East Midlands Railway (EMR; legal name Abellio East Midlands Limited) is a train operating company in England, 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 preexisting Class 170 multiple units from other operators.
During early 2020, passenger numbers and ticket revenues collapsed following 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.
History
Background
In March 2017, the Department for Transport announced that Arriva, 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 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 the heritage of the East Midlands. The company also confirmed that it would divide the franchise's services into three segments: EMR InterCity for long-distance services from London St Pancras EMR Regional for services across the East Midlands EMR Electrics for the outer suburban London St Pancras to Corby service
EMR Electrics was later rebranded as EMR Connect following an announcement in April 2021.
Covid-19 and franchise suspension
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 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 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.
Industrial action and ownership change
EMR was one of several train operators impacted by the 2022-2023 United Kingdom railway strikes, which was the first national rail strike in 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.
Services
EMR operates commuter services from London St Pancras to Corby, as well as InterCity services from London St Pancras along 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; 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.