84-735: East Midlands Railway ( EMR ; legally Transport UK East Midlands Limited ) is a British train operating company 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 over 40 pre-existing Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units from other operators. During early 2020, passenger numbers and ticket revenues collapsed following
168-538: A train operating company ( TOC ) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993 . There are two types of TOC: most hold franchises let by the Department for Transport (DfT) through a tendering system, to operate services on certain routes for a specified duration, while
252-561: A 1 in 119 gradient from the south over 3 miles (4.8 km) takes the line to 340 feet (104 m) above sea level. This route opened for coal traffic on 15 April 1857, goods on 4 May, and passengers on 8 May. The section between Leicester and Bedford is still part of the Midland Main Line. While this took some of the pressure off the route through Rugby, the GNR insisted that passengers for London alight at Hitchin, buying tickets in
336-712: A 100% FirstGroup subsidiary when the 24.5% shareholder bought out its partners. The TOCs were renamed First Great Western and First North Western . Go-Ahead Group bought the remaining 35% share in Thames Trains . Virgin Group sold a 49% share in Virgin Rail Group that operated the CrossCountry and West Coast franchises to Stagecoach . The completion of the rail link to Heathrow Airport led to Heathrow Express , an open-access operator outside
420-571: A company wholly owned by the Strategic Rail Authority , which would operate the franchise until it could be tendered again. New franchise holders Arriva Trains Wales and Merseyrail began operating. FirstGroup purchased GB Railways which owned the Anglia Railways and Hull Trains businesses. A policy where the majority of services (both long-distance and commuter) from each London terminal would all be operated by
504-528: 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. Train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain ,
588-841: A competition to give the class their own unique brand name. In October 2020, EMR announced that the fleet will have the 'Aurora' brand. 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. 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. Originally nine former LNER sets were to replace
672-483: A joint venture between FirstGroup and Trenitalia , and incumbent Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the next East Midlands franchise. Abellio was also shortlisted for the franchise during February 2018. 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. During April 2019, it
756-596: A later date. East Midlands Railway withdrew the last of its Class 156 fleet and its entire 180 fleet in May 2023. EMR operates two depots: Derby Etches Park and Nottingham Eastcroft . The Class 360s are maintained at Bedford Cauldwell Walk depot by Siemens Mobility . 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
840-501: A shortage of labour and finance, and only £900,000 (equivalent to £108,448,661 in 2023) was available for the construction, approximately £15,000 for each mile (equivalent to £1,807,478 in 2023. To reduce construction costs, the railway followed natural contours, resulting in many curves and gradients. Seven bridges and one tunnel were required, with 60 ft (18 m) cuttings at Desborough and Sharnbrook. There are also major summits at Kibworth, Desbrough and at Sharnbrook where
924-715: 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. 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. These units were placed into storage at Long Marston and Ely Papworth Sidings in December 2021. 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
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#17327766023281008-494: A small number of open-access operators hold licences to provide supplementary services on chosen routes. These operators can run services for the duration of the licence validity. The franchised operators have changed considerably since privatisation: previous franchises have been divided, merged, re-let to new operators, or renamed. Some privately-operated franchises have been taken over by a government-owned operator of last resort , due either to failing expectations or to events on
1092-461: A twice hourly commuter service from London St Pancras to Corby , which is branded as EMR Connect, using Class 360 Desiro electric trains. Thameslink provides frequent, 24-hour commuter services south of Bedford as part of its Thameslink route to London Bridge , Gatwick Airport , Brighton , and Sutton , using 8-car and 12-car electric Class 700 trains. CrossCountry runs an hourly service between Derby and Sheffield on its route between
1176-643: Is electrified between St Pancras and Corby, and the section south of Bedford forms a branch of the northern half of the Thameslink network , with a semi-fast service to Brighton and other suburban services. A northern part of the route, between Derby and Chesterfield, also forms part of the Cross Country Route operated by CrossCountry . Tracks from Nottingham to Leeds via Barnsley and Sheffield are shared with Northern . East Midlands Railway also operates regional and local services using parts of
