22/06/2009

East Midlands Trains has announced the start of a £9 million refurbishment programme bringing improvements to its High Speed Train (HST) fleet, designed to offer passengers a greatly enhanced travelling environment.

The refurbishment programme, which will be carried out at the company’s Neville Hill depot in Leeds, will bring a number of benefits for passengers including at seat power points in First Class enabling passengers to work more easily on the move and new interior décor to a fresh and bright design, including new seat covers and carpets throughout the train.

In addition, all of East Midlands Trains 11 High Speed Trains will be repainted in the East Midlands Trains livery, and will have extensive modification work to ensure they are running as efficiently and reliably as possible.

Commenting, Tim Sayer, Engineering Director for East Midlands Trains said:

“This is a really exciting project for East Midlands Trains and one we know is a priority for our passengers. Despite being one of the oldest fleets on the UK rail network, the High Speed Train is still a firm favourite amongst many of our passengers, and I’m sure the improvements we are making will be greatly welcomed.

“People can see from our Class 158 refurbishment project the transformation that these improvements can bring to the on-train environment. We have had positive feedback from passengers in response and I’m sure our customers will love this makeover to our HSTs.”

A total of 94 carriages will be refurbished and the programme is scheduled to take 13 months to complete.

Notes to Editors

For media enquiries, please contact 01738 442111.

1) A selection of images is available on request.

2) East Midlands Trains’ services high speed long distance services from London St. Pancras to Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham and regional services operated by between Nottingham and Derby – Lincoln – Cleethorpes – Skegness, Derby and Crewe - Matlock and Norwich and Liverpool.

3) The franchise will run until 31 March 2015, the last year and four months of which will be conditional upon achieving pre-set performance targets.

4) Highlights of improvements include faster journey times from Sheffield and Leicester to London from 2008, better performance, more seats, train refurbishment, investment at Derby’s Etches Park train maintenance depot, a centralized information and security centre, more car parking spaces and two new stations – at East Midlands Parkway and Corby.

5) Stagecoach Group is a leading international transportation group, with extensive bus and rail operations in the UK and North America. Stagecoach operates South West Trains the UK’s biggest commuter rail network with nearly 1,700 trains a day out of London Waterloo. In addition, Stagecoach has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group.

East Midlands Trains, 1 Prospect Place, Millennium Way, Pride Park, Derby DE24 8HG eastmidlandstrains.co.uk