Intercity rail passengers across Great Britain face potential summer disruption as East Midlands Railway (EMR) cancels hundreds of services on the Midland mainline due to malfunctioning Hitachi trains, while drivers on LNER and Avanti West Coast vote on strike action.
EMR Cancels Services Amid Train Faults
East Midlands Railway announced it will cancel about 20 fast trains per day between London, Sheffield, and Nottingham in the coming weeks. Other services will be short-formed, likely leading to overcrowding. The operator cited ongoing performance and reliability issues with its new class 810 Aurora fleet, introduced this year after a three-year delay. EMR also criticized Hitachi's maintenance of the older class 222 trains, which the Auroras were meant to replace, stating it had significantly impacted the ability to run a consistent intercity service.
Will Rogers, EMR's managing director, 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 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."
A Hitachi Rail spokesperson said it continued to work closely with all industry partners, implementing improvements and supporting the transition.
Strike Ballots on LNER and Avanti West Coast
Train drivers on LNER and Avanti West Coast could strike by late August. The Aslef union called a strike ballot on LNER on Friday after a pay deal fell through. Dave Calfe, Aslef's general secretary, said: "The company's failure to make a suitable offer is unacceptable and that's why we are balloting our members for industrial action." The union claimed the Department for Transport (DfT) refused to sign off a pay deal at the state-owned East Coast operator.
A DfT spokesperson responded: "We have given LNER approval for a fair and affordable deal. We know how frustrating disruption can be for passengers and strongly encourage the union to continue engaging constructively with LNER to reach a solution."
Two weeks ago, Aslef announced a similar vote at Avanti West Coast over frustrated pay negotiations. The union has not renewed a rest-day working agreement, leading to some cancellations.
Fatal Bedford Rail Crash Investigation
Investigations into last month's fatal Bedford rail crash are ongoing. One of EMR's new Aurora trains stopped on the mainline due to an apparent fault with the automatic warning system before being struck by another EMR train that had passed a red light. The crash raised further concerns about the reliability of the new fleet.
