Consultation opens on December 2020 Timetable plans

December 2020 sees significant changes to services on the Midland Main Line from St Pancras, which includes Market Harborough.  The main change is the opening of the EMR Electric service between London and Corby, which doubles in frequency to two per hour each way.  This brings the standard pattern of EMR train services out of St Pancras to six per hour in each direction, comprising:

• Two InterCity services per hour to Derby and Sheffield, running non-stop between London and Leicester
• Two InterCity services per hour to Nottingham, running non-stop between London and Kettering and all calling at Market Harborough 
• Two Electric services per hour to Corby, all calling at Luton Airport Parkway, Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough and Kettering.

Kettering will become an interchange between the InterCity and Electric services.
This means that we retain two trains per hour in each direction.  Southbound, they will all call at Kettering only, then fast to St Pancras.  We shall have to change at Kettering to reach any other intermediate station between there and London.  Passengers for Thameslink-only destinations such as Harpenden or St Albans will have to change twice.  However, the peak-time bus connection between Wellingborough and Bedford will cease, as trains will be reinstated. 
Northbound, our trains will all go to Nottingham, essentially as now.  One per hour will be non-stop from Leicester; the other will call at Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway and Beeston.   The only significant change from now is that the East Midlands Parkway stop transfers from the fast train to the stopping train.
We do not yet know the actual timings, of course, nor about any variations to this standard pattern during peak times or for early morning or late evening services.  For example, some of our late evening northbound trains currently go to Derby or Leeds, as that is where the depots are.
Full details of the proposed timetable are available at:
https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/december2020 

• See page 7 of the linked pdf document for a diagram showing the proposed train service pattern. (The current pattern is shown on page 6.)
• See page 19 for more detail on the effects for Market Harborough. 
• There are also some general FAQs on page 28.

It should be noted that the basic pattern of services is bound by the EMR franchise contract with the Department for Transport plus line capacity constraints on a very busy main line.  However, EMR have undertaken to consider responses carefully in shaping their final timetable submission to Network Rail.

Harborough Rail Users will be responding to the consultation.  Please let us know if there is anything you would like us to take into account: use the Get in Touch facility on our website https://www.harborough-rail.org.uk/get-in-touch.html or email us at [email protected] 
This is a public consultation, so the EMR website gives a facility for you to respond directly as well.  The consultation closes on 15th February 2020.
And don’t forget, this is the timetable for December 2020 – a year away yet!