I was pleased to host a roundtable on the future of trains in Derby this week, alongside Catherine Atkinson MP and Baggy Shanker MP. Thank you to Network Rail, East Midlands Railway , CrossCountry trains, and representatives from East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) for joining us.
With the pausing of the last section of the Midlands Mainline Electrification, and the soon headquartering of Great British Rails in Derby, we need to be ambitious about what we can achieve with rail in Derby.
Soon, the government will be moving transport powers to our metro mayors, over bus and trains. We discussed what integrated ticketing could look like. Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward has kick started her ‘Big Transport Conversation’ so you can feedback how you think this could work.
We discussed new collaborative actions to work towards improvements on infrastructure and rolling stock as part of the wider push towards electrification, as well as the huge opportunities brought by the landmark launch of the new bimodal Aurora trains.
This week was the launch of these Aurora bimodal trains. It is an incredibly exciting moment for rail users in Mid Derbyshire and people who use the Midland Mainline. I look forward to the trains coming into use over the coming weeks and months.