Bus service trial before rail works at Nottingham Station

Passengers will have to get trains to London from East Midlands Parkway station

East Midlands Trains has said it needs to "fine tune" its plans before a rail replacement bus service at Nottingham Station comes into effect.

Improvement works mean most trains from the station will be replaced with buses between 20 July and 26 August.

The firm said weekend trials, which involved rail staff and their families acting as passengers, had gone well.

During the summer, customers will have to get London trains at East Midlands Parkway with connecting buses.

The £100m project involves laying six miles of new track, building a new platform and installing 140 signals.

The trial involved directing members of staff to buses. Once on the buses they were driven to the next street.

Two blind people with guide dogs also helped with the trial to prepare staff to help passengers with visual impairments.

Neil Micklethwaite, customer service director at East Midlands Trains, said: "There's a couple of tweaks we need to make, particularly with our signage. We need bigger, clearer signs at our bus stops.

"We haven't had any complaints, it's just the fine tuning we need to do and we've got plenty of time to get that right."

Services between Nottingham and Skegness will also be affected, with trains starting and terminating at Grantham.

Network Rail, which is carrying out the work, said the changes would improve the speed of its rail services.

East Midlands Trains said it would be conducting another test before the resignalling work starts on 20 July.

A spokeswoman for the company said the trial would not have any impact on passengers.