Why rail timetables are undergoing major overhaul

Major changes to train timetables in the East Midlands will mean more services, thousands of extra seats and some smaller stations seeing more trains stopping.

The new schedules have been months in the making, with rail companies having to fit their services around other operators.

Managers believe the changes will benefit customers and provide an economic boost to areas where extra services are being laid on.

Timetables are typically changed twice a year - but the December 2025 update is being seen as a major overhaul by some rail companies.

But some passengers who have become accustomed to using specific trains may wonder why timetables need to change at all.

The new East Midlands Railway (EMR) timetable has taken months of planning and for the first time in living memory, it means two services an hour between Derby and Lincoln.

"This is a very significant change, it'll provide a real boost to the local economy," said EMR's managing director Will Rogers.

"We're improving capacity, connectivity and performance as well, the winners are the customers, with additional calls at stations between Nottingham and Lincoln."

Some of the key changes - in what the rail company has dubbed The Big Timetable Change - include:

• Two direct services between Derby and Lincoln, stopping at Nottingham, every hour during the week and Saturdays, and one train an hour on Sundays
• On the Matlock to Derby to Nottingham route, there will be three extra services in each direction from Ambergate and two from Matlock on Sundays
• There will be a new morning service departing Ambergate at 06:59 heading towards Cleethorpes on weekdays and Saturdays, while the last weekday service to Matlock, calling at Derby, will now depart Nottingham at 22:09

Elsewhere, Attenborough will have an hourly service to and from Derby all week, and passengers at Derby will see bolstered connections to and from Crewe and Birmingham, with Spondon, Radcliffe and Carlton also seeing more services.

The operator said the additional services would deliver thousands of extra seats across the week, adding passengers can also expect a more reliable and resilient regional timetable, which has been designed around a "robust" hourly connection with London St Pancras.

The change has been prompted by a major update to the timetable on the East Coast Main Line, the busy route between London, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

EMR and LNER trains share part of the route, including a section between Grantham and Peterborough. There is also a bottleneck near Newark in Nottinghamshire, caused by a flat crossing where London to Edinburgh and Nottingham to Lincoln lines pass over each other, limiting the number of trains allowed to pass.

The timings of almost all LNER trains calling at Newark Northgate in Nottinghamshire will change.

There will be more trains to London, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds and Bradford Forster Square, with faster journey times, it was confirmed.

There will be hourly direct trains to Leeds and Edinburgh all day, seven days a week.

Further up the line, the timing of LNER and Hull Trains services calling at Retford will change. There will be slightly more LNER trains stopping on weekdays but fewer on Sundays.

Network Rail said it had invested about £4bn into the East Coast route in the last decade to implement this timetable change. This has included:

• Major work at King's Cross station to remodel the tracks and reopen a disused railway tunnel. This has helped reduce congestion and improve reliability
• Building a new turnback platform at Stevenage railway station to enable more services to run
• Constructing a new tunnel under the railway in Werrington to stop freight trains from crossing the main line and helping to improve train service performance
• Building a new platform at Doncaster railway station to reduce congestion and help trains run more reliably

Passengers have been encouraged to check with their train operator before travelling, but have been reassured that despite the timetable changes, fares will remain unchanged.

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