The first phase of East Midland Railway's (EMR) £2 million upgrade of Nottingham's Eastcroft Depot has been successfully completed – while further investment for safety lighting has also been secured.

Eastcroft Depot is at the centre of EMR's Regional operations and provides essential maintenance for trains which provide services right across the country including to and from Hucknall train station.

The investment in Eastcroft, which is based near Nottingham train station in the city centre, will further support the development of EMR Regional services, as well as providing more capacity to stable three-carriage trains.

The first phase of the upgrade, which began in November, involved improving the depot's train cleaning facilities and increasing the ability of the depot to stable more trains.

Phase two, which is now underway and originally only included the installation of additional fuel pumps, will now also include the construction of a new £360,000 lighting system. 

The lighting system, which will help to improve safety across the depot, is being jointly funded by EMR and Network Rail (NR) - with NR contributing £190,000. 

Neil Bamford, Fleet Director at East Midlands Railway, said: "We are making excellent progress with the Eastcroft Depot project and its great news that phase one has already been completed. 

"The depot is at the very heart of the EMR Regional service and these works will not only increase the capacity of the depot – but it will also help to support the further development of services.

"We would like to thank Network Rail for supporting the project. Its contribution towards the new lighting system underlines our industry's strong commitment to work together to prioritise safety."

Deborah Fairweather, Senior Sponsor for Network Rail, said: "We're pleased to be supporting our partners at East Midlands Railway in delivering this huge upgrade at Eastcroft Depot.

"Investing in new lighting will not only improve safety for workers at the essential facility, but it will make for a nicer, brighter environment. It's brilliant to see the first stage complete and I look forward to seeing the further improvements over the next few months."