East Midlands Trains

East Midlands Trains (EMT) is a train operating company operating in the United Kingdom, providing train services in the East Midlands and surrounding areas, chiefly in the counties of South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. Their franchise, which began 11 November 2007, was formed through the amalgamation of the former Midland Mainline, who operated inter-city services from London to Yorkshire and the Humber, and the eastern side of Central Trains.

Legally known as Stagecoach Midland Rail Limited, the parent company of EMT is Stagecoach Group which also owns 49% of the Virgin Trains franchise. Its sister company is South West Trains.

History


Previous 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 operation on the East Midlands Franchise from 11 November 2007. EMT has taken over all of the routes formerly opperated by National Express Group's Midland Mainline and a few routes from Central Trains.

Routes
East Midlands Trains have divided their services between two sub-brands: Mainline InterCity services, and Connect urban and suburban services which have mainly come from the Central Trains franchise. EMT also have four broad routes for the areas that they operate in, except from the high speed and InterCity services which are all out of London.

Route 1


Route 1 is the InterCity route on the Midland Main Line.

Service pattern currently is 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 from December 2008 propose the above service pattern (that shown in the box). 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). Sheffield peak hour trains will continue to extend from and too Leeds with weekend services also extending to York and Scarborough. In addition a Nottingham service will be extended to start from Lincoln and a summer saturday service will be introduced to Skegness.

EMT has expressed a desire to run two trains an hour from Sheffield to London on its flagship route. The possibility of running trains north of Corby is under review for implementation in 2010.

Route 2


Route 2 services cross England from east to west and are the former Central Citylink services. EMT trains see this as a mainline route (and want to grow it accordingly), and as such will paint relevant trains in the mainline livery.

This route is subject to much speculation, as the trains only operate at up to 90 mph but use a busy part of the ECML through Grantham. It has been suggested that this train will in future operate via Leicester.

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.

Route 4


Route 4 services link the East Midlands with eastern England.

New routes
Proposed timetables indicate a reduction in off-peak departures at many smaller stations on Mainline and Connect routes which has caused much concern in affected communities. Kettering for example will receive half its current northbound services from 2008.

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.

Stagecoach Group, EMT's parent company, will from 2008 sell seats on some off-peak services under the Megatrain brand Mondays to Saturdays. This uses a similar low cost model to their Megabus service. Megatrain tickets are generally available on services that are expected to be quiet and empty. The tickets available will generally be between St Pancras and other principal stations and ticket holders are assigned to a specific carriage (normally the second from the front on South West Trains) in the train. The Megatrain service is also operated on fellow Stagecoach Group–owned South West Trains, and previously on Virgin Trains (49% owned by Stagecoach Group) in some regions until these ceased with the transfer of services to CrossCountry, owned by Arriva.

Services
Services are split into two distinct groups, East Midlands Mainline and East Midlands Connect, the former relating to express services (formerly Midland Mainline) the latter to more regional connecting services (formerly Central Trains). The Department for Transport in their franchise specification gave an indication as to the planned timetable; this mainly related to former Midland Mainline services operating to and from London St Pancras.

Enhancements
Stagecoach have pledged to spend more than £91 million on service improvements.

Train services


On its mainline services Stagecoach have pledged to add faster trains from Nottingham to London St Pancras. The journey times saving on London to Sheffield services of 12 minutes by introducing Meridians on all off-peak Sheffield services. Earlier arrival time of the first train into London St Pancras, before 05:00 to allow business travellers to reach the rest of the continent before 09:00 via the new Eurostar services. Later departures from St Pancras as far as Leicester after midnight to connect with last Eurostar service from mainland Europe. Five off-peak departures from St Pancras per hour incorporating future Corby services. Additional early morning train from Derby to St Pancras International in London. Reduction of off-peak northbound services from Kettering and Wellingborough. London to Lincoln daily service via Nottingham. Summer Saturday service from London to Skegness on the east coast. Plus internal and external refit of all trains to include provision of Wi-Fi Internet. Catering facilities to be reviewed; it is proposed that High Speed Trains will lose their buffet cars. 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.

