​“We are sorry to announce that the 09:57 East Midlands Railway service to London St Pancras has been cancelled.  This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.”
We have become all too familiar with messages of this kind over the station tannoy system in recent months.  OK, stuff happens, and there will always be train cancellations, but the situation has now become serious to the point of unsustainable.  The reliability of our train service has reached a point where people are losing faith and are switching to other routes or not using the train.
The basic reason is that, despite valiant efforts by maintenance crews and others to run as many trains as they can, there just isn’t enough rolling stock.
Our new Class 810 Aurora bi-mode (electric + diesel) trains are very late in delivery from Hitachi.  They are also proving unreliable in service.  In addition, one was severely damaged in the tragic accident south of Bedford on 19th June.
Our old Class 222 Meridian diesel units, which have served us well, are reduced in number as five have been transferred away for use by another operator.   Those that remain are being used intensively, to provide as good a service as possible, but this means reduced maintenance downtime (consistent with maintaining safety, of course) and increased in-service failures.  We now have a level of cancellations that is severely denting public confidence in the train service.  The effect on the travelling public is severe, especially when consecutive trains are cancelled.   We also recognise that the frontline staff are embarrassed by all this and can face anger from disgruntled and distressed passengers.
Harborough Rail Users discussed this with EMR back in April, but the situation has got measurably worse since then.  We have now written again to EMR and to Neil O’Brien MP, calling for an apology from EMR, regular information and updates on a recovery plan, and a realistic assessment of how long this situation is expected to continue.
We shall continue to do what we can to press for an early resumption of an acceptable level of service on our line.

The summer timetable came into effect nationally on Sunday 17th May 2026.  There is little change for the EMR Intercity service.  The May 2026 timetable can be obtained from EMR’s website here: https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/media/5762/download?inline

On various weekends in 2026, engineering work means that the main line south of Bedford is closed. 
EMR trains terminate there, with connecting rail replacement buses to and from Hitchin and onward trains between there and Kings Cross.
EMR Intercity trains operate hourly in each direction between Bedford and Nottingham, calling at Market Harborough, and hourly between Bedford and Sheffield via Derby, not stopping at Market Harborough.
This has meant that our services are cut by half to hourly on these weekends.
We in Harborough Rail Users approached EMR querying whether there is sufficient demand to justify hourly non-stop trains between Leicester and Bedford when the line into London is closed.  We suggested that these trains would be more useful if they stopped at Market Harborough and Kettering as well, restoring a half-hourly service from our station.  
To our delight, EMR contacted us on 7th May to say that they would do just that!  Too short notice for the weekend of 9th – 10th May but in place for the weekends of 20th – 21st June and 27th – 28th June.  
We are grateful to EMR for listening to our proposal, giving it due consideration and putting it into effect.

Each year, EMR and Network Rail have a Community Action Day, when members of their staff are given the opportunity to take a break from the day job and do some community work instead.  On 6th May 2026, this meant coming to Market Harborough station to help Market Harborough in Bloom Volunteers in a working party at the station. 
Market Harborough in Bloom are the officially designated ‘Station Adopters’ and do a sterling job maintaining the planting boxes at various locations around the station.  This helps greatly in softening the rather functional platforms and making the station a colourful and welcoming gateway to the town. 
The tasks this year included replenishing some of the planting boxes alongside the emergency exit path behind Platform 2 and weeding the gravel areas and by various walls.  Harborough Rail Users were also represented.  We are grateful to everyone involved in this work to enhance the appearance of the station. 

In the first few months of 2026, train cancellations have been a significant problem at Market Harborough.  This is partly the result of the delayed introduction of our new Class 810 Aurora bi-mode trains, especially as the first five of our Class 222 Meridian diesel trains have already been transferred away for another operator.  The depleted fleet and insufficient new trains have left EMR with a shortage of rolling stock on the main line.    
Some services have often been cancelled.  Our 06:18 to Nottingham on weekdays is an example.  To be fair, EMR sometimes - though not always - add extra stops on adjacent fast trains that are running.  For example, when our 06:18 to Nottingham is cancelled, the 05:27 St Pancras to Sheffield may call here at about 06:25, which is a good alternative, with connections from Long Eaton to Nottingham.  
However, cancellations reached such level that we wrote to EMR expressing serious concern.  For example, 9 of our 70 trains, nearly 13%, on 25th March.  If the shortage of rolling stock is such that the published timetable simply cannot be delivered, it would be better to withdraw some services temporarily than have random cancellations.  People could then plan their journeys with more certainty.
In response, EMR invited Steve Jones, Chair of Harborough Rail Users, to a meeting with their Commercial Director at their Derby HQ on 9th April 2026.  This was a very constructive meeting, at which our concerns and EMR’s responses were discussed.  We have been in correspondence since on this and other topics affecting users of Market Harborough station.  These topics include:

• the persistent late arrival into St Pancras of our first two trains on Sunday mornings;
• management of disruption and information given to passengers when things do go wrong, as they inevitably will from time to time;
• engineering work and the related temporary timetables and rail-replacement buses; and
• the corrosion on the footbridge. 

EMR are looking into all of these matters.