East Midlands Railway (EMR) is reinstating 22 regional services which were dropped when the pandemic hit.
The rail operator said it will bring most of the changes in on Monday, December 13, following by a smaller number on Monday, January 3, as customers return to work and education.
The business said it means from early next year it will be running 486 trains per day, which it says is 87 more than it operated when Covid hit is the spring of 2020.
It said the changes include more Liverpool to Norwich services as well as further reinstatements between Crewe and Newark Castle, Nottingham and Worksop and Leicester and Cleethorpes.
A spokesman said: “EMR has aimed to prioritise those services which have been the most frequent requests from customers and stakeholders, while also protecting costs to taxpayers and ensuring the advertised timetable is robust and reliable.”
The business said a small number of changes will be made on the Nottingham to Skegness route during the winter period to reflect the reduced passenger demand.
It said those changes will remain under review and will be stepped up again during the summer season.
Paul Barnfield, operations director at East Midlands Railway, said: “In recent months, a dedicated team has been working hard to improve the reliability and performance of our services to allow us to reinstate a number of our regional services.
“In doing so, we have aimed to prioritise services which have been the most requested by our customers and local stakeholders while also being careful to ensure our timetable is robust, reliable and as cost efficient to taxpayers as possible.
“These services will be reinstated in two stages either side of Christmas. This is an incremental and sensible approach to reinstating services at what is typically the quietest time of the year to travel. As such, I would ask customers to check their journeys between December 13 and January 3 before setting off, by visiting www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk.”
