In March 2017, the Department for Transport announced Arriva, a joint venture between FirstGroup and Trenitalia, and incumbent Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the next East Midlands franchise. Abellio was added in February 2018. FirstGroup and Trenitalia pulled out of the bidding process in April 2018 to focus on the West Coast Partnership franchise. In April 2019 the franchise was awarded to Abellio, with East Midlands Railway to take over the franchise from East Midlands Trains on 18 August 2019 for a period of eight years. In June 2019, Abellio revealed branding and colour scheme using distinct purple and white colours to reflect the heritage of the East Midlands. It also confirmed it would divide the services into three segments:
EMR Regional for services across the East Midlands
EMR Electrics for the outer suburban London St Pancras to Corby service
Services
EMR operates commuter services from London St Pancras to Corby, as well as intercity services from London St Pancras along the Midland Main Line to Nottingham and Sheffield with limited extensions to Lincoln, Leeds, York and Scarborough. EMR also operate the local East Midlands services and inter regional services to Liverpool and Norwich. Services from Nottingham to Liverpool Lime Street will transfer to another operator during the life of the franchise. The Barton line was expected to transfer from Northern in 2019, but this has been delayed. Over the course of the franchise, several planned timetable changes are to be made:
Earlier and later trains between Sheffield and Nottingham to
Earlier and later trains between Sheffield and London St Pancras and more regular evening service to London St Pancras
2 trains per hour between Nottingham and Kettering
2 trains per hour between Corby and London St Pancras
Regular Sunday service between Corby and London St Pancras
Liverpool to Nottingham transferred to another operator
Norwich to Nottingham extended to
Regular hourly Sunday service between Norwich and Derby
to Derby service extended to Nottingham and hourly service on Sundays
Hourly Sunday service between and Nottingham
Hourly service between Nottingham and with limited extension to
2 trains per day between Lincoln and London St Pancras
to Grimsby Town service cut back to Lincoln except to for the limited extension to Cleethorpes and timed to run with LNER'sLondon Kings Cross - Lincoln service
As part of the British response to the COVID-19 pandemic, East Midlands Railway reduced its services to protect its staff and discourage non-essential travel. As of 18 May 2020, emergency schedules are as follows:
Intercity
* 1tph from St Pancras to Sheffield - calling at Leicester, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Long Eaton, Derby, and Chesterfield
* 1tph from St Pancras to Nottingham, calling at Luton Airport Parkway, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, and Beeston
* 1tph shuttle between Kettering and Corby
Regional
* 1tph from Liverpool Lime Street to Nottingham, with one train per two hours extended to Norwich
* 1tph from Derby to Crewe via Stoke-on-Trent, excepting the cancellation of every third service
* 1tph from Nottingham to Worksop
* 1tph from Lincoln to Leicester
* 5tpd from Peterborough to Lincoln via Sleaford, with reduced operating hours
* 4tpd from Doncaster to Lincoln, with no Sunday services
* 1tp2h from Nottingham to Skegness via Grantham, with reduced operating hours
* 1tp2h from Matlock to Newark Castle via Nottingham, with reduced operating hours and no service beyond Nottingham on Sundays
* 1tp2h from Newark Northgate to Grimsby Town, with reduced operating hours
Rolling stock
East Midlands Railway inherited a fleet of InterCity 125s, Class 153, Class 156, Class 158, and Class 222s from East Midlands Trains. Nine additional Class 156 units from Greater Anglia were introduced by January 2020 to replace 18 Class 153 units. However, some class 153s have been brought back into service to help with social distancing on services. Nine 8-carriage InterCity 125 sets have also been transferred from London North Eastern Railway, with the first set having entered service on 4 May 2020.
Current fleet
Future fleet
Existing stock to be added will consist of 21 Class 360s from Greater Anglia, 28 Class 170s, 12 Class 171s from Southern and 4 Class 180s from Hull Trains, those altogether will enable the High Speed Trains,, and sets to be withdrawn although some of the gaps will be filled in when Liverpool-Nottingham service is taken over by another operator. The will be introduced as a result of the electrification of the Midland Main Line from Bedford to Corby and will displace from London-Corby services. The latter will then work on other InterCity Routes where they will replace the HSTs, working alongside the s. 3x 6-carriage HSTs are to be retained until December 2020, when they will be replaced by Class 180s. 33x 5-carriage Class 810 bi-mode trains will be introduced by 2022., these will enable the High Speed Trains, and to be withdrawn.
Past fleet
As of July 2020, 14 Class 153s have been withdrawn from EMR's regional fleet, 4 were transferred to Transport for Wales, whilst the remaining 10 units went into storage. 18 Class 153s will be replaced by the 9 Class 156s transferred from Greater Anglia. However, some units have been brought back into service to help with social distancing on services. The 10 Class 153s that have gone into storage will move to Northern Trains to replace 8 of their Class 153s. As of July 2020, 10 Class 43s have gone into storage and 3 were transferred to Locomotive Services Limited after being replaced by the ex-LNER Class 43s.
Shunter drivers are employed by EMR at Derby, Nottingham and Leeds. On-train catering for standard-class passengers on routes 1 and 2 was, as of September 2010, contracted out to RG, which has depots at London St Pancras, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield. Although all stations are owned by Network Rail, their day-to-day management is handled by train operating companies. EMR manages the following stations: Wellingborough, Kettering, Corby, Market Harborough, Leicester, Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Stamford, South Wigston, Narborough, Hinckley, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Long Eaton, Derby, Peartree, Uttoxeter, Kidsgrove, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Beeston, Nottingham, Alfreton, Sleaford, Boston and Skegness. They also have staff at St Pancras International, although the station itself is managed by Network Rail.
