Midland Mainline set to be electrified in Leicestershire

“Vickcart, I agree £8800 is a lot of money to pay out in one go, I know annual season ticket holders used to be able to pay by direct debit. But if you break the cost down your daily fare is far cheaper than what most people pay to travel on a one off basis. You pay around £33.85 per day for your commute, which for a round trip of 222 miles works out at around 15p per mile. I have based this figure on 260 days use per year (allowing for weekends and holidays) but of course you are fully entitled to use your ticket to travel for the 363 days the trains run should you wish to.”

“So when are the rest of us going to get decent even clean trains (never mind the posh diesels run by midland mainline) rather than the stevenson rocket relecks run by Arrivia Wales!!

If you choose to buy a season ticket and travel to London - that is your decision!”

“The government's own rules stipulate that any project with a cost/benefit ratio of greater than 2 should be built. The Midland Mainline Electrification has been cost at greater than 5, more than any other rail scheme on the cards or any already annouced. The reliability issues on the East Coast are simply due to the fact it was done on the cheap, gradually Network Rail are resolving these. Electrfication is great news - it makes no sense whatsoever for a train to be carrying a big fat engine and fuel around when it can draw all the power it needs along the route it travels. Oil will be scarce in the future - it is short sighted and wasteful to use it on railways when electricity is far more efficient.”

“If they want to shave 10 mins off the journey time to London then sort the tracks out so that the diesels can run at full speed and stop padding the timetables with extra long stops at Leicester!

The journey time hasn't changed in the last 25 yrs and electrification will make things worse not better especially in windy weather!! It's bad enough when the existing electrified section suffers a mishap and the diesels can't get through. Virgin used to keep a diesel loco permanently at Rugby station just for rescue missions when there was a problem on the WCML.

Stop with the me too attitude and sort out the real problems and you could spend a lot less money. Fares are too high anyway. £8,800 for an annual season ticket from Loughborough to London is ridiculous, especially when you have to contend with the peak time stopping at Bedford & Luton Airport and you can't get a seat on the way home. All I want is a journey time of around 1hr 20 to 1hr 30 without being bled dry in the process.”

“Total wate of time and money
reliability will go down the pan. Overhead lines are very vunerable to damage and unlike diesels which carry their own power and can reverse out of a situation onto another track with the power off if required by the signaller and at least keep the passengers supplied with light and heating or aircon, once the lines are down . Electric trains are dead and have no power for the passengers and then have to have a diesel on standby to come and rescue them

The current diesel trains in use now cannot obtain their maximum 125 mph speeds in many locations due to the track restrictions
Sort all that out and the signalling and you dont need overhead lines to knock 10 minutes off the journey
Electric trains are not any quicker than modern diesels which are efficient and have a high power to weight ratio and acceleration compared to the 60s

Also at weekends during maintanance or emergency weekday closure, between Leicester and Kettering, trains deivert through Oakham to kettering via Syston. Electric trains wont be able to do this diversion unless there is a fleet of diesel locos ad drivers to pilot each electric train over the non electrified lines”

“When I lived in Leicester I accepted provision of a fast, reliable, diesel powered servicxe to London as the norm. Now living in East Anglia I have experience of electrified services to London Liverpool Street. Frequently riddled with delays and cacellations and transfers to buses. With both track and over head catenery to maintain Sunday journeys to London are a regular night mare of transfers from the trains to double decker buses and passengers from a full "125" style train being crammed like sardines into a 5 car rail unit. So don't get over excited about eletrification of Leicestershire raiil journeys. Once electric multiple units are on the Leicestershire rails it will not be possible to divert these trains during track works via the convenient Harringworth viaduct route. Reliability, comfort count for more than trimming 10 mins. off a journey”

“This is great news! Finally some investment in the MML, the most underfunded mainline in the country.”

“And just what will spending £500M actually achieve - 10 minutes off a journey time from Leicester to St. Pancras?!!”

“It will be interesting to see what the timescale will be on this. Also will the route get new trains? Not sure of the answer to the first bit but regarding the train issue I would imagine (and I hope im wrong) the electric trains would be the fleet of electric trains currently on the East Coast Main Line that were introduced from 1989. Ideally though a Pendolino type train (as used on the West Coast Main Line) should be built for the Midland Main Line as given the nature of the route these trains would fit the bill due to them being fitted with tilt. Tilt and higher speeds could reduce journey times. The tilt mechanism means train can take curves at a higher speed.
When electrifying the route, the lines from Sheffield to Wakefield Westgate, Sheffield to Doncaster and Derby to Birmingham should also be electrified.(Wakefield to Leeds is already done). These along with the already approved section from Leeds to York would also provide a fully electrified cross country route from Birmingham to Edinburgh/Glasgow via York. Doing these relatively short sections of track totalling less than 100 additional route miles would not be a great deal more expensive if done at the same time as the MML electrification.”