Sheffield Chamber expresses concern about East Midlands Trains May 2018 timetable changes

6th March 2018

On Sunday 20th May 2018, East Midlands Trains (-EMT) are making major changes to the timetable for Sheffield and Chesterfield's train services to and from London.

The changes will include different departure times, quicker journey times for some services and extended times for others. There'll also be fewer station stops with calls removed at Bedford and Luton during peak travelling times. This is to allow the new Thameslink timetable to be introduced, which is part of the wider £7bn Government-sponsored Thameslink programme, and impacts on services on shared lines between Bedford and London. Information about the changes and downloadable timetables can be found on EMT's dedicated webpage eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/May2018.   In addition, there is a document which covers specifically the changes in Sheffield. The Chair and Vice Chair of the Chamber's Transport Forum, Peter Kennan and Ian Appleby have had a number of meetings with EMT in recent months. EMT have worked very hard to try to ensure that Sheffield continues to enjoy its existing train service to London and some improvements in journey times northbound have been possible, with a number of trains now reaching Sheffield in just under 2 hours. In addition, departure times from Sheffield have now been evenly spaced at xx.29 and xx.00 each hour, which is a significant improvement on what we had before. Sheffield Chamber has expressed concern about the drifting out of southbound journey times, particularly at peak business times and a really unhelpful gap in the evening timetable out of London from 16.47 to 17.47. MP's and business groups in Bedford and Luton have been vocal in trying to retain and indeed to get more East Midlands Trains services to stop there in the peak periods and Luton Airport, in particular, has waged a high profile lobbying campaign to get more services to stop on their way to London. A recent parliamentary question tabled by Baroness Randerson and answered by Baroness Sugg has thrown some light on things with only 120 passengers per day travelling from the north to Bedford and only 85 to Luton. The truth then is that the campaign is all about -hi-jacking Inter-City trains to serve Bedford and Luton commuter and airport flows into and out of London to the detriment of Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester, in journey times and passenger comfort. The Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling MP, has made clear his view that inter-city and commuter flows should be kept apart and the new hugely increased Thameslink services should serve the commuter flows. Sheffield Chamber recently wrote to Jo Johnson MP, Minister of State at the Department for Transport to reinforce the issue and a copy of the letter can be seen here. Peter Kennan, Chair and Vice Chair of Sheffield Chamber's Transport Forum, commented: "So, we have not gone out tub thumping and complaining that the north and Sheffield is getting a bad deal. Actually, Sheffield's train service to London is pretty good and many other northern cities and large towns enjoy nothing like as good a service (take Bradford for example). What we are doing is meeting senior executives at East Midlands Trains again very soon, to look at a lot of issues but, specifically to try to find a way to path at least one very fast service in the morning and evening peaks with a journey time of around 2 hours. This is something which could still be implemented in the December 2018 timetable change. "I am happy to receive any comments and suggestions on this and any other transport matters. Please contact me on peter.kennan1@btinternet.com."