On East Midlands Trains Connect services Matlock to Derby services will run an hourly and will be extended to Nottingham. Lengthening of trains on the west to east Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich route on weekdays. Internal and external refit of all of the old trains to incorporate the new logo and livery.

In several interviews, East Midlands Trains managing director Tim Shoveller has indicated that services will be speeded up, not denying that some stations will lose their current high frequency of trains off peak.

Stations
More than £5 million has been pledged into station enhancements for most of the stations under the EMT's control. These include the opening of East Midlands Parkway station to serve the large East Midlands Airport. The opening of a new station at Corby, should the government and local authority give the final go-ahead. But if the new station did open, Stagecoach have said that one of the current northbound services (one to Derby and one to Nottingham) would be taken away from Kettering and Wellingborough to be replaced with Corby. The upgrade of many station concourses to meet better standards. The provision of Wi-Fi Internet at key stations including Sheffield. Installation of ticket barriers at four more stations including London St Pancras Domestic, Derby Midland, Nottingham and Sheffield. As well as the extensive upgrade of Etches Park Depot train maintenance depot in Derby. Introduction of smart card technology, similar to that which is used on South West Trains, at all mainline stations and all those in the Derby/Nottingham commuter area. Introduction of Megatrain fares from 2 January 2008, which is the same formula used by Stagecoach on Virgin Trains and South West Trains, plus InterCity bus services as Megabus. Self service ticket machines at more stations operated by EMT.

Passengers who use Loughborough and Long Eaton Stations have begun lobbying East Midlands Trains regarding the short platforms at these stations, which are shorter than the trains using them. This can be particularly problematic for passengers with bicycles or heavy luggage.

On board
Midland Mainline's policy of free tea and coffee for standard-class passengers stopped after the timetable changed on 9 December, with East Midlands Trains claiming Midland Mainline would have stopped the policy anyway should their franchise have been renewed. Season ticket holders are no longer able to reserve seats on the former Midland Mainline routes. All buffet cars will be removed from High Speed Train sets, and will be replaced by at-seat trolley services; this is because of the large weight of a buffet coach, which is used only in the morning to cook breakfasts. A range of hot food will be available for first-class passengers once the above changes have taken place, but not for passengers in standard class. The company is currently reviewing its decision and options.

Liverpool to Norwich regional services will retain a similar catering provision of an at-seat trolley service.

Performance
Stagecoach plan to achieve a 90.3% (PPM) on Mainline services and 87% (PPM) on Connect 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. 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. Initial figures released by the ORR rated performance overall at 86.2% (PPM) for the second half of the third quarter of the financial year 2007/8. This is approximately 5% lower than figures for Midland Mainline services previously, but includes the more tricky Connect services.

Barrow On Soar
On Friday 1st February 2008, an East Midlands Connect Class 158 service working from Nottingham to Norwich (via Loughborough and Oakham) was involved in an incident at Barrow-on-Soar. The train hit a footbridge that was in its path, after a road vehicle had stuck 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 Mainline’s 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. Some moves of 158s occurred between the various franchises owned by Stagecoach.

East Midlands Trains have revealed that the Class 222 Meridian trains will be used on the off-peak London to Sheffield services. This will allow the London to Sheffield run times to be reduced by the 12 minutes promised. The HST trains will then be used on all Nottingham fast services.

The former Central Trains class 158 units are expected to be upgraded to the same standard as South West Trains class 159 units.

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 will be accomplished by reducing one of the 8-car sets to a 5-car, with the remaining long units reduced to 7-cars. Extra capacity on its long distance routes will be provided by running pairs of 5-car sets coupled together. East Midlands Trains will also cascade one of its HST sets to First Great Western by the end of 2008.