East Midlands Railway Dec 2025 recast

[bunnahabhain]

A number of changes coming in December 2025 for East Midlands Railway services across the region.

• Matlock to Nottingham services run through to Cleethorpes.
  • New Clee and Grimsby Docks served by this service, rather than the Barton-on-Humber branch.
• Crewe to Newark Castle services run through to Lincoln Central.
• Leicester to Lincoln Central / Grimsby Town services terminate at Nottingham.
• Peterborough to Doncaster via Spalding services to be split at Lincoln Central with through journeys requiring a change.
  • Additional services run, 1 round trip on weekdays, and 4 on Saturdays.
• Lincoln Central to Newark North Gate services reduced from 5 to 4 weekdays, 10 to 4 Saturdays and 10 to 8 Sundays.
• Additional Sunday services
  • An earlier Nottingham to Manchester Piccadilly service (I'd expect 0845 approx) on Sundays, with one of the Sheffield to Norwich services starting back at Manchester Piccadilly
  • An additional AM Lincoln Central to Nottingham, PM Nottingham to Lincoln Central and an additional PM Mansfield Woodhouse to Nottingham.
  • Additional Matlock services
• Hourly calls at Carlton, Spondon, Attenborough, Burton Joyce (not Sundays)
• Later last trains to Mansfield Woodhouse, Matlock and Grantham (an additional after 2100 to Grantham)

 

[XCTurbostar]

Disappointed to see the reduction of Newark Northgate service on Saturdays, this removes a possible London connection during the even hours.

This also gives a worse service to Lincoln for Hykeham and Collingham.

 

[30907]

This also gives a worse service to Lincoln for Hykeham and Collingham.

...but only if the additional Newark C-Lincolns don't call?

 

[Failed Unit]

Very interesting and look forward to seeing the detail. Will Cleethorpes - Lincoln become hourly at last? When the Franchise was awarded most services would be hourly.

Be great to see usable connections at Lincoln for the London service.

I am not sure the loss of the Newark Northgate service will be missed, half hourly to Castle should cover the demand on that route.If all trains have a decent connection a Peterborough in London services again it will migrate the issues with losing Newark.

Look forward to the seeing the proposed timetable. All day to Cleethorpes will be welcome.

 

[XCTurbostar]

...but only if the additional Newark C-Lincolns don't call?

Thats a fair point, I assume they will.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Point 12. Aren't the timings at Crewe virtually standard already, apart from the last departure of the day? Plus the 0705 departure Monday to Friday (instead of 0710) but I can't imagine there are many people wanting to connect into that!

 

[duffield]

Through services to Cleethorpes? Very welcome!

Joining them to the Matlock service? Eeek! Currently Nottingham to Matlock is very reliable, I'm afraid stitching it together with the Clee service will ruin that. Edit: And specifically, any people who use it for purposes like a daily commute from Matlock to Derby will be furious if this makes it impossible to rely on.

But 2tph to Lincoln is great, those trains can get very crowded at present, and extra Matlock services on Sunday are pretty useful.

Overall seems like a positive change, but don't they need extra units to operate the extended/extra services? If so, where are they coming from? More 170s from somewhere?

Edit: Doesn't look like 2tph Nottingham to Mansfield is ever coming back though (bar Saturdays).

 

[43055]

A number of changes coming in December 2025 for East Midlands Railway services across the region.

• Matlock to Nottingham services run through to Cleethorpes.
  • New Clee and Grimsby Docks served by this service, rather than the Barton-on-Humber branch.
• Crewe to Newark Castle services run through to Lincoln Central.
• Leicester to Lincoln Central / Grimsby Town services terminate at Nottingham.
• Peterborough to Doncaster via Spalding services to be split at Lincoln Central with through journeys requiring a change.
  • Additional services run, 1 round trip on weekdays, and 4 on Saturdays.
• Lincoln Central to Newark North Gate services reduced from 5 to 4 weekdays, 10 to 4 Saturdays and 10 to 8 Sundays.
• Additional Sunday services
  • An earlier Nottingham to Manchester Piccadilly service (I'd expect 0845 approx) on Sundays, with one of the Sheffield to Norwich services starting back at Manchester Piccadilly
  • An additional AM Lincoln Central to Nottingham, PM Nottingham to Lincoln Central and an additional PM Mansfield Woodhouse to Nottingham.
  • Additional Matlock services
• Hourly calls at Carlton, Spondon, Attenborough, Burton Joyce (not Sundays)
• Later last trains to Mansfield Woodhouse, Matlock and Grantham (an additional after 2100 to Grantham)

Interesting set of changes.