1260-541: Is expected to cost £1.3 billion. In November 2021 the Government announced its Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands which made a number of proposals for the Midland Main Line. These included a commitment to complete the stalled electrification work, an upgrade to digital signalling, and a connection to High Speed 2 . The latter would see a junction built south of East Midlands Parkway station rather than
1344-730: Is first recorded in print in 1848 in Bradshaw's railway almanack of that year. In 1849 it begins to be mentioned regularly in newspapers such as the Derby Mercury . In 1867, the Birmingham Journal uses the term to describe the new railway running into St Pancras railway station . In 1868, the term was used to describe the Midland Railway main route from North to South through Sheffield and also on routes to Manchester, Leeds and Carlisle. Under British Rail
1428-458: Is no longer taking place. EMR Connect is a commuter service linking Corby with St Pancras . The service began in May 2021 using Class 360s formerly used by Greater Anglia following the electrification of the Midland Main Line from Bedford to Kettering and Corby in 2020. It was initially planned to be known as EMR Electrics until just before its launch date in April 2021. In March 2023,
1512-645: Is now the responsibility of the Department for Transport in the majority of cases. In Scotland, it is the responsibility of Transport Scotland . In Wales, since 2017, the responsibility for the specification and procurement of the Wales & Borders franchise belongs to Transport for Wales . In two parts of England, local government agencies are responsible: in Merseyside , the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive lets
1596-556: Is to be expanded. Ilkeston between Nottingham and Langley Mill was opened on 2 April 2017. Two new stations are planned: Some new stations have been proposed: Unlike the West Coast and East Coast Main Lines, the Midland Main Line has not been electrified along its full length. The line was electrified as far as Bedford in the early 1980s, but services relied on diesel traction beyond that. In 2011 work commenced to extend
1680-702: The Beeching era , the lines to Buxton and via Millers Dale during most years presented an alternate (and competing) main line from London to Manchester, carrying named expresses such as The Palatine and the " Blue Pullman " diesel powered Manchester – London service (the Midland Pullman ). Express trains to Leeds and Scotland such as the Thames–Clyde Express mainly used the Midland's corollary Erewash Valley line , returned to it, and then used
1764-714: The Buxton line who sought to monopolise on the West Coast Main Line . In 1870, the Midland Railway opened a new route from Chesterfield to Rotherham which went through Sheffield via the Bradway Tunnel . The mid-1870s, saw the Midland line extended northwards through the Yorkshire Dales and Eden Valley on what is now called the Settle–Carlisle Railway . Before the line closures of
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#17327766023281848-824: The Greater Anglia franchise on 5 February 2012. In September 2012, FirstGroup was awarded the right to operate the West Coast franchise which provoked a backlash from incumbent Virgin Trains West Coast. As a result of the Department for Transport having provided incorrect information during the bid process, the offer was withdrawn in October 2012 and £40 million of bid costs refunded. In September 2014, Govia Thameslink Railway took over services formerly operated by First Capital Connect as part of
1932-718: The InterCity East Coast franchise. Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line ( MML ), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline , is a major railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands . It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester , Derby / Nottingham and Chesterfield . Express passenger services on the line are operated by East Midlands Railway (EMR). The line
2016-461: The Luton DART , an automated guided people mover , opened between Luton Airport and Luton Airport Parkway railway station . From then on, EMR simultaneously brands EMR Connect as the airport rail link Luton Airport Express since the services are non stop from St Pancras to Luton Airport Parkway, with a headline figure of 32 minutes from London St Pancras to the airport terminal using
2100-583: The Merseyrail franchise, while in London, Transport for London (TfL) oversees the new London Overground and Elizabeth line concessions. ( London Underground , a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London , operates trains nearly all on its own network serving mostly its own stations: It is not a Train Operating Company by the definition here.) The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) (formerly
