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.[2] Abellio was added in February 2018.[3]

FirstGroup and Trenitalia pulled out of the bidding process in April 2018 to focus on the West Coast Partnership franchise.[4] 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.[5]

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:[6]

• EMR Intercity for long-distance services from London St Pancras
• EMR Regional for services across the East Midlands
• EMR Electrics for the outer suburban London St Pancras to Corby service

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic leading to a collapse in revenues, in March 2020 the franchise was suspended and replaced by an Emergency Measure Agreement for six months under which the Department for Transport assumed responsibility for all revenues and costs and EMR was paid a management fee.[7] This was superseded by an Emergency Recovery Measures Agreement under which the original franchise agreement was terminated. The franchise will operate until March 2022.[8][9]

EMR operates commuter services from London St Pancras to Corby, as well as intercity services from London St Pancras along the Midland Main Line to Nottingham and Sheffield with limited extensions to Lincoln, Leeds and York. 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 were to transfer to another operator during the life of the franchise,[10] although following a review by the DfT, this will no longer take place; the service instead being split at Nottingham as intended but remaining with EMR.[11] The Barton line was expected to transfer from Northern in 2019, but this has been delayed.[12]

Over the course of the franchise, several planned timetable changes are to be made:[10]

• 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 Norwich split at Nottingham
• 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 28 Class 43s, 21 Class 153s, 15 Class 156s, 26 Class 158s, and 27 Class 222s from East Midlands Trains. In January 2020 nine additional Class 156 units from Greater Anglia were introduced into service. This allowed 18 Class 153 units to be withdrawn from service. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic four Class 153 units were brought back into service to help with social distancing. 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. To replace the ex-Grand Central “buffered” HST sets, EMR commenced a lease of the 4 former Hull Trains Class 180 fleet despite their history of technical difficulties, with the first units entering service on 13 December 2020.[13][14]

By the end of 2022 East Midlands Railway plans to run EMR Intercity services using 33 new bi-mode Class 810s, EMR Electric services using 21 refurbished Class 360s, and EMR Regional services using 40 Class 170s. East Midlands Railway will become the largest operator of Class 170s. The new and refurbished trains will provide:[15]

• a more reliable service
• improved comfort
• passenger information system displays
• free on-board Wi-Fi
• at-seat power sockets
• USB points
• air conditioning
• tables at all seats
• increased luggage space

Current fleet

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top Speed		Number	Cars	Routes Operated and Notes:	Built
				mph	km/h
Shunting locomotive
	08[16]		Shunter	15	24	4	N/A	Stock movements	1952–62
EMR Intercity
InterCity 125	43		Loco	125	200	18	8	Inter-City Midland Main Line Nottingham – Skegness (Summer Saturdays only)	1975-82
	Mark 3		Coach			78			1975-88
Bombardier Voyager	222 Meridian		DEMU	125	200	4	4	Inter-City Midland Main Line	2003-05
						17	5
						6	7
Alstom Coradia	180 Adelante		DMU	125	200	4	5	Inter-City Midland Main Line	2000-2001
EMR Regional
Sprinter	153 Super Sprinter		DMU	75	120	6	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
Bombardier Turbostar	170		DMU	100	161	5	3	Regional routes	1999-2001

Future fleet

Originally nine former LNER High Speed Train sets were to replace a similar number of sets inherited from East Midlands Trains. However after the carriages were found to require more repairs than originally envisaged, this was cut back to five sets.[17]

Other existing stock to be added will consist of 21 Class 360s from Greater Anglia, 23 Class 170s from West Midlands Trains[18] and 12 Class 171s from Southern (which will be converted back to Class 170s).[19][20] Those altogether will enable the High Speed Trains, Class 153, Class 156 and Class 158 sets to be withdrawn, although some of the gaps were to be filled in when the Liverpool-Nottingham service was taken over by another operator. This will now not take place, with a proposal made to transfer 15 Class 185 units from TransPennine Express to prevent the shortfall in stock caused by EMR retaining this service. [21]

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. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the electrification between Bedford and Corby has been delayed and the Class 360s are now expected to enter service in May 2021 instead of December 2020.[22] The Class 222s will then work on other InterCity Routes where they will replace the HSTs, working alongside the Class 180s by mid-2021. The Class 180s intend to replace the ex-Grand Central 6-carriage HSTs from December 2020.[23][24]

To replace the Class 180 and Class 222 units, 33 5-carriage Class 810 bi-mode trains will be introduced in 2023. [25][26] In May 2020, EMR opened a competition to give the class their own unique brand name.[27] In October 2020, EMR announced that the fleet will have the 'Aurora' brand.[28]

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top Speed		Number	Cars	Routes Operated	In Service
				mph	km/h
EMR Intercity
Hitachi AT300	810 Aurora		BMU	125	200	33[29]	5	Inter-City Midland Main Line	2023[30]
EMR Electrics
Siemens Desiro	360		EMU	110	180	21	4	London St Pancras – Corby	2021[31]
EMR Regional
Bombardier Turbostar	170		DMU	100	161	23[32]	2	Regional routes	2021
				100	161	4	2	Regional routes To be converted from ex-Southern Class 171s	2022
						8	3

Past fleet

As of July 2020, 10 Class 153s have been withdrawn from EMR's regional fleet, 4 were transferred to Transport for Wales, whilst the remaining 6 units went into storage. 18 Class 153s will be replaced by the nine Class 156s transferred from Abellio Greater Anglia. However, some units have been brought back into service to help with social distancing on services. The last of the InterCity 125 sets East Midlands Railway inherited from East Midlands Trains were withdrawn in December 2020, being replaced by five ex LNER InterCity 125 sets which were more compliant with new regulations and four Class 180s.[33]

Trainset	Class	Image	Type	Top Speed		Number	Cars	Routes	Transferred to	Withdrawn
				mph	km/h
EMR Intercity
InterCity 125	43		Loco	125	200	22	N/A	Inter-City Midland Main Line Nottingham – Skegness (Summer Saturdays only)	Storage (9) Locomotive Services Limited (5) D.A.T.S Ltd (4) Colas Rail (2) 125 Group (2)[34][35]	2020
						6			Storage
						5			Storage
	Mark 3		Coach			136			Storage (133) 125 Group (3)[36]
EMR Regional
Sprinter	153 Super Sprinter		DMU	75	120	15	1	Regional routes	Storage (11) Transport for Wales (4)	2019–21

EMR operates two depots; Derby Etches Park and Nottingham Eastcroft. The High Speed Trains are maintained at Neville Hill TMD.[37]

• Official website

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