East Midlands Railway operation awarded to Abellio

摘要

ABELLIO will replace Stagecoach as operator of the East Midlands franchise from August 18. The Dutch state operator was announced as the winning bidder from three shortlisted companies, although it later emerged that rivals Stagecoach and Arriva were both disqualified from the running (see Network News, pages 6-9). The new franchise, to be known as East Midlands Railway (EMR), will deliver new bi-mode trains, remove the current High Speed Train fleet, and introduce new routes including Norwich-Derby.