Midlands success
FEBRUARY saw the Department for Transport announce four bidders for the next East Midlands franchise, a process that had been paused and restarted after the cancellation of electrification north of Kettering and Corby in July 2017.
The four bidders are Abellio, Arriva, a FirstGroup/Trenitalia joint venture and current operator Stagecoach (as East Midlands Trains), which from 2019 will be charged with improving stations and ticket buying facilities, plus introducing new stock to cope with rising passenger demand – in particular how to plug the gap between HSTs becoming non-compliant with PRM (Persons with Reduced Mobility) legislation in 2020 and the earliest possible delivery of new bi-mode stock in 2022.
The current East Midlands franchise has been in operation since November 11, 2007 and is made up of routes that were previously the Midland Main Line franchise and part of the Central Trains franchise.
The former MML service covers the fast Intercity services between St Pancras and Nottingham/Sheffield plus stopping trains that call at intermediate stations as far as Derby and Nottingham. Those inherited from Central Trains include the long-distance secondary route between Norwich and Liverpool via Nottingham, as well as local services from Nottingham to Lincoln, Workshop and Skegness. Other routes are Derby to Crewe and Matlock, Lincoln to Cleethorpes, and the ‘Joint Line’ from Doncaster to Peterborough via Sleaford.
The successful franchise bidder back in 2007 was required to continue plans for opening a station at East Midlands Parkway, and to provide trains to serve proposed stations at Corby and Robin Hood Airport (since rebranded Doncaster Sheffield Airport) on the Doncaster to Gainsborough line. The bid documentation indicated that the Department for Transport had some scepticism about a future station for Robin Hood, and required the successful bidder to indicate the savings that would accrue if the project did not take place. The Doncaster to Gainsborough route has a limited timetable and was the subject of a bus substitution plan by British Rail in pre-Privatisation days.
There was also a requirement for the winning bidder to implement new
