Written question asked by Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 12 December 2017, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 28 December 2017. It was answered by Baroness Sugg (Conservative) on Thursday, 21 December 2017 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

East Midlands Trains

Question: To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation was undertaken with (1) local authorities, (2) rail user groups, and (3) passengers, prior to the announcement that, from 20 May 2018, no fast East Midlands Train services arriving to St Pancras station between 7am and 10am on weekdays will call at Bedford or Luton, and that no fast trains leaving St Pancras between 4pm and 7pm will stop at those stations.

Answer: In order to realise the benefits of the Thameslink Programme and the planned upgrade to the Midland Mainline, to be completed in 2020, a temporary timetable has been developed from May 2018. This limits the impact to passengers until the planned capacity is fully available and balances the needs of passengers across the routes. This has resulted in the temporary removal of peak direction East Midlands Trains services between Bedford and Luton to St Pancras. At the same time a number of peak Thameslink services will operate a faster service to central London. It has not been possible to consult on these changes as is routinely done. The Department for Transport has given its authorisation for this approach.

Secondary information