East Midlands Railway (EMR), the new operator of the East Midlands franchise, has a modest fleet of HS diesel trains which must be retired at the end of this year.

They operate some of its mainline services linking London with Leicester, Sheffield, Leeds and Nottingham.

Derby-based EMR will be receiving replacements in the form of Hull Trains’ Adelante rolling stock next year.

But railway experts were not enthusiastic at the news because not only are the Adelante trains unreliable, but in recent times a couple have caught fire whilst in passenger service.

Indeed the situation at Hull Trains led to the then-CEO having to resign in 2018.

Now comes news via industry magazine RAIL that nine HSTs will also be transferred to Derby-based EMR from York-based LNER.

LNER is currently using these on its mainline services from London Kings Cross to Yorkshire, the Northeast, Edinburgh, Inverness and Aberdeen.

But they are gradually being removed from service as new Azuma trains arrive.

Although these LNER diesel trains are 40 years old, they are in better condition than those currently operated by EMR.

They also have a more stylish and comfortable interior, not least because they were refurbished in 2016.

They are due to be in use for 12 months and will be removed at the end of 2020.

As yet we do not know exactly when EMR will receive the LNER trainsets but it would have to be in the coming weeks.

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eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk