The Big Timetable Change: Transport UK and EMR's big boost for Nottinghamshire communities

East Midlands Railway (EMR), operated by Transport UK, has announced a range of improvements to its regional timetable that will benefit passengers across Nottinghamshire.

The timetable, which will come into effect from Sunday, 14 December, brings a range of improvements to services across Nottinghamshire and the wider East Midlands - delivering wider economic benefits of £2.4 million a year.

It will include more frequent services, new direct connections, and improved reliability - all supporting economic growth and better connectivity across the region.

Will Rogers, Managing Director of East Midlands Railway, said: "Since EMR began operating in 2019, we’ve increased the number of train carriages serving our Regional routes by 50%. This timetable builds on this and makes best use of our available fleet and will be supported by our £28 million regional refurbishment programme, delivering a more comfortable and consistent customer experience.

"It will realise opportunities to operate more train services across the Regional network, introduce new journey opportunities, and build-in performance improvements to the structure of the timetable. It will also strengthen inter-regional connections, including improved links to London, the North East, Scotland and the South West. It really is great news for Nottinghamshire."

One of the key improvements is the introduction of up to 12 additional services in each direction between Nottingham and Lincoln, with two direct services per hour between Nottingham and Lincoln, Monday to Saturday.

A new all-day direct connection between Nottingham and Cleethorpes will provide a convenient link to the Lincolnshire coast, supporting both tourism and regional economic development.

The additional services will deliver over 2,000 extra seats on a weekday and over 3,000 on a Saturday to and from Lincoln. Furthermore, the timetable will add extra train carriages and more space on some of our Liverpool to Norwich services.

Local communities will see a significant improvement to their train services:

• Burton Joyce will have an hourly service throughout the day on weekdays and Saturdays
• Radcliffe on Trent will have additional stops, with an increase of more than 70% in services throughout the week
• Carlton will receive an hourly Sunday service, increasing from 12 to 28 services. This will also allow direct journeys to the Peak District or the Lincolnshire Coast
• Attenborough will have an hourly service to and from Derby all week.
• Carlton, Burton Joyce, Lowdham, Thurgarton, Bleasby, Fiskerton and Rolleston will have direct services to and from Lincoln throughout the day without the need to change at Newark Castle
• A new early morning fast service from Lincoln, departing at 07:16, has been introduced to plug the gap in morning arrivals into Nottingham, particularly benefiting commuters.
• On a weekday there will be later trains from Nottingham to Grantham, Mansfield Woodhouse and Matlock.

On Sundays, additional services have been added making it easier to travel for leisure and weekend plans. These are as follows:

• Additional 09:26 Lincoln to Nottingham
• Additional 17:25 Nottingham to Lincoln.
• New earlier Sunday service between Nottingham and Manchester Piccadilly, departing Nottingham at 08:30.
• The current 12:45 service from Sheffield to Norwich on a Sunday will start from Manchester Piccadilly at 11:41.
• Two additional Mansfield Woodhouse – Nottingham services.
• One additional Nottingham – Mansfield Woodhouse service.

In addition, Matlock–Nottingham services will now be extended through to Lincoln and Cleethorpes. This creates a new direct route from the Peak District to the Lincolnshire Coast through some of our main cities, designed to better link and grow leisure markets across the East Midlands.

A key development is the extension of services from Lincoln to Crewe – serving Nottinghamshire stations. This adjustment is central to enabling new direct journeys across the region and marks a major step forward in connecting Staffordshire more effectively with Lincolnshire.

The revised timetable also simplifies connections at key hubs. For example, customers travelling from Lowdham to London St Pancras will benefit from a reduced and consistent connection time at Nottingham — now just eight to 20 minutes, compared to previous waits of up to nearly 40 minutes.

At Grantham, there will be more options for passengers connecting on to East Coast Main Line services, with more services to London King’s Cross and York, and a new hourly service to Darlington, Durham and Newcastle.

The shuttle service between Newark Northgate and Lincoln will be reduced slightly to enable the increase in services from Newark Castle to Nottingham.

To improve reliability across the network, EMR has also added additional time at key stations, and increased turnaround times to ensure trains leave on time at the beginning of their journey.

Finally, the Grimsby to Lincoln via Leicester route will now become a Nottingham to Leicester shuttle service.

For full details of the December timetable changes customers should visit https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/the-big-timetable-change