Goodbye East Midlands Trains. Hello Emr

[RollingJ]

Strange, @blackydog - I've just checked on the National Rail site, and they all follow the standard route via Derby and Leicester. FYI I used Wednesday 11/09 and after 1145 in my enquiry.

Edited August 17, 2019 by RollingJ

[Annie Bynnol]

There are line closures right up 'til Christmas for electrification work south of Loughborough on the MML to St Pancras.

Mainly late/early/weekends. Check here

Through trains will take a lot longer and sometimes buses replace the trains.

The 'booking engines' tries to book you the fastest routes. 

Or use Trainline to plan (but don't buy as they are always the most expensive) and buy at the station.

 

At these times EMR will not offer Advance fares.

At these times use the LNER website, join (not essential but you get offers)and book tickets Doncaster KingsX

There are now 2 tph from Sheffield to Retford so services from Retford to KingsX are an alternative.

Edited August 17, 2019 by Annie Bynnol

[RollingJ]

4 minutes ago, Annie Bynnol said:

There are line closures right up 'til Christmas for electrification work south of Loughborough.

Mainly late/early/weekends

Through trains will take a lot longer and sometimes buses replace the trains.

The 'booking engine' tries to book you the fastest routes.

 

I'm well aware of that @Annie Bynnol, but as you say, these engineering works are usually 'overnight', so unless you try travelling either very late, or very early, you would still expect to go via the Derby/Leicester route.

 

blackydog didn't specify a departure time.

[Annie Bynnol]

24 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

I'm well aware of that @Annie Bynnol, but as you say, these engineering works are usually 'overnight', so unless you try travelling either very late, or very early, you would still expect to go via the Derby/Leicester route.

 

blackydog didn't specify a departure time.

All day line closures on Saturdays and Sundays on dates in October, November and December for electrification, junction, bridge, station work.

Diversions fewer trains via Corby so less capacity so fewer Advance tickets and significantly faster journeys via Doncaster 

Saturday 31st August - Sunday 1st September

Sunday 8th September

Sunday 29th September

Sunday 6th October

Sunday 13th October

Sunday 10th November

Saturday 2nd November - Sunday 3rd November

Saturday 16th November - Sunday 17th November

Sunday 1st December

Saturday 21st December - Saturday 28th December

 

No assumptions-facts.

Edited August 17, 2019 by Annie Bynnol

[blackydog]

21 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

I'm well aware of that @Annie Bynnol, but as you say, these engineering works are usually 'overnight', so unless you try travelling either very late, or very early, you would still expect to go via the Derby/Leicester route.

 

blackydog didn't specify a departure time.

Both changes are at Donny

OUT

Thu 12 Sep 2019

Sheffield to London Kings Cross

 

10:11 12:30

2h 19m, 

1 change

Price£27.00

Only 2 left

Price£182.50

 

IN

Fri 13 Sep 2019

London Kings Cross to Sheffield

 

14:03 16:21

2h 18m, 

1 change

Price£48.05

Price£148.00

Only 2 left

 

[RollingJ]

1 minute ago, Annie Bynnol said:

All day line closures on Saturdays and Sundays on dates in October, November and December for electrification, junction, bridge, station work.

Diversions fewer trains via Corby so less capacity so fewer Advance tickets and significantly faster journeys via Doncaster 

Again - I know, but as said above, blackydog has not specified a day/time of travel, so we are both making assumptions.

[RollingJ]

19 minutes ago, blackydog said:

Both changes are at Donny

OUT

Thu 12 Sep 2019

Sheffield to London Kings Cross

 

10:11 12:30

2h 19m, 

1 change

 

Price£27.00

Only 2 left

 

Price£182.50

 

IN

Fri 13 Sep 2019

London Kings Cross to Sheffield

 

14:03 16:21

2h 18m, 

1 change

Price£48.05

Price£148.00

Only 2 left

 

Try specifying Sheffield to London St Pancras  International - direct trains from Sheffield are available.

Which site did you use to obtain these times/prices??

Edited August 17, 2019 by RollingJ

[blackydog]

Trainline. Changing to St Pancras route shows no changes. The options for Kings Cross or St Pancras are very similar.

[Eddie_shef]

On 16/08/2019 at 21:27, bluecanary said:

Thanks for this info.

I have to admit,  am rather mystified by the whole rail franchise system. If a company loses a franchise and does not have significant non rail-related operations (e.g. Stagecoach) does the company simply go out of business? Does the whole of East Midlands Trains (aside from the staff magically transferred to EMR) go out of operation overnight?

 

Seems like a very odd way to run a key national transport infrastructure, but maybe that's just me.

 

On 16/08/2019 at 22:49, Andy C said:

East Midlands Trains as a company will cease to exist after the franchise changes as it was purely set up to bid for and operate the franchise, however the parent company Stagecoach Group will still be around. In Sheffield Stagecoach will still operate buses (registered as The Yorkshire Traction Co Ltd) and trams (registered as South Yorkshire Supertram Ltd).

 

The East Midlands Trains staff transfer to the new Abellio owned company under TUPE arrangements.

 

The actual national rail infrastructure (track and signals) is operated by Network Rail which is publicly owned and the rolling stock is leased. The passenger trains are run as franchises under contract to the Department for Transport.

Thank you Andy C for this. I'm also still a bit confused by why having a franchise system in this case would yield any benefits.

It will be the same staff on the same trains, running on the same infrastructure. Price and service can change with a different company, but it seems a bit less likely given the specific restrictions of a national rail system.

 

I don't know much about the pension details, but it seems removing a supplier/vendor due to pensions is quite an ethical move - fantastic, but this seems to be there to protect employees instead of customers. I'm not against that at all, just wondering.

 

I guess the franchise model is there to prevent an incumbent from resting on their laurels, which should be applauded. Although presumably this could be done with having a set of national standards and a service contract that maintains prices/salaries etc.  I guess both exist, although I really don't know much about the current rail system in the UK.

[iansheff]

Marvellous how a state owned Dutch company can see the money to be made from taking on EMT yet our Government can't and continue to let foreign companies have a big say in this country's infrastructure.

Edited August 18, 2019 by iansheff