East Midlands Railway (EMR; legal name Abellio East Midlands Limited[3]) is a train operating company in England, owned by Transport UK Group, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise.
Originally owned by Abellio, EMR took over operations from East Midlands Trains (EMT) on 18 August 2019, on an agreement to run the franchise for eight years. As part of the franchise commitments, EMR placed an order for 33 new bi-mode Class 810 Aurora high speed train sets and sourced preexisting Class 170 multiple units from other operators.
During early 2020, passenger numbers and ticket revenues collapsed following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the original franchise agreement being initially suspended before being replaced entirely. Under the new National Rail Contract signed in 2022, the franchise is to last until October 2030. In February 2023, Transport UK Group concluded a management buyout of Abellio's United Kingdom business, which included EMR.
In April 2018, FirstGroup and Trenitalia pulled out of the bidding process, their stated reason for doing so being to focus on the West Coast Partnership franchise.[8][9] During April 2019, it was announced that the franchise has been 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;[10] rival bidder Stagecoach had been disqualified from the process because its submission failed to meet employee pension obligations.[11][12]
In June 2019, Abellio revealed its branding and colour scheme for EMR, which featured distinct purple and white colours that reflected the heritage of the East Midlands. The company also confirmed that it would divide the franchise’s services into three segments:[13]
EMR Regional for services across the East Midlands
EMR Electrics for the outer suburban London St Pancras to Corby service
EMR Electrics was later rebranded as EMR Connect following an announcement in April 2021.[14]
Covid-19 and franchise suspension
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a resulting collapse in both passenger numbers and ticket revenues in March 2020, the franchise agreement 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assumed responsibility for all revenues and costs and EMR was instead paid a management fee.[15] This arrangement was superseded by an Emergency Recovery Measures Agreement (ERMA) under which the original franchise agreement was terminated. At the time, it was announced that the EMR franchise would operate until March 2022.[16][17]
In October 2021, the DfT issued an updated prior information notice that confirmed that the ERMA period would be extended until 16 October 2022.[18] During October 2022, it was announced that EMR had received a direct award of a four-year National Rail Contract, the terms of which included the option of extending it for a further period of up to four years.[2]
Industrial action and ownership change
EMR was one of several train operators impacted by the 2022-2023 United Kingdom railway strikes, which was the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades.[19] Its workers were amongst those who participated in industrial action due to a dispute over pay and working conditions.[20] On multiple occasions, EMR has requested that the travelling public avoid using its services on certain dates due to these strikes.[21][22]
Route map of the East Midlands Railway networkA vector map of EMR InterCity and EMR Connect services
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. 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,[25] 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.[26] The Barton line was expected to transfer from Northern in 2019 but this was delayed until May 2021.[27][28]
On 19 June 2021, EMR Regional services were cut to enable the timetable to run effectively.[29] Although EMR stated that 85% of services were still running, there was still an impact to local commuter services.[30]
two 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'sLondon King's Cross – Lincoln service
As of May 2023, East Midlands Railway's off-peak services Monday-Friday include:[32]
In March 2023, an automated guided people mover, the Luton DART, opened between Luton Airport and Luton Airport Parkway railway station.[33] EMR now advertise the Luton Airport Express service as an airport rail link, with a headline figure of 32minutes from London St Pancras to the airport terminal using the Luton DART, the cost of which is included in the train ticket price.[34][35]
Rolling stock
East Midlands Railway inherited a fleet of 28 Class 43, 21 Class 153, 15 Class 156, 26 Class 158, and 27 Class 222 units from East Midlands Trains. In January 2020 nine additional Class 156 units from Greater Anglia were introduced into service. Nine 8-carriage InterCity 125 sets were also transferred from London North Eastern Railway, with the first set having entered service on 4 May 2020. They were replaced in May 2021.[36] To replace the former Grand Central “buffered” HST sets, EMR commenced a lease of the four former Hull Trains Class 180 fleet despite their history of technical difficulties, with the first units entering service on 13 December 2020.[37][38] On 16 May 2021, East Midlands Railway launched EMR Connect services between Corby and London St Pancras, which has enabled the final HSTs to be withdrawn.[39] The Connect service is operated by ex-Greater Anglia Class 360s.[40][41]
By 2023, East Midlands Railway plans to run EMR Regional services using 40 Class 170 units, and by 2024 plans to run EMR InterCity services using 33 new bi-mode Class 810 Aurora.[42]
The final Class 170s from West Midlands Trains were delivered in May 2023.[43]
To replace the Class 222 units, 33 five-carriage Class 810 bi-mode trains will be introduced in 2024.[47] The Class 810 is an evolution of the Class 802 units that Hitachi have delivered to a number of British train operators;[48] amongst other changes, it has a reduced car length as to better facilitate its use of stations such as St Pancras and is fitted with uprated diesel engines that enable the Class 810 to equal, if not exceed, the acceleration of the Class 222.[42] During May 2020, EMR opened a competition to give the class their own unique brand name.[49] In October 2020, EMR announced that the fleet will have the 'Aurora' brand.[50] The earlier-than-planned withdrawal of the Class 180 fleet, now occurring at the May 2023 timetable change, means that 'Aurora' units will only directly replace the Class 222 fleet.[51]
Other existing stock to be added consist of 39 Class 170s; 23 from West Midlands Trains, 12 from Transport for Wales and four from Southern.[52][53][54][55] Those altogether will enable the 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, with another solution being to retain the Class 158s.[26][56] It was expected that 12 Class 171 units would transfer from Southern.[52][57][58] However, due to no replacement units being sourced, this reshuffling will not take place, with the Transport for Wales Class 170s replacing the planned transfer of Class 171s from Southern.[52][56] During May 2022, however, it was announced that four Class 171s would transfer from Southern, with expected entry into service being in the autumn of 2022. These units will be converted into Class 170s, reformed into three-carriage sets and work alongside the rest of the fleet.[55] Three of these units were transferred to EMR on 7 September 2022 having been reformed from their previous two-and-four-car formations.[46] The fourth unit is due to transfer in late 2023 as 170421.[59]
The last of the InterCity 125 sets East Midlands Railway inherited from East Midlands Trains were withdrawn in December 2020, having been replaced by five ex LNER InterCity 125 sets which had greater compliance with new regulations and four Class 180s.[61] Originally nine former LNER 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.[62]
In December 2021, the final Class 153s were withdrawn, as they were not PRM (Persons with Reduced Mobility) compliant, with Class 156s replacing them on the Barton line from 13 December.[63][64] These units were placed into storage at Long Marston and Ely Papworth Sidings in December 2021.[65]
In December 2022, four Class 156 units went off lease and were sent for storage at Barrow Hill, with East Midlands Railway stating that they will be moved to Ely Papworth sidings at a later date.[66]
East Midlands Railway withdrew the last of its Class 156 fleet and its entire 180 fleet in May 2023.[43]
East Midlands Railway was investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority, who in September 2021 found that they had breached marketing codes. The firm had launched a competition in February 2021 asking participants for ideas to "Build Back Better" with the chance of winning £5,000. However, the competition was closed and the prize not awarded; East Midlands Railway stated that this was due to financial concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as due to the low quality of entries received.[74][75]
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