2184-895: The Metro buses in Belfast and Ulsterbus coaches around the country. NIR is not a TOC under the terms of the Railways Act 1993 , which only applies to Great Britain. The cross-border service Enterprise (Belfast–Dublin) is jointly operated with Iarnród Éireann , the publicly owned national railway company of the Republic of Ireland. Upon privatisation in 1994, the three passenger-operating sectors of British Rail ( InterCity , Network SouthEast and Regional Railways ) were divided, and their existing operations were let as 25 franchises: The privatisation process began when BR's passenger sectors were divided into 25 train operating units which were gradually incorporated as publicly owned subsidiaries of
2268-528: 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, although following a review by the DfT, this will no longer take place;
2352-736: The North East Regional franchise and the North West Regional franchise . In 2004, these were altered into the TransPennine franchise, for intercity services, and the Northern franchise, for local services that were awarded to First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail respectively. Some North West services were transferred to the Arriva Trains Wales franchise. In the same year, Thames Trains
2436-547: The Settle–Carlisle line . Expresses to Edinburgh Waverley , such as The Waverley travelled through Corby and Nottingham. Most Leicester-Nottingham local passenger trains were taken over by diesel units from 14 April 1958, taking about 51 minutes between the two cities. When the Great Central Main Line closed in 1966, the Midland Main Line became the only direct main-line rail link between London and
2520-514: The Thameslink, Southern & Great Northern franchise and branded them as Thameslink and Great Northern. Services operated by Southern , another Govia subsidiary, were merged into the new franchise in the following year. Hull Trains became a 100% subsidiary of FirstGroup when the 80% shareholder bought out its partners. In March 2015, a Stagecoach and Virgin joint venture trading as Virgin Trains East Coast commenced operating
2604-672: The West Midlands Trains ' Crewe – London Euston services, to cater for the growing commuter market. North Northamptonshire is a major growth area, with over 7,400 new homes planned to be built in Wellingborough and 5,500 new homes planned for Kettering. Highlights include: The Thameslink Programme has lengthened the platforms at most stations south of Bedford to 12-car capability. St Pancras, Cricklewood, Hendon, and Luton Airport Parkway were already long enough, but bridges at Kentish Town mean it cannot expand beyond
East Midlands Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
2688-791: The passenger transport executive or other civic body responsible for administering public transport. One of these bodies, the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (Merseytravel) is responsible for one of three National Rail franchises not awarded by central government, namely the Merseyrail franchise, while certain National Rail services in North London came under the control of TfL in November 2007 as London Overground. Two other franchises,
2772-630: The Association of Train Operating Companies) provides a commonality for the TOCs and provides some centralised co-ordination. Its activities include the provision of a national timetable and online journey planner facility, and the operation of the various Railcard discount schemes. Eurostar is also a member of the RDG, though it is not itself a TOC. For historical and geographical reasons
2856-565: The British Railways Board. They acted as shadow franchises prior to being put to tender: The opening of the Channel Tunnel saw operations by Eurostar begin from London Waterloo to Paris and Brussels . The franchising process was implemented, with various private companies taking over the shadow franchises. Three were awarded to management buyouts . The Great Western Holdings ' management also were awarded
2940-489: The Department for Transport assumed responsibility for all revenues and costs and EMR was instead paid a management fee. 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. In October 2021, the DfT issued an updated prior information notice that confirmed that
3024-557: The DfT Rail Group. Until 2005 this role was performed by the Strategic Rail Authority . The infrastructure of the railways in England, Scotland, and Wales – including tracks and signalling – is owned and operated not by the train companies but by Network Rail , which took over responsibility from Railtrack in 2002. Most passenger trains are owned by a small number of rolling stock companies (ROSCO) and are leased to
3108-463: The ERMA period would be extended until 16 October 2022. 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. EMR was one of several train operators impacted by the 2022-2023 United Kingdom railway strikes , which was the first national rail strike in
3192-659: The East Coast franchise. In April 2008, Wrexham & Shropshire began operating open access services between Wrexham and London Marylebone . In June 2008, the Gatwick Express franchise was integrated with the South Central franchise operated by Southern . The government announced that National Express East Coast would have its franchise to operate intercity services along the ECML terminated, and that
