East Midlands Railway (EMR) begin the £2m upgrade of their Eastcroft depot in Nottingham as part of EMR’s Regional services work.
As part of the project the depot will see an increase in capacity and will improve the resilience to support customer services.
Most of the day-to-day maintenance of EMR’s 69 train Regional fleet is done at Eastcroft depot.
This is a complex task however as the fleet is currently comprised of four different trains: Class 156, 158, 170’s and a limited number of Class 153 trains.
This fleet provides 251 services a day however this will increase to 269 in December as EMR reinstate some of the services it suspended in June.
The Eastcroft investment will help EMR deliver the current timetable and support the further development of EMR Regional services.
The development will provide more capacity for the additional three-carriage trains EMR is introducing in 2022.
Neil Bamford, Fleet Director at EMR spoke on the significance of the development at Eastcroft.
Mr Bamford said: “We know how important a reliable and robust regional service is for our customers.
“Although the number of customers travelling with us is lower than it was before the pandemic, we are seeing more customers returning to our Regional services compared to Intercity.
“That is why this investment in Eastcroft, at the very heart of our EMR Regional service, is so important.
“It not only increases the capacity of the depot – it also helps to support the further development of EMR Regional services
“[The development] will improve the service we can provide to customers, in the short, medium and long term.”
