East Midlands Railway are to introduce a 4% reduction in their timetable from Monday the 17th of January 2022

East Midlands Railway like many other rail operators are reducing services as Covid related staff absence increases and also due to the decrease in customer demand following the Governments advice to work from home.

The altered timetable will see a small reduction in EMR services of around 4% with the most well-used services remaining unchanged. The reduction will support the provision of a strong, reliable and efficient service for passengers and is also an attempt to avoid frustrating short notice cancellations.

The changes will come into place from Monday the 17th of January and customers are being advised to check their travel plans online, ahead of their journey.

These changes will be under continual review with further changes being brought into action when necessary.

EMR has prioritised the safety of both its colleagues and passengers since the outset of the pandemic and has maintained its enhanced cleaning strategy throughout, both onboard trains and in stations with an extreme focus on high contact areas such as gate lines, doors and ticket machines.

Paul Barnfield, Operations Director at East Midlands Railway, said: “Like most other industries, we are facing particularly high Covid-related absences among our colleagues at the moment and this can impact our ability to provide train services. At the same time, Government advice for people to work from home means passenger demand is very low.”

“As such, this small reduction is intended to provide a reliable service as well as ensuring there is still enough capacity for those who are still travelling.”

“These changes will be kept under daily review and we will make alterations if and when needed. In the meantime, I would ask our customers to check their journey before travelling by visiting our website, www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk.”