Media invite: Major boost for the East Midlands as EMR's new timetable begins

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Note to media: East Midlands Railway will be offering face-to-face interviews at Nottingham station at 09.30 on Monday, 17th May.

There will the opportunity to interview the following: 

• Neil Bamford, Fleet Director, East Midlands Railway
  
• Paul Barnfield, Operations Director, East Midlands Railway
• Gary Walsh, Route Director, Network Rail
• Councillor Leslie Ayoola, Assistant Portfolio Holder Strategic Regeneration & Communications, Nottingham City Council
• Kyle Butterworth, Head of Rail Improvement, East Midlands Councils

If you would like to attend, please email media@eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk by 1pm on Friday, 14th May.

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East Midlands Railway’s Intercity and Regional services will be quicker and more frequent when the company introduces its new timetable on Sunday, 16th May.

The changes, which were made possible by the successful delivery of the £1.5 billion Midland Main Line Upgrade by Network Rail, will provide more seats, quicker journeys, and a simpler and more resilient timetable for communities across its network, with earlier and later services supporting leisure, business and tourism journeys.  

Passengers travelling down the Midland Main Line are set to benefit from several specific enhancements to the current service, including quicker peak journey times to London St Pancras International and consistent departure times through the day.

Day trippers or passengers wanting more flexibility will also be able to take advantage of the new timetable which will see earlier trains into London and later returns. 

The new timetable will also include the phased introduction of more Class 170 train - serving EMR's Regional service.   

The trains, offer significant upgrades over the current fleet, including wider doors closer to the middle of the carriage making it easier for passengers to get on and off as well as a more accessible layout.

In due course, they will also be significantly refurbished, including upgrades such as the introduction of power sockets, improved CCTV, new interiors, enhanced information systems and better toilet interiors.

EMR Regional has received a upgrade too, with a improved frequency of services and later evening services from a number of stations.

Services between Crewe and Derby will extend to Nottingham and Newark Castle, while the introduction of direct weekday/Saturday services between Grimsby Town and Leicester will also take place. 

Summer Sunday services between Nottingham and Cleethorpes will now run throughout the year, as will services between Nottingham and Skegness.

Further details of improvements are available on EMR's website here: https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/may21 

As well as the enhanced services, Sunday will mark EMR's return to its full pre-Covid' timetable for the first time since March 2020, helping to support the region's recovery from the pandemic.

Will Rogers, Managing Director of East Midlands Railway, said he was excited to begin the new timetable and welcoming passengers back to EMR's services. 

He said: "We are delighted to be able to start this new and significantly improved timetable. The £1.5 billion Midland Main Line upgrade has allowed us to offers more seats, quicker journeys and more frequent journeys to our passengers across both our Regional and Intercity network. 

"The timetable includes earlier and later services supporting leisure, business and tourism journeys and will help to support the region's recovery out of the pandemic. 

"It is vital that customers returning to our network can travel with confidence and that is why we have put in place many new measures, such as employing the most cleaners in our history, sourcing powerful disinfectant products and purchasing new specialist fogging cleaning equipment.

"As well as the enhanced services, Sunday will mark our return to our full pre-Covid' timetable and everyone at EMR is looking forward to welcoming back passengers." 

Gary Walsh, Route Director for Network Rail in the East Midlands, added: “It’s brilliant to be welcoming passengers back to our new, improved railway. Many thousands of people from across our industry have worked together over several years to deliver the biggest step-change improvement for passengers and our freight customers in a generation on our route.

"Our £1.5bn investment has been carefully targeted to deliver best value for money and as the country moves out of Lockdown, we’re delighted to be doing our part to support its recovery by offering clean, safe and reliable services in partnership with our colleagues at EMR.”

ENDS