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East Midlands Trains
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East Midlands Trains (EMT) is a train operating company operating in the United Kingdom. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands and surrounding areas, chiefly in the counties of South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. The franchise, which began 11 November 2007, was formed through the amalgamation of the former Midland Mainline, which operated inter-city services from London to Yorkshire, and the eastern side of Central Trains operating companies.
Legally known as East Midlands Trains Limited, the parent company of East Midlands Trains is Stagecoach Group which also owns South West Trains and 49% of the Virgin Trains franchise.
History
Prior to the launch of the franchise, the Department for Transport undertook the task of splitting up the former routes of Central Trains: East Midlands Trains resulted from the letting of the East Midlands franchise.
East Midlands Trains began operating on the East Midlands Franchise from 11 November 2007.
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Encyclopedia
East Midlands Trains (EMT) is a train operating company operating in the United Kingdom. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands and surrounding areas, chiefly in the counties of South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. The franchise, which began 11 November 2007, was formed through the amalgamation of the former Midland Mainline, which operated inter-city services from London to Yorkshire, and the eastern side of Central Trains operating companies.
Legally known as East Midlands Trains Limited, the parent company of East Midlands Trains is Stagecoach Group which also owns South West Trains and 49% of the Virgin Trains franchise.
History
Prior to the launch of the franchise, the Department for Transport undertook the task of splitting up the former routes of Central Trains: East Midlands Trains resulted from the letting of the East Midlands franchise.
East Midlands Trains began operating on the East Midlands Franchise from 11 November 2007. EMT has taken over all of the routes formerly operated by National Express Group's Midland Mainline and a few routes from Central Trains.
East Midlands Trains has been affected by the World recession and in March 2009 announced its intention to reduce its staff numbers, this followed a similar announcement at South West Trains earlier in the year.
Routes
East Midlands Trains initially divided its services between two sub-brands: Mainline InterCity services, and Connect urban and suburban services, which mainly came from the Central Trains franchise. However, from April 2008, East Midlands Trains dropped the "Mainline" and "Connect" branding in favour of "London" and "Local" services. EMT also has four broad routes for the areas in which they operate, except for the high speed and InterCity services which are all out of London.
EMT has promised better integration between London and Local services, together with increased punctuality and becoming more user friendly.
The new timetables indicate a reduction in off-peak departures at many smaller stations on London and Local routes, which has caused much concern in affected communities. Kettering for example has half its previous northbound services.
In several interviews, East Midlands Trains managing director Tim Shoveller indicated that services will be speeded up, not denying that some stations will lose their current high frequency of trains off peak. Various rail user groups have expressed dissatisfaction of various proposals, particularly those affecting smaller stations. Indeed East Midlands Trains have been mentioned in Parliamentary sessions several time due to customer dissatisfaction.
On 25 November 2008, Peter Bone (MP for Wellingborough) asked if the Secretary of State for Transport supports the "In the Can" campaign, where sardines are sent to the Chief Executive to show dissatisfaction at perceived overcrowding. Helen Southworth (MP for Warrington South) also raised the overcrowding issue on the same day.
Despite public statements claiming improved services, peak time services from St Pancras to Wellingborough in the even period of 1630 to 1800, have also been reduced from seven to three, and an addition stop have been added to the 1700, as well as reducing the train from eight carriages to five.
Route clearance trials have been carried out with Class 222 on routes from Nottingham to Liverpool, Lincoln and Norwich although East Midlands Trains have no current plans to use these units on Liverpool or Norwich services.
London services
Route 1
| | Route | Calling At | Main Stock | Journey Time |
|---|
| XX:00 | London St Pancras Corby | Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering | 222 | 1hr 40mins | | extension | to Melton Mowbray (one service north/south) | Oakham | 222 | 1hr 55mins | | XX:15 | London St Pancras Nottingham | Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway | HST | 1hr 44mins | | XX:25 | London St Pancras Derby | Leicester, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Long Eaton | 222 | 1hr 50mins | | extension | to York/Scarborough(summer) (weekends) | Chesterfield, Sheffield, Doncaster | 222 | 3hr 39mins | | XX:30 | London St Pancras Nottingham | Luton Airport Parkway, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, Beeston | 222 | 1hr 56mins | | extension | to Lincoln (one service north/south) | Lowdham, Newark Castle, Collingham | 222 | 2hr 54mins | | XX:55 | London St Pancras to Sheffield | Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield | 222 | 2hr 9mins | | extension | to Leeds (some peak services) | Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate | HST | 3hr 10mins |
Route 1 is the InterCity route on the Midland Main Line. The above table shows the service pattern from the December 2008 timetable change.