Point 12. Aren't the timings at Crewe virtually standard already, apart from the last departure of the day? Plus the 0705 departure Monday to Friday (instead of 0710) but I can't imagine there are many people wanting to connect into that!

That's my thought and services to Liverpool is 2 to 3 times an hour as well.

Through services to Cleethorpes? Very welcome!

Joining them to the Matlock service? Eeek! Currently Nottingham to Matlock is very reliable, I'm afraid stitching it together with the Clee service will ruin that. Edit: And specifically, any people who use it for purposes like a daily commute from Matlock to Derby will be furious if this makes it impossible to rely on.

But 2tph to Lincoln is great, those trains can get very crowded at present, and extra Matlock services on Sunday are pretty useful.

Overall seems like a positive change, but don't they need extra units to operate the extended/extra services? If so, where are they coming from? More 170s from somewhere?

Edit: Doesn't look like 2tph Nottingham to Mansfield is ever coming back though (bar Saturdays).

Moving the Leicester - Grimsby over to the Matlock route makes sense as the Nottingham - Leicester section is 50 mins so could be done with 2 units and saves layover time at Nottingham compared to the current Matlock services along with a unit which will probably go onto the Crewe - Lincoln. Removing the Lincoln - Newark North Gate services may also save another unit for some of the other changes.

 

[LowLevel]

Through services to Cleethorpes? Very welcome!

Joining them to the Matlock service? Eeek! Currently Nottingham to Matlock is very reliable, I'm afraid stitching it together with the Clee service will ruin that. Edit: And specifically, any people who use it for purposes like a daily commute from Matlock to Derby will be furious if this makes it impossible to rely on.

But 2tph to Lincoln is great, those trains can get very crowded at present, and extra Matlock services on Sunday are pretty useful.

Overall seems like a positive change, but don't they need extra units to operate the extended/extra services? If so, where are they coming from? More 170s from somewhere?

Edit: Doesn't look like 2tph Nottingham to Mansfield is ever coming back though (bar Saturdays).

If they can get on top of the maintenance issues they have more than enough units, just need to find a way of getting rid of the months on end they spend sat waiting for parts (especially 158 wheelsets) and depot space.

 

[duffield]

Interesting set of changes.


That's my thought and services to Liverpool is 2 to 3 times an hour as well.



Moving the Leicester - Grimsby over to the Matlock route makes sense as the Nottingham - Leicester section is 50 mins so could be done with 2 units and saves layover time at Nottingham compared to the current Matlock services along with a unit which will probably go onto the Crewe - Lincoln. Removing the Lincoln - Newark North Gate services may also save another unit for some of the other changes.

Yes, I'm sure the Matlock service change makes sense in terms of unit utilisation, given that currently the Matlock units typically sit idle for 35 minutes at Nottingham (also blocking a platform), but it's still a shame to make a currently simple mostly reliable service into one which has a much higher chance of frequent disruption, particularly as it provides the only services on the Matlock branch. I just hope that EMR will be able to start a substitute unit from Nottingham to Matlock if incoming services from Cleethorpes are badly delayed (maybe there will be a crew change at Nottingham which would make this more feasible). They seem to be able to do that sort of thing on the current services through Nottingham at least sometimes.

 

[station_road]

Should we now assume that the Sunday morning service on the Derby - Crewe line (promised when the franchise was awarded) will never happen?

 

[A S Leib]

Should we now assume that the Sunday morning service on the Derby - Crewe line (promised when the franchise was awarded) will never happen?

I'm also guessing that hourly Lincoln – Doncaster isn't happening soon?

