Well, it isn’t strictly true. In reality, National Express who currently run Midland Mainline and Central Trains has not been awarded the new East Midlands franchise, but it feels the same.
It is a sad day for a company that has through most of its life been the most reliable and punctual long-distance operator and has seen massive expansion over the years. I know I am biased as I worked for the company for five years, but I can honestly say that the company genuinely wanted to improve the services along the route and encourage more people to travel by train. Yes, of course it was doing it for profit but I think the route has improved under Midland Mainline’s stewardship, in particular in the years when Brian Burdsall was the MD.
It is rather odd then to see Stagecoach given a franchise for promising to do things that National Express had already done on Midland Mainline. For example:
- Increasing parking spaces. The number of parking spaces on the route have massively increased, and has now reached a point where the car parks remain full but there is little room to expand them further.
- Introduce new services from East Midlands Parkway. Midland Mainline are the ones who have done all the hardwork to develop the design for East Midlands Parkway, but were frustrated along the way by many people external to the company.
- Introduce more trains per hour from Kettering southwards. Midland Mainline doubled the number of trains operating on the route. The only place where that had happened for many years after privatisation.
- Build a new station at Corby. Midland Mainline looked at this but it simply wasn’t financially viable.
I left Midland Mainline frustrated with some of the restrictions on what you could do, and at a time when the company was struggling with punctuality. But I thoroughly enjoyed working there and it is sad to see all the hardwork to build a company and a brand that had a pretty decent reputation (at least as train operators go) only to see it all disappear. I feel real sense of sadness for everyone that works there.
Unfortunately I suspect it will also be the end of the free tea and coffee, which always went down well.
DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT: DfT announces winner of East Midlands franchise