The service pattern at the start of the franchise was of four off peak departures from London: two fast (one to Sheffield and one to Nottingham), and two stopping (one to Derby and one to Nottingham). Sheffield peak hour trains extend from and to Leeds with weekend services also extending to York and Scarborough. EMT made no significant changes until the introduction of 'their' timetable in December 2008.
From December 2008 EMT used the above service pattern (that shown in the box). There are five off peak departures from London: three fast (one to Sheffield, one to Nottingham and one to Derby) and two stopping (one to Nottingham and one to Corby/Kettering). A smaller number of Sheffield peak hour trains continue to extend from and to Leeds, with weekend services also extending to York and Scarborough. In addition a Nottingham service is extended to start from Lincoln Monday to Saturday. A planned summer Saturday service to Skegness which would have started in May 2009 will no longer go ahead due to infrastructure problems.
Future plans
- East Midlands Trains is confident it can run two trains an hour from Sheffield to London in the next two years by more efficient use of the Class 222 fleet.
- The possibility of running trains north of Corby is under review for implementation in 2010.
Named trains
- The Sheffield Continental on the 06:47 Sheffield - St Pancras. Introduced by East Midlands Trains for the start of its December 2008 timetable.
- The Master Cutler on the 07:27 Sheffield to St Pancras, and 16:55 St Pancras to Sheffield return
- The South Yorkshireman on the 07:44 Sheffield - St Pancras. Introduced by East Midlands Trains for the start of its December 2008 timetable.
- The Robin Hood on the 07:50 Nottingham to St Pancras, and returning as the 16:15 St Pancras to Nottingham. A named service inherited from Midland Mainline.
Local services
Route 2
Route 2 services cross England from east to west and are former Central Citylink services. EMT sees this as a mainline route (and want to grow it accordingly), and as such will paint relevant trains in the mainline livery.
Nottinghamshire County Council is working with Network Rail to try and introduce an additional train towards Manchester which would avoid Sheffield creating a faster journey.
Route 3
Route 3 services link towns in the East Midlands and provide direct services to Crewe and Stoke. The Derby to Matlock service links to the Peak District.
Nottinghamshire County Council has paid for a study into increasing the line speed between Newark and Lincoln from 60mph to 90mph; they have also requested a doubling of service on the line.
Route 4
Route 4 services link the East Midlands with eastern England.
Ticketing
Fares are set to rise by an average of 3.4% plus inflation each year. Stagecoach says that it needs to increase prices to keep its service going and to meet Government profit demands. 3.4% plus inflation over the franchise could mean a 58% fare increase over the length of the franchise, although the percentage increases relate to averages across a range of fares and deals.
Megatrain
Stagecoach Group, EMT's parent company, introduced Megatrain fares on its London routes on 2 January 2008 opperating to/from London St Pancras International to
Megatrain fares will be introduced on Local routes between Norwich and Nottingham, and Leicester and Sheffield in 2009.
MegabusPlus
East Midlands Parkway will be used as an interchange station for combined multi-modal journeys MegabusPlus will transport transport passengers from the cities in the north of England to East Midlands Parkway, where passengers will transfer to rail for the service to London.
Routes operated under the MegabusPlus brand will be to/from London to
Franchise commitments
Stagecoach are currently spending more than £91 million on service improvements.
Train services
Faster trains from Nottingham and from Sheffield to London St Pancras.
Increasing the number of departures from London to five an hour off-peak incorporating Corby services and extending the hours of operation with earlier arrival and later departures, to allow better connections with Eurostar.
London to Lincoln daily service via Nottingham.
East Midlands Trains Local Matlock to Derby services run hourly and extend to Nottingham. A new Sunday Service runs on the Robin Hood Line between Nottingham and Mansfield Woodhouse. Trains will be lengthened on the west to east Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich route on weekdays. There will be an internal and external refit of all of the old trains to incorporate the new logo and livery.