 

[MCR247]

Cleethorpes - Matlock seems to be asking for trouble a bit, I feel like that’ll be getting turned around short at Derby relatively often

 

[Failed Unit]

The current Grimsby - Nottingham service isn’t that bad. Overcrowding does hurt it but what do they expect when they only use 2 car trains. I suspect it will turn at Grimsby lots (nice single track) if it is late. The other problem area is crossing the ECML. I can’t say I have experienced big delays on this route since it was changed a few years back.

 

[Class 170101]

Is there a website link to to the above images. I cannot seem to find it on the EMR website.

 

[Failed Unit]

I would also love to see the full document, I see a few changes from the franchise commitments such as the Liverpool - Norwich lives on (which Is good news).

I don’t think Lincolnshire people will care that the about the change of route to Matlock over Leicester. I understand the pathing was difficult if it had stayed going to Leicester with a significant dwell at Nottingham needed. If I do to Leicester I often changed at Nottingham anyway for a faster end-to-end time and as the document says Derby is better for Cross Country services.

The split of Peterborough - Doncaster is a pity but the big population centres probably change else where.

Can’t wait to see draft timetables.

 

[LowLevel]

I would also love to see the full document, I see a few changes from the franchise commitments such as the Liverpool - Norwich lives on (which Is good news).

I don’t think Lincolnshire people will care that the about the change of route to Matlock over Leicester. I understand the pathing was difficult if it had stayed going to Leicester with a significant dwell at Nottingham needed. If I do to Leicester I often changed at Nottingham anyway for a faster end-to-end time and as the document says Derby is better for Cross Country services.

The split of Peterborough - Doncaster is a pity but the big population centres probably change else where.

Can’t wait to see draft timetables.

Through traffic on the Joint line through Lincoln except during East Coast disruption is negligible anyway - usually a tiny handful of things like Metheringham - Doncaster for long distance connection - far more worthwhile to have good connections at Sleaford where there has always been local traffic between Lincoln and Boston, and far more before the current timetable destroyed most of the connections making them 50 minutes each way.

 

[A S Leib]

The split of Peterborough - Doncaster is a pity but the big population centres probably change else where.

ECML Peterborough – Doncaster's currently 1 tph to Leeds, ~0.5 tph to Edinburgh and 0.5 tph to York, going to 0.5 tph to York, 1 tph to Edinburgh and 1 tph to Leeds from December, so a slight increase for end-to-end PBO – DON. I think getting Doncaster – Lincoln to hourly would be a better improvement than keeping through services.

 

[Failed Unit]

ECML Peterborough – Doncaster's currently 1 tph to Leeds, ~0.5 tph to Edinburgh and 0.5 tph to York, going to 0.5 tph to York, 1 tph to Edinburgh and 1 tph to Leeds from December, so a slight increase for end-to-end PBO – DON. I think getting Doncaster – Lincoln to hourly would be a better improvement than keeping through services.

You can do hourly Peterborough - Doncaster with the same 4 units.
Low level has responded above, but I was thinking of Gainsborough - Peterborough and Sleaford/Spalding - Doncaster traffic. Using those stations for connections to other places. Spalding has traditionally gone to Peterborough to head north so that probably won’t change.

 

[70014IronDuke]

A number of changes coming in December 2025 for East Midlands Railway services across the region.

• Hourly calls at Carlton, Spondon, Attenborough, Burton Joyce (not Sundays)

Not sue about Carlton or Burton Joyce, but - assuming the service is reliable - this will be a huge boost for Spondon and Attenboro'.

Be interesting to see how the station entries/exits improve after two years.

 

[edwin_m]

I don’t think Lincolnshire people will care that the about the change of route to Matlock over Leicester. I understand the pathing was difficult if it had stayed going to Leicester with a significant dwell at Nottingham needed. If I do to Leicester I often changed at Nottingham anyway for a faster end-to-end time and as the document says Derby is better for Cross Country services.

The split of Peterborough - Doncaster is a pity but the big population centres probably change else where.

Most of the passengers using the smaller stations are likely to travelling to or from their nearest major centre, so the through-routeing at Lincoln or Nottingham is mostly driven by operational considerations (turnaround times low as practicable and train length matching demand).

