Regarding the suggestions about forthcoming EMR service changes, the DfT franchise map is very specific; the Matlock - Derby - Nottingham - Newark service will operate at least as far as Nottingham, the current Norwich - Nottingham - Liverpool one will be replaced by a Norwich - Nottingham - Derby one running on an hourly frequency (and thus providing an extra train each hour between Nottingham and Derby), and that MOST Derby - Crewe services will be extended through to Nottingham (the emphasis on most is mine).
My first recollection of seeing the suggestion that the proposed Norwich - Derby service would be extended through to Matlock was in an edition of 'Modern Railways', but the same magazine also reported (in a later edition) that EMR was having second thoughts about this and on page 58 of September's 'Modern Railways' it just shows it as being Norwich - Derby; the timetable plan (for December 2021) shown on the same page of the September 'Modern Railways' also shows the Crewe - Derby services being extended through to Newark via Nottingham, and the Matlock - Newark service being cut-back to Nottingham. All are operated on an hourly frequency, thereby giving 3xEMR and 2xXC services each hour in the Derby - Nottingham corridor. That'll be interesting around Sheet Stores and Trent!
I haven't been able to discover anything about EMR's consultation for the 2020 timetable change by an internet search, but by combining the DfT's franchise maps, the timetable plan for December 2021 published in September's 'Modern Railways', and the report on the Derby Live website referred to in an earlier post, it does look as if there is now a settled plan by EMR as to how it proposes to alter its regional services over the December 2020 and December 2021 timetable changes; moreover, some of the Crewe - Newark trains may also stop at Pear Tree!
So it looks, therefore, as if the split in the Norwich - Liverpool service is definitely going ahead, and that all that has to be decided is who will operate the Nottingham - Sheffield - Manchester - Liverpool leg.
Information published thus far indicate that EMR will have a Regional fleet comprised only of 'Turbostars'; will they have enough if the Norwich - Nottingham service only goes as far as Derby, the Crewe - Derby service is extended through to Newark, and the Matlock - Nottingham operates as an independent service rather than (as was once envisaged) an extension of the Norwich - Derby service?
Finally, any news as to when the operator of the Nottingham - Liverpool service will be known? And has EMR been invited to operate it as a stand-alone service?