3276-510: The East Midlands and parts of South Yorkshire . The Beeching cuts and electrification of the West Coast Main Line brought an end to the marginally longer London–Manchester service via Sheffield . In 1977, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Nationalised Industries recommended considering electrification of more of Britain's rail network , and by 1979 BR presented a range of options that included electrifying
3360-520: The London extension cost £9 million (equivalent to £1023 million in 2023). As traffic built up, the Midland Railway opened a new deviation just north of Market Harborough railway station on 26 June 1885 to remove the flat crossing of the Rugby and Stamford Railway . Plans by the Midland Railway to build a direct line from Derby to Manchester were thwarted in 1863 by the builders of
3444-495: The Luton DART, the cost of which is included in the train ticket price. 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
East Midlands Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3528-610: The Midland Main Line are rising faster than the national average, with continued increases predicted. In 2006, the Strategic Rail Authority produced a Route Utilisation Strategy for the Midland Main Line to propose ways of meeting this demand; Network Rail started a new study in February 2008 and this was published in February 2010. After electrification, the North Northamptonshire towns (Wellingborough, Kettering, and Corby) are planned to have an additional 'Outer Suburban service' into London St Pancras, similar to
3612-618: The Midland Main Line from London to Yorkshire by 2000. By 1983, the line had been electrified from Moorgate to Bedford, but proposals to continue electrification to Nottingham and Sheffield were not implemented. The introduction of the High Speed Train ( HST ) in May 1983, following the Leicester area resignalling, brought about an increase of the ruling line speed on the fast lines from 90 miles per hour (145 km/h) to 110 miles per hour (177 km/h). Between 2001 and 2003,
3696-588: The Midland Railway relied upon a junction at Rugby with the London and Birmingham Railway line for access to the capital at London Euston . By the 1850s, the junction at Rugby had become severely congested. The Midland Railway employed Thomas Brassey to construct a new route from Leicester to Hitchin via Kettering , Wellingborough , and Bedford giving access to London via the Great Northern Railway from Hitchin. The Crimean War resulted in
3780-446: The North West Regional Railways franchise. The remainder were divided between a handful of major transport operators: In Northern Ireland, NIR stopped using its own branding on the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin when it purchased new rolling stock in conjunction with IÉ, instead launching Enterprise as a separate brand name. Great Western Holdings , which operated Great Western Trains and North West Trains, became
3864-478: The Norwich to Liverpool stretch. EMR introduced Class 170s to replace the 153s and 156s which have since been withdrawn, and initially the 158s, which will now be kept for the foreseeable future and are planned for refurbishment along with the 170s. The Norwich to Liverpool service was initially planned to terminate at Nottingham with the stretch to Liverpool Lime Street taken over during the franchise by another operator, likely TransPennine Express . However, this
3948-411: The Scottish national franchise, currently operated by ScotRail , and the Welsh domestic franchise, operated by Transport for Wales , are awarded by the devolved governments of the two constituent nations. The Rail Delivery Group is the coordinating body of the train operating companies in Great Britain and owns the National Rail brand, which uses the former British Rail double-arrow logo and organises
4032-456: The South West and North East, and twice-hourly services between Nottingham and Derby, continuing to Birmingham and Cardiff. Northern runs an hourly service from Leeds to Nottingham via Barnsley and Alfreton. TransPennine Express also operates in the Sheffield area. The cities, towns and villages served by the MML are listed below. Stations in bold have a high usage. This table includes the historical extensions to Manchester (where it linked to
4116-542: The UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who participated in industrial action due to a dispute over pay and working conditions. On multiple occasions, EMR has requested that the travelling public avoid using its services on certain dates due to these strikes. During February 2023, Transport UK Group concluded a management buyout of Abellio's United Kingdom business, which included EMR. EMR operates commuter services from London St Pancras to Corby , as well as Intercity services from London St Pancras along
