East Midlands Railway (EMR) has cut the number of services running between Sheffield and London, with business leaders and politicians warning the reduced timetable is already damaging trade and the wider northern economy. EMR said the cuts, which will remain in place for the foreseeable future, were introduced because of "service reliability issues" with a new fleet of trains, and that it would keep the temporary timetable under review while working with the manufacturer.

Business figures said the disruption was forcing them to change travel plans and driving trade towards rival routes. Yorkshire AI Labs co-founder David Richards said the route was "critical for the survival of some businesses" and described the cuts as "disastrous", adding that visiting investors had needed to travel up the day before meetings; he said he would now drive 45 minutes to Doncaster to use the more frequent LNER service instead. Matt Travis of Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber of Commerce said reduced reliability was causing "lost productivity, increased travel costs" and difficulty holding face-to-face meetings, while Liberal Democrat peer Lord Shaffaq Mohammed described weeks of cancellations and delays affecting his own journeys to the House of Lords, and said he had raised the issue with rail minister Lord Peter Hendy.