£600 million improvements for East Midlands railway by Abellio confirmed
Abellio is pleased and proud to be confirmed today as the new operator of the East Midlands rail franchise by the Department for Transport. This concludes the ‘standstill’ period that followed the Department for Transport’s announcement on 10th April naming Abellio as Winning Bidder for the contract.
Abellio will invest £600 million including: brand new bi-mode intercity trains between the East Midlands, the North and London; a high-quality, dedicated, electric train service between London, Luton Airport and Corby; and the introduction of faster, modern, refurbished trains across the whole network. This investment will also see transformed stations, improved ticketing and accessibility, enhanced training and benefits for employees, including 30 new apprenticeships each year for young people. There will be closer working with Network Rail to maximise the benefits of the ongoing £1.5 billion Midland Main Line upgrade.
Dominic Booth, Managing Director of Abellio UK, said:
“Abellio is pleased and proud to have been confirmed as Franchisee for the East Midlands Railway.
We’re looking forward to working with the East Midlands Trains management and frontline team who have laid such excellent foundations for us to build on to deliver the vision developed with local people and stakeholders.
“With all trains replaced and much higher capacity, our new franchise will renew the railway and support communities large and small across the East Midlands and beyond. “
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Notes to Editors
East Midlands Railway
The new eight year franchise, which begins on 18th August 2019, will deliver a major package of improvements for passengers across a large a part of England including towns and cities across the East Midlands, the North, and the home counties down to London St Pancras station.
These include:
Fleet renewal: all trains on EMR to be replaced with new bi-mode trains on intercity routes and high-quality refurbished trains on regional/local services between 2020 and December 2022;
More capacity: longer trains and more services on many routes providing 80% increase in capacity into Nottingham, Lincoln and St Pancras;
Connectivity: new timetables with more frequencies; Ticketing and retailing: improved ‘Delay-Repay 15’ compensation scheme; Smart (Account Based) Ticketing; and a new ‘Flexipass’ part-time season ticket; Station improvements: at least £17million on station improvements with larger schemes at Leicester, London St Pancras, Market Harborough and Sheffield – plus 916 new car parking spaces and 1,050 additional cycle parking spaces. Wi-Fi: free high quality connectivity on all trains by 2021; Skills and training: creation of over 30 apprenticeships per annum for young people, and significant investment in staff training and development; Community Rail: doubling funding for Community Rail Partnerships and creating up to four new CRPs and extending station adoption.
About Abellio
Abellio is a transport operating group with offices in London and Glasgow. We have controlling interests in the West Midlands Trains and Greater Anglia franchises, and we run the Merseyrail concession in a 50:50 joint venture with Serco. We also operate over 8% of London buses through Abellio London.
Abellio is currently overseeing a £3 billion investment in new trains, making us a force for progress and prosperity in the UK. Our driving purpose is delivering easier journeys for our customers, every day.
Abellio East Midlands Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Abellio Transport Holdings Ltd, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways).
For further information, please contact:
Abellio Press Office
Tel. 020 3588 4984 / Email. communications@abellio.com
Out of hours:
Edward Funnell: 07717 806 720
Emily Lightowler 07775 548 894
Mark Fuller 07979 731 903