The Class 158 Express Sprinter Units were introduced to the East Midlands by Regional Railways Central to replace the Class 156 SuperSprinter on long-distance express services branded as Alphaline, such as Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street via Nottingham.
Following privatisation, Central Trains operated these services but quickly procured a large fleet of Class 170 Turbostar units for such services and transferred the Class 158 fleet to secondary routes such as Birmingham New Street to Hereford and Derby to Matlock.

East Midlands Trains (EMT) had a fleet of 25 units inherited from Central Trains, with some units transferred from First Great Western and South West Trains.
EMR's Class 158 Express Sprinter units operate long-distance express services (such as Norwich to Liverpool) and secondary non-express workings such as Nottingham to Skegness, Nottingham to Matlock and Leicester to Lincoln Central.

The hourly Norwich to Liverpool service has been criticised for overcrowding, especially between Liverpool and Nottingham.
This resulted from the Department for Transport specifying two-coach units in the EMT franchise starting in November 2007.
In the light of persistent and excessive overcrowding, with some passengers being left behind on occasions, the DfT eventually admitted that it had made a mistake.
Various cascades of other units enabled more Class 158 stock to be released for this route, and from the December 2011 timetable change the busiest services have been lengthened to four-coach trains between Liverpool and Nottingham, with units splitting and joining at Nottingham as necessary, two-coach trains being regarded as adequate between Nottingham and Norwich.
Further services on this route were strengthened from December 2012.

In May 2015 158889 transferred to EMT from South West Trains on a 2-year loan.
This allocation was then made permanent in August 2017 following Stagecoach's loss of the South Western franchise to South Western Railway.

All units passed to East Midlands Railway on 18 August 2019 and run under the “EMR Regional” sub-brand.
As part of its full fleet replacement, EMR plans to replace the  158s and other sprinter units with Class 170s from 2020.
The Class 158 Express Sprinter Units were introduced to the East Midlands by Regional Railways Central to replace the Class 156 SuperSprinter on long-distance express services branded as Alphaline, such as Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street via Nottingham. Following privatisation, Central Trains operated these services but quickly procured a large fleet of Class 170 Turbostar units for such services and transferred the Class 158 fleet to secondary routes such as Birmingham New Street to Hereford and Derby to Matlock.
East Midlands Trains (EMT) had a fleet of 25 units inherited from Central Trains, with some units transferred from First Great Western and South West Trains. EMR's Class 158 Express Sprinter units operate long-distance express services (such as Norwich to Liverpool) and secondary non-express workings such as Nottingham to Skegness, Nottingham to Matlock and Leicester to Lincoln Central.
The hourly Norwich to Liverpool service has been criticised for overcrowding, especially between Liverpool and Nottingham. This resulted from the Department for Transport specifying two-coach units in the EMT franchise starting in November 2007. In the light of persistent and excessive overcrowding, with some passengers being left behind on occasions, the DfT eventually admitted that it had made a mistake. Various cascades of other units enabled more Class 158 stock to be released for this route, and from the December 2011 timetable change the busiest services have been lengthened to four-coach trains between Liverpool and Nottingham, with units splitting and joining at Nottingham as necessary, two-coach trains being regarded as adequate between Nottingham and Norwich. Further services on this route were strengthened from December 2012.
In May 2015 158889 transferred to EMT from South West Trains on a 2-year loan. This allocation was then made permanent in August 2017 following Stagecoach's loss of the South Western franchise to South Western Railway.
All units passed to East Midlands Railway on 18 August 2019 and run under the “EMR Regional” sub-brand. As part of its full fleet replacement, EMR plans to replace the  158s and other sprinter units with Class 170s from 2020.
British Rail Class 158