EMR Set for Public Ownership by End of Next Year

East Midlands Railway will be brought into public ownership by the end of next year.

The Department for Transport says services on the Midland Main Line will then become part of Great British Railways.

Although no firm date has been announced, October 18th this year is the earliest point at which the current franchise can be terminated.

The Government says the move will put passengers ahead of shareholder returns amid on-going concerns about EMR’s performance.

Lee Barron, Labour MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire, has called for the change to happen as soon as possible, following complaints from constituents about the reliability of EMR services.

The news comes as Harborough MP Neil O’Brien says he is disappointed that he has still not received a response from the Rail Minister after raising concerns about EMR’s performance in July.

He was prompted to contact Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill after ongoing problems with EMR’s fleet of trains, including reliability and maintenance issues with the new Aurora Class 810 trains, which resulted in strike action by members of the RMT union.

Neil spoke to HFM:

East Midlands Railway previously said its Aurora trains meet all required safety standards and it is working to resolve the issues.

The Department for Transport says it has informed the Rail Minister’s office about Mr O’Brien’s concerns.