Train operator to restore more services as reliability improves

East Midlands Railway has announced plans to step up its Intercity timetable after running reduced services.

In July, the train operator implemented a temporary reduced timetable after the performance of Hitachi Rail’s new Class 810 fleet, together with the maintenance requirements of its existing Class 222 fleet, significantly impacted its ability to run a consistent Intercity service for customers.

But from Monday 31 August, EMR, which is operated by Transport UK, will be increasing the number of services.

The train operator said by aligning the timetable more closely with the number of trains currently available, it has achieved greater operational stability, reducing short-notice cancellations and delivering a more dependable service across the Midland Main Line, which serves Derby.

While EMR acknowledges there is still further work to do with Hitachi Rail on fleet performance and reliability, an integrated action plan is now in place, with Hitachi’s Global Executive Leadership team directly involved in supporting this work.

From 31 August, EMR will increase its Intercity operations from 87% to 92% of its full planned timetable.

The revised timetable has been carefully structured around the fleet currently available, allowing EMR to reinstate priority services while making changes to some other services to support a more reliable and resilient overall operation.

It will see the reinstatement of five weekday services and three weekend services between Sheffield and London St Pancras that were previously fully cancelled.

It will also see the reinstatement of three weekday services and one weekend service between Nottingham and London St Pancras that were previously fully cancelled.

Neil Grabham, interim managing director at East Midlands Railway, said: “The reduced timetable we introduced on 20 July was a difficult but necessary step to ensure we could offer a consistent and reliable service while working through the Intercity fleet challenges with Hitachi Rail, Rock Rail and other partners.

“We are now seeing encouraging signs that the reduced timetable has delivered the stability we were aiming for, and while there is still more work ahead with Hitachi Rail, this stabilisation represents an important milestone.

“It allows us to take this positive step forward from 31 August, increasing our Intercity services to 92% of the full timetable and returning key trains to our Sheffield and Nottingham routes.

“To make this possible with the fleet currently available, we have carefully rebalanced the timetable, prioritising services where we know they are most important to our customers and communities.

“We know how vital these services are to the communities and regional economies we serve.

“I would like to thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding, as well as our frontline teams, who continue to work tirelessly to deliver excellent service.”

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