An informal meeting was held in Market Harborough on 24th March between Laura Etheridge, EMR Stakeholder Manager, George Selby, EMR Lead Business Development Manager (on secondment to Stakeholder Engagement Team), and Steve Jones, Chair of Harborough Rail Users and Secretary of Railfuture East Midlands, and Phil Thomas, Chair of Railfuture East Midlands.  The aim was a general catch-up on current topics for EMR, including those of particular relevance to Market Harborough.
Among many matters discussed were:

• The recent management buy-out of EMR’s parent company Abellio UK, to form Transport UK (TUK).  This comprises the rail ex-franchises for EMR, WMT, Greater Anglia, Merseyrail (joint with Serco) plus some London bus routes.  
• The replacement of the previous EMR franchise with a National Rail Contract, starting in October 2022 and running for four years with a further four years at the option of the Department for Transport.  Though highly prescriptive, it does provide for annual business planning rather than the multi-year ‘lock-in’ that was a feature of franchising.
• The new ‘T-3’ performance target, which measures % of departures within three minutes of booked time at all stations.  EMR is currently at just under 78% overall, and is reviewing locations where performance can be most notably improved.  EMR Intercity and Connect are generally performing well; EMR Regional less so.
• Rolling stock, including the withdrawal in May of the four Class 180 trains on the Intercity route.  This will mean more intensive use of the Class 222 Meridians, which are the main Intercity fleet.  The new bi-mode (diesel + electric) Class 810 Aurora Intercity trains will enter service in 2024, with a phased introduction, eventually replacing all the Meridians.  On the Regional routes, the full replacement of ex-British Rail Sprinter trains by newer Class 170 Turbostars will be completed by the end of the year.  However, the withdrawal of the Class 180s means that summer weekend services to Skegness may be supplemented by buses at peak holiday times.
• The May 2023 timetable sees a further restoration of Regional services temporarily withdrawn during the Covid pandemic.  On the Intercity route, including Market Harborough, there is little change.  The two early morning replacement buses from Market Harborough (04:46, 04:59) to Kettering are withdrawn; and the St Pancras – Lincoln through services will start or terminate at Nottingham.  Also, sadly, the 09:45 St Pancras – Melton Mowbray via Corby and 14:43 return will no longer run north of Corby.  If you fancy a trip over Harringworth Viaduct around lunchtime, do it while you can!
• Various station improvements are either in hand or planned.  Leicester station is due to receive a major enhancement at street level, including a new entrance that faces towards the city centre, and better use of the handsome glazed porte cochere structure along the London Road frontage.  
• For Market Harborough specifically, we are hopeful that the booking hall café may soon reopen.  The station forecourt is due to be improved (see next item).  We also asked that connections at Leicester between our trains and those to Birmingham be improved; EMR noted this for future timetable planning.

We are grateful to EMR for being willing to discuss a wide range of matters.  It is clear that they are seeking to provide the best service they can within the stringent financial and other constraints within which they operate.

On 26th November, LMS Pacific 46233 Duchess of Sutherland came through Market Harborough on a special from Ealing Broadway to York and back.  Hauling a long train of maroon-liveried and Pullman coaches, she made a fine sight – despite being piloted by a diesel locomotive. 
The return run came through at 20:35. By this time, darkness shrouded the train as it stormed though the station, taking a run at the gradient up Desborough bank.  The clouds of white steam reflected the glow of the engine’s fire, giving the illusion of flames leaping and dancing above the cab.  Rather atmospheric!
Tragically, a strike by ASLEF meant that EMR were running no services at all that day (apart from the 00:39 to Derby, which was really the previous evening’s train.)  This special was therefore the only passenger train through Market Harborough on 26th November.   In turn, this meant that all passenger trains though our station that day were the steam hauled*; the first time this has happened since 1957!
* Let’s give it the benefit of the doubt and ignore the supporting diesel locomotive!  

Market Harborough station was experiencing untypically wintry weather on Saturday 27th November when LMS Pacific No 6233 Duchess of Sutherland came through.  She was hauling The Yuletide Express from Ealing Broadway to York on what turned out to be a stormy day.  The return run through Market Harborough was slightly delayed, but it was good to see the engine in darkness, working hard to recover lost time.

Sunday 16th May saw the commencement of the new timetable, with the standard weekday pattern of services starting on Monday 17th.  The biggest change is on the Corby services, which become a largely self-contained service of electric trains branded 'EMR Connect'.  It runs twice an hour in each direction between Corby and London St Pancras, calling at Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton and Luton Airport Parkway.  In doing so, it also serves as the ‘Luton Airport Express’, complementing similar shuttles for the other London airports.  It also relieves the Intercity services, which serve Market Harborough, of their intermediate calls south of Kettering.  With a few peak-time exceptions, our trains therefore nearly all call at Kettering only on their way to and from London.  This gives a half-hourly connection to all the main intermediate stations, addressing concerns we have expressed about gaps in the timetable from Kettering in particular.  It also means the bus link between Wellingborough and Bedford can be withdrawn.

The basic daytime pattern is now from Market Harborough to London at xx:26 and xx57 each hour (with minor variations), and roughly xx:03 and xx:32 to Leicester and Nottingham.
There are other improvements, including an earlier first train into London, a more even spread of services out of London in the evening peak, and a later last train south from Derby and Leicester in the evenings.
However, with few exceptions, we lose our non-stop trains to and from London, and direct services to Luton Airport Parkway.  We also would like to see an earlier first train north on a Sunday morning than the present 10:29.
We also lose our HSTs; replaced by Meridians released by the electric trains on the Corby route, plus the small fleet of Class 180 units transferred a few months ago from Hull Trains.
Sadly, the Saturday through train to York no longer runs.  However, if you fancy a slightly different mini-excursion, you can take a weekday lunchtime round trip from Kettering via Corby and Oakham to Melton Mowbray and back.  This gives the opportunity to travel over the iconic Welland Viaduct at Harringworth.  However, it does not run on Wednesdays!
The full timetable is available here on EMR’s website.

EMR were clearly not going to let the demise of the HSTs pass unnoticed.  Not only had they repainted HST power-car 43102 in BR InterCity 'Swallow' livery (see post for 24/02/2021 below), on 14th April they revealed 43274 repainted very smartly in their deep purple house-style.  Considering the design of the HST dates back to 1975, it carried the livery remarkably well.  The pictures below show it at the head of the 16:29 from Market Harborough to Nottingham (15:34 from St Pancras) on 16th April 2021.