4200-582: The West Coast Main Line) and Carlisle (via Leeds where it meets with the 'modern' East Coast Main Line). Network Rail groups all lines in the East Midlands and the route north as far as Chesterfield and south to London as route 19. The actual line extends beyond this into routes 10 and 11. Major civil engineering structures on the Midland Main Line include the following. Line-side train monitoring equipment includes hot axle box detectors (HABD) and wheel impact load detectors (WILD) ‘Wheelchex’, these are located as follows. For marketing and franchising, this
4284-404: The common ticketing structure. Many of the train operating companies are in fact parts of larger companies which operate multiple franchises. The railway network in Northern Ireland is managed differently from the rest of the UK. The sole company in Northern Ireland that operates trains is NI Railways , who are a subsidiary of Translink , the publicly owned transport corporation, which also runs
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#17327766023284368-461: The course of the franchise, several planned timetable changes are to be made: As of December 2023, East Midlands Railway's regular off-peak services Monday-Friday include: EMR Regional is a brand used on regional routes, most of which terminate at or pass through Nottingham , including services from Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street and from Crewe to Newark Castle . They run a mixture of Class 158s and 170s with 158s normally confined to
4452-502: The current 8-car platform length. West Hampstead Thameslink has a new footbridge and a new station building. In September 2014 the current Thameslink Great Northern franchise was awarded and trains on this route are currently operated by Thameslink . In 2018 the Thameslink network expanded when some Southern services merged into it. In 2013/14 Nottingham station was refurbished and the platforms restructured. As part of Wellingborough's Stanton Cross development, Wellingborough station
4536-453: The electrification, including to both Corby and Nottingham. Increasing costs initially saw this terminated at Kettering in 2017, but in 2021 work began on extending electrification to Market Harborough with plans to extend further to Sheffield. In May 2022, a briefing to contractors was released ahead of an invitation to tender for Midland Mainline Electrification project work to extend electrification to Nottingham and Sheffield. This scheme
4620-457: The final HSTs to be withdrawn. The Connect service is operated by ex-Greater Anglia Class 360s . By 2023, East Midlands Railway planned to run EMR Regional services using 40 Class 170 units (in fact, they have 43 170s so far), and by 2024 plans to run EMR Intercity services using 33 new bi-mode Class 810 Aurora units. The final Class 170s from West Midlands Trains were delivered in May 2023. The last Class 170 from Transport for Wales
4704-444: The first set having entered service on 4 May 2020. They were replaced in May 2021. 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. On 16 May 2021, East Midlands Railway launched EMR Connect services between Corby and London St Pancras, which has enabled
4788-514: The franchise would pass into the hands of public-sector company, Directly Operated Railways , which acted as the parent for East Coast . Grand Central open-access services from London to Bradford began on 23 May 2010. DB Regio's operations in the UK were integrated into those of Arriva following the acquisition of the latter by Deutsche Bahn in the previous year. Owing to continuing losses, Wrexham & Shropshire ceased operating on 28 January 2011. Abellio Greater Anglia began operating
4872-401: The franchising system, beginning its services from London Paddington to Heathrow with operating rights until 2023. The shareholdings of M40 Trains were restructured with John Laing owning 84% of the company with the remaining 16% held by former BR managers. MTL which operated Merseyrail Electrics and Northern Spirit and Prism Rail that operated c2c (renamed from LTS Rail earlier in
4956-469: The heritage of the East Midlands . The company also confirmed that it would divide the franchise's services into three segments: EMR Electrics was later rebranded as EMR Connect following an announcement in April 2021. 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
5040-567: The individual TOCs. However, a handful of TOCs own and maintain some of their own rolling stock. Train operating companies also operate most of the network's stations , in their role as station facility owners (SFO), in which they lease the buildings and associated land from Network Rail. Network Rail manages some major railway stations and several stations are operated by London Underground or other companies. Most passenger TOCs in Great Britain are privately owned. The majority of these hold franchises to operate rail services on specific parts of
5124-608: The line between Derby and Sheffield was upgraded from 100 miles per hour (161 km/h) to 110 miles per hour (177 km/h) as part of Operation Princess, the Network Rail funded CrossCountry route upgrade. In January 2009, a new station, East Midlands Parkway , was opened between Loughborough and Trent Junction, to act as a park-and-ride station for suburban travellers from East Midlands cities and to serve nearby East Midlands Airport . Since then, 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) running has been introduced on extended stretches. Improved signalling, increased number of tracks, and
