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 exisiting 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 - Newark-on-Trent/Nottingham
- Doncaster - Lincoln - Peterborough
The franchise will also assume control of Central Train's service from Liverpool-Norwich. However, if it proves better value for money, consideration would be given for this service to be split in two, with Nottingham as the intermediate terminus for both services. Norwich-Nottingham would remain with East Midlands, while Nottingham-Liverpool would be operated by TransPennine Express.
[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for direct services between the Capital and Lincoln, Mansfield, Worksop, Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Matlock (services were withdrawn in 2003 after incompatible stock was introduced) as well as cities further outside the franchised area Leeds and Manchester.
[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] External links
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - Grand Central1 - GNER - Heathrow Connect Hull Trains - Island Line2 - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline - Northern Rail Northern Ireland Railways3 - 'one' - Silverlink - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains2 - TransPennine Express - Virgin Trains |
|---|---|
| International: | Enterprise3 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express4 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper5 - Night Riviera6 |
| 1 Starts 20 May 2007 - 2 To be replaced by the South Western franchise in February 2007 3 Operated on the Irish railway network - 4 Operated by 'one' - 5 Operated by First ScotRail 6 Operated by First Great Western |
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| Future passenger train operators in Great Britain | |
|---|---|
| New Franchises: | Cross Country1 - East Midlands1 - London Overground1 - South Western2 West Midlands1 |
| Proposed open-access operators: |
Grand Union3 - Wrexham & Shropshire4 |
| 1 Starts November 2007 - 2 Starts February 2007 - 3 Proposed - 4 Awaiting Approval | |
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