I am pleased to inform the House that, following rigorous
competition, I intend to award the next East Midlands
Railway franchise to Abellio East Midlands pending
successful completion of a standstill period of at least 10
days.
The franchise is due to start on 18 August 2019 and will
run for 8 years, until 21 August 2027, with an extension of
2 years callable at my discretion.
Passengers, local authorities, businesses and other
stakeholders across the country contributed to a highly
demanding and challenging specification for this new
franchise. Bidders were invited to demonstrate how they
would meet this specification, and I am very pleased that
we have agreed a plan with Abellio East Midlands for them
to exceed these expectations.
Abellio East Midlands will oversee the introduction of
brand-new trains, entirely replacing the existing intercity
fleet with more reliable and comfortable trains. Passengers
will benefit from an 80% increase in the number of morning
peak seats into Nottingham, Lincoln and St Pancras.
Passengers will also see faster journey times over
long-distances, with a new express service from Corby
through Luton into London.
The East Midlands Railway will be at the forefront of the
government’s commitment to deliver a cleaner, greener rail
network. Abellio East Midlands will trial hydrogen fuel
cell trains on the Midland Main Line and will run
zero-carbon pilots at six stations along the route.
The new franchise will also deliver a fairer deal for
passengers. Over £17 million will be invested in improving
station facilities across the route, including to deliver
accessibility improvements. Abellio East Midlands will also
deliver an additional 916 extra car park spaces and 1,050
cycle spaces.
Passengers will benefit from the provision of free wifi
throughout the franchise, both on-trains and at stations,
and a significant uplift to the current ticketing system,
with the introduction of smart, flexible ticketing options,
including to provide better value for those who travel
regularly but less than 5 days a week, as well as improved
ticket-buying facilities and nine newly staffed stations.
The new East Midlands Railway franchise will also introduce
enhanced delay repay compensation, with passengers able to
claim compensation if their train is more than 15 minutes
late.
We look forward to working closely with Abellio East
Midlands to ensure they deliver the high-quality services
that passengers expect and deserve from the railway and the
East Midlands Railway franchise.
With regards to the South Eastern franchise competition, I
am also today updating the House that my department is
negotiating a short-term extension to the current franchise
agreement with Govia while we make a decision on the
competition. This will ensure continuity of services for
passengers until 10 November 2019, with an option to extend
the agreement further to April 2020.
We are due to award the West Coast Partnership in June.
Alongside this, there is a root-and-branch
review of the railway underway, independently chaired by
Keith Williams. This will make ambitious
recommendations before the end of the year to reform the
structure of the whole rail industry to prioritise
passengers’ and taxpayers’ interests.
The next East Midlands Railway franchise and the ongoing
competitions include significant improvements for
passengers and steps to bring track and train closer
together. From 2020, we will begin to roll-out further
reforms, advised by the Rail Review, across the country. We
will be guided by the approaches that deliver benefits to
passengers and other rail users soonest. Awarding the new
East Midlands Railway franchise is part of that strategy.