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#17327766023285208-462: The line. The Midland Main Line is undergoing a major upgrade of new digital signalling and full line electrification from London to Sheffield. High Speed 2 was planned to branch onto the Midland Main Line at East Midlands Parkway railway station . The Midland Main Line was built in stages between the 1830s and the 1870s. The earliest section was opened by the Midland Counties Railway between Nottingham and Derby on 4 June 1839. On 5 May 1840
5292-431: The name Wales & Borders . The remainder of Wales & West's services in the west of England were renamed Wessex Trains . John Laing bought out its partners in M40 Trains. Connex , having already lost the South Central franchise in 2001, was removed as franchisee of the South Eastern franchise in 2003 on the grounds of poor financial management. It was replaced as the franchise holder by South Eastern Trains ,
5376-435: The newly electrified Midland Main Line . The Class 810 is an evolution of the Class 802 units that Hitachi have delivered to a number of British train operators; 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. During May 2020, EMR opened
5460-439: 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 March 2017, the Department for Transport announced that Arriva ,
5544-417: The previous plan of an East Midlands Hub further north on the Toton sidings. This will allow HS2 services to connect to both Derby and Nottingham city centres directly using the MML for access, which was a criticism of the previous HS2 eastern leg proposal. The term Midland Main Line has been used from the late 1840s to describe any route of the Midland Railway on which express trains were operated. It
5628-404: The purview of National Rail, which operate specific services which are recent additions to Britain's railways. The main examples are Eurostar, which operates to continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel , and Heathrow Express , which runs fast services from London to Heathrow Airport . A number of metropolitan railways on the network are operated by the local franchise holder in conjunction with
5712-399: The rail system as a whole. The term is also sometimes used to describe companies operating passenger or freight rail services over tracks owned by another company or a national network owner. Franchises were initially let by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF). This was in turn replaced by the Strategic Rail Authority , which has since been abolished. For England, franchising
5796-716: The railway and come under the auspices of the National Rail brand. In addition, companies are able to bid for "paths" (specific parts of the overall National Rail timetable) to operate their own services, which the franchises do not operate – these operators are classed as open-access operators and are not franchise holders. Currently in Great Britain, there are three open-access operators: Hull Trains , which runs services between London King's Cross and Hull , Grand Central , which operates between King's Cross and Sunderland and between King's Cross and Bradford , and Lumo , which operates between King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley . In addition, there are operators that fall outside
5880-431: The railway network of the United Kingdom is split into two independent systems: one in Great Britain (including the Isle of Wight ), and one in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the railway system of the Republic of Ireland. In Great Britain, passenger train services are operated by a number of companies, referred to as Train Operating Companies or TOCs, normally on the basis of regional franchises awarded by
5964-515: The revival of proposals to extend electrification from Bedford to Sheffield are underway. Much of this £70 million upgrade, including some line-speed increases, came online on 9 December 2013 (see below). Network Rail published a Route Utilisation Strategy for freight in 2007; over the coming years a cross-country freight route will be developed enhancing the Birmingham to Peterborough Line , increasing capacity through Leicester, and remodelling Syston and Wigston junctions. Traffic levels on
6048-501: The routes operated by Silverlink in London, which were combined with the extended East London line in 2011. Services are controlled directly by TfL, with running of the trains themselves contracted to a private company as an operating concession. This is different from an ordinary franchise, as the train operator is not given control of the strategic aspects of the operation, such as pricing, timetabling and rolling stock procurement. In December 2007, National Express East Coast took over
