Harborough rail users
Improving the quality of Market Harborough's rail service
The Department for Transport has today issued the shortlist of bidders for the next East Midlands rail franchise, which it describes as a 'key' part of the Midlands 'engine for growth'. The shortlisted companies are:
In making the announcement, Rail Minister Paul Maynard referred to the contribution a flourishing rail network makes to the region it serves and therefore the government's investment in rail. He said: "Network Rail is working on improvements which by 2019 will enable the next East Midlands franchise to deliver more carriages and faster journeys over the whole route, including almost twice as many seats into London St Pancras in the peak hours." The full DfT press release can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/east-midlands-rail-franchise-3-firms-make-the-shortlist. Harborough Rail Users await the public consultation on the next franchise; this consultation has been delayed from its intended start in December 2016. We will then submit our aspirations for the train service from Market Harborough The Department for Transport (DfT) published its prospectus for the next East Midlands franchise on 16th November 2016. Its purpose is to set out guidance for potential bidders for the franchise and it is subject to change in the light of further consultation, starting in December 2016. It identifies the DfT's aims for the franchise in terms of growth and innovation. One snippet that caught our eye was on page 23 of the document, where it says "There is an opportunity to further invest in and develop the commuter market between South Leicestershire and London from December 2019 onwards, following the addition of a sixth path from St Pancras to serve Corby. This will allow bidders to consider how the provision of services can be used to enhance additional capacity for commuters on this route, while also creating journey time improvements on services to Nottingham and Sheffield."
We in HRU await the launch of the public consultation. In the meantime, the prospectus is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/569286/east-midlands-rail-franchise-competition-prospectus.pdf The Department for Transport has announced that East Midlands Trains will continue to operate our train services under a direct award franchise. This runs until March 2018 with potential for a further extension of one year. There would then be a full franchise competition. Various improvements have been pledged by EMT as part of the deal; more details can be found on their website at http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/information/media/news/New-13-Million-Package-Of-Benefits-For-East-Midlands-Trains-Customers/.
For Market Harborough, we anticipate that at least the existing pattern of service will remain in place. We have long called for free WiFi in standard class and this is promised, though only for the first 15 minutes' use. The deal also pledges a total of £1m across the company for station accessibility improvements and we hope this brings the long-awaited and desperately needed improvements at Market Harborough station a bit closer. The DfT is negotiating a number of short-term franchises with existing train operators. In EMT’s case there would be a further term expiring in October 2017 rather than April 2015. In connection with this, the DfT wrote to interested parties including HRU in October 2014 asking what aspects of the current service provided by EMT we would wish to see protected and what improvements we would like to see. We responded:
It is now nearly seven years since Harborough Rail Users ran a successful campaign to protect our twice-hourly off-peak rail service during the franchise negotiations that saw East Midlands Trains supersede Midland Mainline. In doing so we also achieved the additional benefit of an hourly non-stop train to London as part of the off-peak service. It was an exceptional result and came about primarily from the coordinated efforts of HRU and, in turn, the local community pulling behind our campaign. It’s therefore with great interest that we read recently about the extension that has been given to several rail franchise holders – particularly the East Midlands Trains franchise, scheduled to run until April 2015 but extended to October 2017.
As a result of this we have written a letter to the Department for Transport and East Midlands Trains asking the following:
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