+ 1tph from Derby to Crewe via Stoke-on-Trent, excepting the cancellation of every third service
	+ 1tph from Nottingham to Worksop
	+ 1tph from Lincoln to Leicester
	+ 5tpd from Peterborough to Lincoln via Sleaford, with reduced operating hours
	+ 4tpd from Doncaster to Lincoln, with no Sunday services
	+ 1tp2h from Nottingham to Skegness via Grantham, with reduced operating hours
	+ 1tp2h from Matlock to Newark Castle via Nottingham, with reduced operating hours and no service beyond Nottingham on Sundays
	+ 1tp2h from Newark Northgate to Grimsby Town (3tpd from Newark Northgate to Cleethorpes on Sundays), with reduced operating hours

## Rolling stock

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.

### More fleet

Existing stock to be added will comprise of 21 Class 360s from Greater Anglia, 28 Class 170s (5 from ScotRail and 23 from West Midlands Trains), 12 Class 171s from Southern (which will be converted back to Class 170s) and 4 Class 180s from Hull Trains 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. The latter will then work on other InterCity Routes.

3x 6-carriage HSTs are to be retained until December 2020.

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

## Depots

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.

## See also

* Avanti West Coast
* Great Western Railway
* Hull Trains
* London North Eastern Railway
* Transpennine Express