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East Midlands Railway announces cuts to services

BBC EMR regional serviceBBC
The firm said the reduced service was due to run until December but some services could return sooner

The region's main rail operator has confirmed it is reducing its regional services from tomorrow.

East Midlands Railway (EMR) said a new timetable, introduced last month, was "not performing as well as we, or our customers, expect".

It said this had led to "short notice cancellations and difficult journeys" and new changes meant it could "fix underlying issues".

The company apologised for the disruption and inconvenience caused.

EMR said it was working on the "detailed reasons" for the problems including late delivery of trains, Covid absences and "complexities" with services in Nottingham.

Will Loxley Nottingham Railway station platformWill Loxley
Cancelled and smaller trains have led to health concerns from some passengers

It also said the reduced timetable was currently due to run until December but some services could return sooner if the issues were fixed.

As well as disruption to journeys, cancellations and trains with fewer carriages have led to health concerns.

Andrew Commons, head of external relations at EMR, accepted the changes came at short notice.

He said: "That is very regrettable and not what we would want to do.

"But I think our customers would agree that the service we have provided in the last month has not been up to standard.

"We had a choice to make over whether we gave more notice of changes and therefore continue to run a substandard service?

"Or do we introduce a timetable we are confident would work as soon as we possibly can."

Changes include 12 fewer weekday services on the Liverpool to Nottingham line, 13 fewer on the Newark to Derby route and 18 fewer between Newark and Lincoln.

Users have taken to social media to vent their anger.

Will @CognitiveIdeal tweeted the "Nottingham/Newark service has been awful.

"Now you are completely cancelling my, and many other's commute train, first one of the day to Crewe.

"What do people tell their employers? Can I do delay repay each day for the taxi fare?"

EMR said the reduced timetable only affects EMR Regional, with EMR Intercity and EMR Connect services to and from London unaffected.

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