As of Monday 16th December, East Midlands Railway will be introducing a more frequent service of trains running from Crewe on the West Coast Main Line to Newark Northgate on the East Coast Main Line.

The services include extending two existing services to serve other stations, while the timetable will see the addition of eight new timed trains.

Six of the eight new services will be running on Saturdays, which will no doubt prove useful to residents along the route, as it offers greater flexibility to head off on a day out.

These extra services will also help when the engineering works between St Pancras and Bedford start on 21st December, as it will offer passengers across the midlands an extra choice of travelling into London via the East or West Coast Mainlines.

The new additional midweek services will be the 10:36 Newark Castle – Crewe and the 13:10 Crewe – Newark Castle while.

The 08:10 Crewe – Nottingham service will now terminate at Newark Castle. In addition, the evening 16:16 Nottingham – Crewe service will now start at Newark Castle.

The six new trains on Saturdays will consist of the 06:44 Derby – Crewe, 08:09 Crewe – Newark Castle, 10:39 Newark Castle – Crewe, 13:10 Crewe – Newark Castle, 15:38 Newark Castle – Crewe and the 18:10 Crewe – Nottingham.

Increasing the frequency of trains that link two of England’s major mainlines is an enormous boost, not least to better connect communities, but it can grow the local economies along the line.

“We’re always looking for better ways to match our timetable with the trips our customers want to make. But any changes need to take into account a number of factors, including the allocation of necessary funding, maintaining levels of performance (punctuality), and operational feasibility. Thankfully, these requirements have been met, and we are delighted to be able to provide a boost in services for our customers on the Crewe to Newark Castle line.

It is great news for the communities of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, as well as businesses up and down the line – especially on Saturdays.”

Will Rogers, Managing Director at East Midlands Railway