STEPHEN ABBOTT reviews the region’s rail services and stakeholder aspirations for the next East Midlands rail franchise
East Midlanders are up in arms. There is seething resentment that the Great Western Direct Award franchise provides for more trains, more capacity or both on virtually every route, yet despite a lengthy East Midlands Trains (EMT) ‘shopping list’, the Department for Transport (DfT) did not fund a single extra service or extra vehicle in the East Midlands Direct Award.