EMR Scarborough service to cease running beyond 2020

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/introduction-of-york-to-scarborough-northern-service.199847/

scarby said:

I saw 142071 on these training runs this week. For a short period it was on platform 2, A 68 - Mk 5s on platform 1 in service, another 68 + Mk 5s for some reason sitting idle on platform 3 and the Hull/Sheffield service on platform 4. Long time since I've seen the station that busy in March.

Now on Saturdays in summer we'll have the St Pancras service sitting there most of the day, plus the TPE and Northern York line services and the Hull line service. Throw in a Saturday railtour and all 5 platforms could be in use at some moments!

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The EMR St Pancras services won’t be running in 2021 onwards though, so you’ll not have that after this year...

swt_passenger said:

The EMR St Pancras services won’t be running in 2021 onwards though, so you’ll not have that after this year...

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Shame, any idea why?

xc170 said:

Shame, any idea why?

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Wasn’t in the new franchise specification. Or, put another way, DfT didn’t want it any more. It was mentioned in last November’s discussion of the EMR consultation document in this thread:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/emr-december-2020-timetable-consultation.195505/#post-4297770

xc170 said:

Shame, any idea why?

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The couple of times I've been on it it has seemed to be a staff jolly. The guard and the driver seemed to personally know most people in my carriage and were talking about mutual friends/colleagues in the rest of the train. I assume that means a very high number of passengers were travelling free on staff passes so I can't imagine it got close to covering its costs.

DDB said:

The couple of times I've been on it it has seemed to be a staff jolly. The guard and the driver seemed to personally know most people in my carriage and were talking about mutual friends/colleagues in the rest of the train. I assume that means a very high number of passengers were travelling free on staff passes so I can't imagine it got close to covering its costs.

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It's always, understandably, been popular with the staff and never was going to cover it's costs from day one being a 5 car 222 and prior to that a 170 - I've never used it to Scarborough myself but intend to have a ride this summer before it finishes. Only a small number of staff sign the route though - a small proportion of Derby drivers and a handful of Sheffield train managers.

The weekend York trains are being retained though - the down train on a Sunday is fairly quiet starting at Leicester at 1020 but the other 3 journeys get very busy.