Train franchise is given extra time

Stagecoach Group will continue running East Midlands Trains until August at least under a new agreement with the UK Government announced this week.

The company, which has its HQ in Perth, has been given a further five months to run services across the region by the Department forTransport (DfT) as fresh tendering for the franchise continues. It has held the franchise for the last 11 years.

Chief executive Martin Griffiths commented: “We are pleased to have been given the opportunity by the DfT to extend our successful tenure of the East Midlands Trains franchise until at least August.

“We are very proud of the improvements we have delivered for our customers and our people over the past 11 years, and we look forward to continuing this successful track record.”

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the DfT, Andrew Jones MP, remarked:“East Midlands Trains has achieved good performance and passenger satisfaction levels during the time they have been operating the franchise and the new agreement will allow for a smooth transition into the next competitivelytendered franchise.” A collection of mugshots of criminals jailed at Perth Prison during the 1870s and 1880s is to go on show in Aberdeen this month. The rogues’gallery includes a thief who was jailed for nine months for stealing a library book as well as fraudsters and petty crooks. The pictures of the men and women, taken inside HM General Prison in Perth before their release, will be on display as part of the Criminal Portraits exhibition at Aberdeen Central Library and the Lemon Tree later this month. The pictures are a just fraction of nearly 2000 held in the archives of Aberdeen City Council. As well as the exhibition, council archivist Phil Astley will be hosting a talk on 19thcentury criminal portraits as part of this year’s Granite Noir crime writing festival. He said:“This type of record is really rare these days and, as far as I know, this is the only album of mugshots like this in existence. “This is in many ways what the National Crime Database is today. “Police would have used it at the time as a record of what people looked like when they were released.” The exhibition will be on display at Aberdeen Central Library and The Lemon Tree from February 22-24. Phil’s talk will be given at the city centre library at 3pm on Friday, February 22.