Some weekday Melton Mowbray train services are temporarily cut from the timetable
Two Melton Mowbray train services have temporarily been cut from the timetable due to issues with new trains.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) has announced that the weekday services affected are the 8.15am Melton to Kettering route and the 7.38pm train taking passengers from Kettering to Melton.
Other services temporarily suspended are a number of journeys between London St Pancras and both Nottingham and Sheffield.
The move was made due to the performance of Hitachi Rail's new Class 810 fleet and their maintenance of EMR’s existing Class 222 fleet, which has significantly impacted upon train firm’s ability to run a consistent Intercity service for customers.
Will Rogers, managing director at EMR, said: "The performance of the Class 810 fleet has fallen below the levels we and our customers expect, and it is necessary to introduce a temporary reduced timetable while we work with the manufacturer, Hitachi Rail, to improve consistency in service.
"We recognise that this will be disappointing for customers, and we understand the frustration caused when our Intercity services do not consistently meet the standards they rightly expect, which in turn puts our frontline staff in an unenviable position of trying to deliver excellent customer service amidst ongoing reliability challenges.
“We are sorry for the significant disruption and inconvenience these issues have caused our customers, and we are committed to restoring the reliable service they rightly expect."
The Class 810 fleet meets all required safety standards and entered service following the necessary testing and regulatory approvals, say EMR.
However, service reliability has not yet reached the standard, it adds, leaving frontline teams too often trying to deliver excellent customer service with trains that are not presented in a condition they, or our customers, deserve.
The revised timetable is intended to provide a more consistent and reliable service while EMR works with Hitachi Rail, a world-renowned builder of railway rolling stock, to resolve the service reliability issues affecting both fleets.
The roll-out of the Class 810 fleet will continue in a controlled manner throughout 2026/2027.
Customers who have already booked a ticket and now find their EMR service isn't running will be able to travel up to either two trains prior or two trains after the affected service.
Customers who decide not to travel can request a full refund.