Midland Mainline is cutting services between Nottingham and London

A new service from the East Midlands to Manchester will begin later this month, but at the expense of another service.

Midland Mainline will run a direct service from London St Pancras through Leicester to Manchester Piccadilly from 18 May.

It is designed to ease pressure on the West Coast Main Line which is undergoing a major upgrade.

However, the new service means the number of direct services between Nottingham and London will be halved.

It is a move that has met with criticism from passengers and from Nottinghamshire MP Nick Palmer.

The new route will ease pressure on the West Coast Main Line

They say it will penalise people living and working in Beeston and Nottingham and could mean overcrowding on peak-time services.

Midland Mainline, which was asked to provide the service by the Strategic Rail Authority, defended the move saying passengers should see minimum disruption.

Ten high-speed trains released by Virgin Trains will be used on the new London to Manchester route for a 12-month period.

Initially, there will be nine services a day increasing to an hourly service of 15 trains from 30 June.

Trains will stop at Luton, Kettering, Wellingborough, Market Harborough and Leicester before going to Stockport and Manchester.

It is first time in 30 years a direct service will run from the East Midlands to Manchester.

The Nottingham to London St Pancras route will be reduced from two trains an hour to one train per hour.