Other changes to the timetable are planned, but these need to have approval from Network Rail, Office of Rail Regulation and the Department for Transport. Journey times will be further improved after planned infrastructure works are completed.
The Department for Transport in their franchise specification gave an indication of their ambitions for the timetable; this mainly related to former Midland Mainline services operating to and from London St Pancras.
Stations
More than £5 million has been pledged for station enhancements. These include the opening of East Midlands Parkway station to serve the large East Midlands Airport. The opening of a new station at Corby in December 2008.
The provision of Wi-Fi Internet at key stations including Leicester, Derby, and Sheffield.
Installation of ticket barriers at four more stations including London St Pancras Domestic, Derby Midland, Nottingham and Sheffield.
Derby's Etches Park train maintenance depot is in the process of an extensive upgrade.
Introduction of smart card technology, similar to that which is used on South West Trains, at all London route stations and all those in the Derby/Nottingham commuter area, and the installation of more self service ticket machines across the network.
East Midlands Trains also manage stations at which they don't operate services:
On board
Originally it was proposed to remove the buffet cars from High Speed Train sets as they are very heavy and used only to cook breakfast on some trains, they were to be replaced by an at-seat trolley service. The company reviewed its decision and launched an enhanced catering service for the start of the May 2008 timetable.
There is to be an internal and external refit of all trains and London line services will include Wi-Fi internet access.
Liverpool to Norwich local line services will retain a similar catering provision of an at-seat trolley service.
Performance
Stagecoach plan to achieve a 90.3% (PPM) on London services and 87% (PPM) on Local services. Previously the Central Trains franchise had had difficulties with timekeeping due to the high number of potential clashes with late running other services en route and use of insufficient stock, causing long dwell times at stations due to slow unloading and loading. Figures released rated Central Trains' performance at 87.8% for the PPM (Public Performance Measure) over the first quarter of the financial year 2007/8. Latest figures released by the ORR rated performance overall at 90.0% (PPM) for the second quarter of the financial year 2008/9.
Incidents
Barrow upon Soar
On 1 February 2008, an East Midlands Trains Class 158 158856 working a service from Nottingham to Norwich was involved in an incident at Barrow upon Soar. The train hit a footbridge that was in its path, after a road vehicle had struck and damaged the bridge causing it to be foul of the line. Six passengers were on board the service and the driver had to be cut free from the driving cab.
Rolling stock
East Midlands Trains inherited Midland Mainlines InterCity 125 (HST) and Class 222 Meridian diesel-electric high-speed trains, along with some of the Sprinter diesel units (classes 153/156/158) formerly operated by Central Trains.
The former Central Trains Class 158 units are to be fully refurbished to the same standards as the South West Trains Class 158/159 fleet.
East Midlands Trains announced in March 2008 that it was to reform its Class 222 sets to prevent overcrowding. This will see the remaining 4-car Class 222 units receive an extra vehicle to become 5-car sets. This was accomplished by reducing one of the 8-car sets to a 5-car, with the remaining 8-car sets reduced to 7-cars. Extra capacity on its long distance routes is provided by running pairs of 5-car sets coupled together.
Current fleet
HST
| HST names | | 43048 | T.C.B. Miller MBE | | 43049 | Neville Hill | | 43072 | Derby Etches Park | |
- 43064 and 43081 have lost their temporary names given for the (Paxman) Valenta Farewell.
- 43089 will be East Midlands Trains' 26th powercar when it transfers from Network Rail to East Midlands Trains for use during 2009. 43089 was a Hitachi Hybrid powercar and was sent to Brush Traction, Loughborough, it will have its Hitachi power unit removed and be returned to standard specification.
Meridian
The Class 222/1 units from First Hull Trains, have now all been transferred for the new service to Corby.
First Hull Trains made a decision to use only Class 180 'Adelante' units, with their Class 222 'Pioneer' units transferring to East Midlands Trains, for use on their new services to Corby.
The first of the Class 222 Pioneer units from Hull Trains arrived in January 2009. After refurbishment, the units will be ready for summer 2009.
East Midlands Trains began the service from Corby 23 February 2009. Initially, this will be made up of one train per day in each direction, and will be met by the existing Meridian fleet.. Once the three available Pioneer units have been refurbished, EMT will be able to run an hourly service throughout the day.
Sprinter
External links
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