East Midlands Railway (EMR), operated by Transport UK, has announced plans to step up its Intercity timetable from Monday 31 August, increasing the number of services it operates following recent train availability challenges.
The decision follows the implementation of a temporary reduced timetable on 20 July, which was introduced after the performance of Hitachi Rail’s new Class 810 fleet, together with the maintenance requirements of EMR’s existing Class 222 fleet, significantly impacted EMR’s ability to run a consistent Intercity service for customers.
By aligning the timetable more closely with the number of trains currently available, EMR has achieved greater operational stability, reducing short-notice cancellations and delivering a more dependable service across the Midland Main Line.
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.
This increased timetable has been supported by the DfT Operator (DFTO), which has worked with EMR to explore all possible options for restoring the timetable and delivering this uplift.
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.
Key service reinstatements include:
- Sheffield services: Reinstatement of five weekday services and three weekend services that were previously fully cancelled.
- Nottingham services: Reinstatement of three weekday services and one weekend service that were previously fully cancelled.
Neil Grabham, interim managing director at EMR, 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.”
A Hitachi Rail spokesperson commented: “The agreed integrated action plan, which we are implementing across both the Class 810 and Class 222 fleets alongside EMR, is delivering progress.
“As part of the plan, we have increased maintenance activity on the Class 222 fleet, while also working with our supply chain to improve the availability of materials and components for the legacy fleet. In parallel, we have invested in additional capacity at Long Marston Innovation Centre to conduct modifications and testing on the Class 810s to support the transition from older to newer trains and improve the situation over the long term.
“In combination, these actions are helping to rectify the situation. We would like to apologise again to passengers for the inconvenience caused and reiterate that we remain focused on working with EMR and all partners to deliver further improvements.”
Customers planning to travel on or after Monday 31 August are advised to check their journey details in advance using national journey planners, the EMR website or the EMR app.
Train service changes are being fed into booking systems and journey planners from Thursday 13 July.
Customers who have already booked a ticket and find that their EMR service is no longer running will be able to travel on either of the two services before or after the affected service. Customers who decide not to travel can request a full refund.
Further information can be found here: An important update to our Intercity timetable
Image credit: EMR
