East Midlands Railway (EMR) have introduced Class 156 trains on the Barton-on-Humber route making its fleet fully accessible on all its routes.
This follows the removal of the Class 153 trains from the route.
The removal of the Class 153 trains gives the operator full Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRM) compliance.
This means passengers with reduced mobility can travel more easily across the East Midlands routes.
The line was crewed by traincrews from TransPennine Express (TPE) following the transfer of the Barton-on-Humber route to EMR in May 2021.
EMR have been training Senior Conductors at Lincoln over the past 6 months in preparation for the traincrew responsibility to be transferred to EMR.
Freightliner Drivers will by driving trains on the route temporarily from 13th December 2021 whilst EMR Driver training takes place.
Will Rogers, Managing Director for EMR spoke on the introduction of the new fleet.
Mr Rogers said: “The introduction of the Class 156 fleet and EMR traincrew onto the Barton-on-Humber route represents a positive next chapter for us.
“The removal of the Class 153’s from the Barton-on-Humber route means that as a Train Operator, all of our trains are fully accessible for our passengers.
“Since the transfer of the Barton-on-Humber route from Northern to EMR in May this year, our colleagues at TPE have been staffing our trains.
“Today, with the introduction of the new timetable, we are pleased to confirm that all of the trains servicing the Barton-on-Humber route will be staffed by EMR.
“[This gives] our passengers the great customer experience they can expect from travelling with us.”
Tom Irvin, Chairman of the Friends of the Barton Line spoke on the positive steps that have been made to make the line more accessible.
Mr Irvin said: “It is really pleasing to have accessible trains on our route.
“There is still progress to make on the stations, but this is a welcome first step.
“Many of our members in particular have requested the visual on-board customer information systems which these trains will deliver.
“We also have high hopes that todays changes to service delivery will provide a significant improvement to the reliability of services.”