6132-628: The running of the InterCity East Coast franchise from GNER . Grand Central also began operating its services between London and Sunderland as an open access operator. In January 2008, Laing Rail which owned M40 Trains and a 50% shareholding in London Overground Rail Operations was sold to Deutsche Bahn , becoming part of the DB Regio Group. In February 2008, One was re-branded by National Express as National Express East Anglia to bring it into line with
6216-480: The same franchise was partially enacted. In April 2004, One commenced operating the Greater Anglia franchise that combined the Anglia Railways and First Great Eastern franchises with the West Anglia Great Northern services radiating out from Liverpool Street . The remainder continuing to be operated as WAGN . In the North of England, prior to 2004 there were two regional franchises,
6300-652: The section of the route from Trent Junction to Leicester was opened. The line at Derby was joined on 1 July 1840 by the North Midland Railway to Leeds Hunslet Lane via Chesterfield , Rotherham Masborough , Swinton , and Normanton . On 10 May 1844 the North Midland Railway , the Midland Counties Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway merged to form the Midland Railway . Without its own route to London,
6384-498: The service instead being split at Nottingham as intended but remaining with EMR. The Barton line was expected to transfer from Northern in 2019 but this was delayed until May 2021. On 19 June 2021, EMR Regional services were cut to enable the timetable to run effectively. Although EMR stated that 85% of services were still running, there was still an impact to local commuter services. Contactless payment cards can be used between London St Pancras and Luton Airport Parkway . Over
6468-550: The short time available, to catch a GNR train to finish their journey. James Allport arranged a seven-year deal with the GN to run into Kings Cross for a guaranteed £20,000 a year (equivalent to £2,410,000 in 2023). Through services to London were introduced in February 1858. This line met with similar capacity problems at Hitchin as the former route via Rugby, so a new line was constructed from Bedford via Luton to St Pancras which opened on 1 October 1868. The construction of
6552-588: The south-east of England, were replaced as the operator of the Network SouthCentral franchise by Govia , who began operating it under the name South Central . Also in 2001, a new franchise, the Wales & Borders franchise was created by the amalgamation of Valley Lines and the majority of services in Wales and the Borders held by Wales & West . The new franchise was initially operated under
6636-504: The term was used to define the route between St Pancras and Sheffield, but since then, Network Rail has restricted it in its description of Route 19 to the lines between St. Pancras and Chesterfield. The principal operator is East Midlands Railway , which operates four InterCity trains every hour from London St Pancras with two trains per hour to both Nottingham and Sheffield . EMR use Class 222 Meridian trains in various carriage formations for its InterCity services. EMR also operate
6720-505: The year), Valley Lines Trains , Wales & West , and West Anglia Great Northern were purchased by Arriva and National Express respectively, resulting in the latter owning nine franchises. The two companies transferred to Arriva were renamed Arriva Trains Merseyside and Arriva Trains Northern. The first open access operator using the National Rail brand, Hull Trains , commenced running its services between King's Cross and Hull . In 2001, Connex , which had operated two franchises in
6804-474: 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; rival bidder Stagecoach had been disqualified from the process because its submission failed to meet employee pension obligations. In June 2019, Abellio revealed its branding and colour scheme for EMR, which featured distinct purple and white colours that reflected
6888-496: Was superseded by First Great Western Link and ScotRail (National Express) by First ScotRail . A new operator, Heathrow Connect , jointly run by BAA and First Great Western , began operating stopping services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport complementing the Heathrow Express. Three new integrated franchises began operating in April 2006: Further integrations occurred in 2007. The first of these
6972-626: Was the South Western franchise ; this merged the original South West Trains franchise with the Island Line Trains franchise on the Isle of Wight and began operating in February 2007 under the name South West Trains, with Island Line retained as a separate brand. In November 2007, three new integrated franchises began operating: In addition to these three, a further new operator, London Overground Rail Operations , took control of
7056-484: Was transferred on 28 January 2024. EMR also has 170s acquired from ScotRail and Southern ; the latter were converted back to 170s from previously converted 171s by reinstating their original type of couplers. The company is refurbishing the stock used for its regional services. [REDACTED] To replace the Class 222 units, 33 five-carriage Class 810 bi-mode trains will be introduced in early 2025 to make use of
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