East Midlands Franchise
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The East Midlands Franchise is a new National Rail franchise formed by the Department for Transport to operate passenger rail services in the East Midlands. The franchise will be formed through the amalgamation of the current Midland Mainline (MML) franchise, which operates inter-city services from London St Pancras to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield, with elements of Central Trains. The franchise is due to begin operating in November 2007.
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[edit] Routes
The new franchise will be responsible for the existing core MML services from London St Pancras to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield, together with the following Central Trains routes:
- Matlock - Derby
- Crewe - Derby
- Nottingham - Skegness
- Leicester - Lincoln
- Worksop - Nottingham
- Cleethorpes - Lincoln - Newark-on-Trent/Nottingham
- Doncaster - Lincoln - Peterborough
- Liverpool - Norwich
[edit] Proposed Timetable
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 St. Pancras.
- London St Pancras - Kettering. This train would run as a dedicated commuter/short distance service and in the future extend to a possible new station in Corby.
- London St Pancras - Derby and Nottingham as portion workings which would split at Leicester
- London St Pancras - Sheffield as it currently does with faster timings.
- London St Pancras - Nottingham semi-fast service as it does now.
[edit] Possible Enhancements
Any enhanced services run as part of East Midlands will be at the discretion of the winning bidder.
- There have been strong calls for direct services between the London and each of Lincoln*, Mansfield, Worksop, Melton Mowbray, Oakham and Matlock (services were withdrawn in 2003 after incompatible stock was introduced)
- Regular services between Leicester, Nottingham and Leeds and a re-introduction of the service to Manchester via Leicester and Derby which ran temporarily while the West Coast Main Line upgrade took place.
- Other suggested enhancements include those to regional services, where by trains from the East Midlands may extend to Huddersfield, Halifax and Bradford in West Yorkshire.
*An open-access operator, Humber Coast & City Railway, has proposed running services between Cleethorpes, Lincoln and Stratford.
[edit] Rolling Stock
As the franchise will be an amalgam of two existing franchises, it is likely to utilise the existing rolling stock (which would encompass MML's High Speed Trains and Meridians, together with some of Central's Turbostar and Sprinter DMUs).
| Class | Image | Type | Top speed | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mph | km/h | ||||
| Class 170 Turbostar |  |
diesel multiple unit | 100 | 160 | 1999 |
| Class 222 Meridian |  |
Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit | 125 | 200 | 2003 |
| Class 43 High Speed Train |  |
Diesel Locomotive | 125 | 200 | 1976 - 1982 |
| Class 158 Express Sprinter |  |
diesel multiple unit | 90 | 145 | 1989 - 1992 |
| Class 156 Super Sprinter |  |
diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 1987 - 1989 |
| Class 153 Super Sprinter |  |
diesel multiple unit | 75 | 120 | 1987 - 1988 |
[edit] Bids
The Department for Transport announced on 19 September 2006 that four parties had pre-qualified for the new East Midlands franchise[1]:
- Arriva Trains East Midlands Limited (Arriva)
- First East Midlands Limited (First Group)
- NXE Trains Limited (National Express Group)
- Stagecoach Midland Rail Limited (Stagecoach Group)
[edit] References
- ^ Department for Transport announces pre-qualified bidders for 3 new franchises. Department for Transport.
[edit] External links
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains1 - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - Grand Central2 - GNER - Heathrow Connect Hull Trains - Island Line3 - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline1 - Northern Rail Northern Ireland Railways4 - 'one' - Silverlink1 - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - TransPennine Express - Virgin Trains (VWC - VXC1) |
|---|---|
| International: | Enterprise4 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express5 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper6 - Night Riviera7 |
| 1 Ends November 2007 - 2 Starts 20 May 2007 - 3 Operated by South West Trains 4 Operated on the Irish railway network - 5 Operated by 'one' - 6 Operated by First ScotRail 7 Operated by First Great Western |
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| Future passenger train operators and franchises in Great Britain | |
|---|---|
| New Franchises: | Cross Country1 - East Midlands1 - InterCity East Coast - London Overground1 West Midlands1 |
| Proposed open-access operators: |
Glasgow Trains2 - Grand Union2 - Humber & City2 - Wrexham & Shropshire3 |
| 1 Starts November 2007 - 2 Proposed - 3 Awaiting Approval | |
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