'The Corby to London train service is unviable'

"East Midlands Railway either don't have the rolling stock or they don't have the staff," says regular rail traveller Matthew Aldridge.

He is among train users on the Corby to London St Pancras line who have contacted their MP Lee Barron complaining about the unreliability of the service.

Aldridge, from Thrapston, Northamptonshire, said his daughter has often been stranded at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, or Bedford, requiring him to collect her.

A train company spokesperson said "extreme hot weather and a number of infrastructure issues over the wider rail network" meant its performance has fallen below the standard expected.

Aldridge said: "It just seems, more and more, that chances are you're going to have no service available to you - and if there is one available, the others around it will have been cancelled and so the train will be absolutely chock-a-block with other people whose service has been cancelled."

His family used to regularly travel to London for work or for an evening out, "but it's just not viable anymore".

"We're going on holiday in a few weeks, we're flying from Luton, but we're not going to take the train because we can't risk there being no train - we're going to have to drive down and put the car in the car park," he added.

Rachel Wilson, who lives in Irthlingborough, also wrote to Barron, the Labour MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire.

"I think over the last probably five, six months, it's become almost unusable," said the charity worker, who has commuted to London two days a week for five years.

She cited delays, cancellations, broken air conditioning and too few carriages for the number of passengers, while train ticket prices continued to go up.

"This year in particular has been just impossible," she said, adding she is wondering if it would be simpler to move nearer a better commuter line.

"I'm late for meetings, I'm late home. I've had to be collected from Northampton, from Bedford, from Milton Keynes - I'm very lucky that I have a husband that will come out sometimes in the middle of the night to collect me so that I'm not completely stranded."

Both passengers said complaints to EMR resulted in an automated reply including the delay repay link.

Barron has written to the company, saying: "For many constituents, this route can no longer be considered a reliable transport option.

"Confidence in the service has steadily eroded, and my constituents have also reported having to book overnight accommodation in London because they cannot rely on being on time for early morning work appointments."

An EMR spokesperson said: "We're sorry to customers who have been affected by recent disruption on EMR Connect.

"We recognise the frustration that disruption causes and are working closely with our industry partners to improve reliability and minimise the impact on customers."

It has also invested £30m to transform its fleet, they added.

Union members working at EMR plan to strike for 48 hours from 30 August - the bank holiday weekend - over "safety concerns" with its new fleet of Aurora (Class 810) trains.

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