For cross-Nottingham Liverpool-Norwich may be something of an exception, and Lincoln-Leicester could be as well if it didn't have to do the stops south of Loughborough. Nottingham-Skegness needs to be self-contained because it gets strengthened at peak holiday times, and they don't want to split or join or have the longer formation wandering off somewhere it's not needed.

I believe the ideal through-routeing for Lincoln would be Birmingham, but that would involve re-drawing TOC boundaries. Maybe when GBR comes along?

Not sue about Carlton or Burton Joyce, but - assuming the service is reliable - this will be a huge boost for Spondon and Attenboro'.

There's some new development on the former industrial sites round Spondon, and some around Attenborough too, but I'm a little skeptical of whether an hourly train will be attractive when compared to much more frequent (though slower) bus services.

 

[Trainman40083]

Should we now assume that the Sunday morning service on the Derby - Crewe line (promised when the franchise was awarded) will never happen?

The reason there is no Sunday morning service between Derby and Crewe has always been down to manning of the multiple mechanical signal boxes by Network Rail. Including a level crossing gate box, I think there are 8. So, that would entail a fair cost increase.

 

[Nottingham59]

Does this mean that EMR trains will be using the Newark flat crossing more frequently? How did they find the paths, given the congestion on the ECML timetable?

 

[Trainman40083]

Years ago, I started commuting by rail from Derby to Crewe. My train started at Nottingham and was very iffy, in terms of reliability. It would go to Crewe, then Skegness and back to Crewe and then it was time to catch it home. It was very unreliable and over time, less people used it. Most of the issues seemed to be east of Derby. In EMT days, it was changed to 3 units just working just between Derby and Crewe. Still had a few issues, that might see it terminated at Stoke, but generally predictable and reliable. More people used it. Now EMR has it Newark to Crewe. A broken rail at Attenborough the other day saw few trains on the Crewe side.. What price reliability? Do the longer runs make the service less reliable, seeing less passengers. In terms of the Matlock service, it is very easy to knack that up. At the moment, the two units north of Derby hourly, pass between Duffield and Belper. Once one runs late, they would either run short, else the Matlock section fails, due to the single line..Maybe some terminate at Ambergate and come back. .

 

[Failed Unit]

Does this mean that EMR trains will be using the Newark flat crossing more frequently? How did they find the paths, given the congestion on the ECML timetable?

Apparently they have 2 paths per hour over ECML so the services must cross to make best use of them. Spot the problem. No idea where the freight is going (if any exists now on Lincoln - Nottingham)

 

[Trainman40083]

Apparently they have 2 paths per hour over ECML so the services must cross to make best use of them. Spot the problem. No idea where the freight is going (if any exists now on Lincoln - Nottingham)

You must mean all the oil trains from Humberside to Kingsbury. Luckily the coal flow from Humberside to Radcliffe has ceased.

 

[bunnahabhain]

It's only a "recent" phenomenon to have 1 train an hour to Lincoln, before the 2004 Central recast there were 2 an hour, one fast and one stopping via Newark North Gate.

 

[Nottingham59]

It's only a "recent" phenomenon to have 1 train an hour to Lincoln, before the 2004 Central recast there were 2 an hour, one fast and one stopping via Newark North Gate.

Yes, and the ECML timetable has become more intensive since 2004. And they are trying to shoehorn another 1tph into the ECMLtimetable in 2025 ....

 

[Failed Unit]

Yes, and the ECML timetable has become more intensive since 2004. And they are trying to shoehorn another 1tph into the ECMLtimetable in 2025 ....

As part of the plan there were supposed to be 2 crossings for local trains per hour. (Dec 2025 plan)

It may be possible to divert the oil train via Brigg (but this may present other issues with pathing).

 

[Trainman40083]

As part of the plan there were supposed to be 2 crossings for local trains per hour. (Dec 2025 plan)

It may be possible to divert the oil train via Brigg (but this may present other issues with pathing).

Via Brigg could only send the HEAVY oil train (up to 3200 tonnes) via, Retford, Worksop and Sheffield station and up the incline to Dore, which may import risk to say far more passenger trains between Sheffield and Chesterfield.