There has been widespread dismay at the recent announcement by the Government that further electrification of the main line through Market Harborough has been ‘paused’.  The line from St Pancras has been electrified through Market Harborough as far as Wigston South Junction.  However, as things now stand, electrification will not proceed any further. The Government has said it is focusing spending on other transport schemes.
Our new trains, the Hitachi Class 810 Auroras, will be bi-modes; able to run on either electric or diesel power.  They will therefore be able to operate on the whole route, but only on diesel beyond Wigston. 
However, the decision not to electrify to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield until further notice has been met with dismay by civic leaders and others.  It had been anticipated that the cancellation of the eastern branch of HS2 would have made the upgrading the existing main line a greater priority, but even that is not currently planned to happen. 
Local radio station HFM included coverage, including reaction from Harborough MP Neil O’Brien and Harborough Rail Users Chair Steve Jones: 
Fury After Railway Electrification ‘Paused’ – HFM
Luckily for Market Harborough, electrification has been completed all the way through to London, so we shall only be directly affected on northbound journeys to Leicester and beyond when our new trains enter service.
To be fair, the Department for Transport has said: "We will continue to keep the potential for full electrification of the route under review as part of our plans to decarbonise our railways and as funding becomes available in future."  
We hope the present pause will be reversed soon. 

​Market Harborough in Bloom Volunteers are the Station Adopters for Market Harborough station. They maintain the award-winning amenity planting across the town centre, including the station. Harborough Rail Users maintain close links with them, with Chair Steve Jones also being one of the Station Adopters. 
Judging for the East Midlands in Bloom regional competition took place on Monday 30th June.  Timing for this was hardly ideal, as the station is partly a building site for the platform reconstruction, see item below at 28th June.  However, the station is an important part of Market Harborough in Bloom and the judges visited, along with EMR’s Community Engagement manager, Kaye Robinson, on 30th June.  Despite the environs of the station looking in places like an industrial wasteland, the judges seemed impressed with the volunteers’ efforts.  We await their verdict!

Waiting for trains is something we are all familiar with.  However, when they are years late, it starts to get really frustrating!  Though the electrification through Market Harborough is now fully complete, there are no electric trains yet to use it.  Our new fleet of Hitachi Class 810 Aurora bi-mode (electric and diesel) trains is under construction and the first ones have been on test.  However, though originally planned to enter service in 2022, it is likely to be 2026 before we see them. It had been hoped that the first ones would have been running in May 2025, but the official timing now is ‘as soon as possible’.  Service introduction depends not only on the trains themselves being available but on crew training as well. 
​Of particular concern to us in Harborough Rail Users is that some of our existing fleet of Meridian Class 222 diesel trains are due to leave EMR when the present lease expires later this year. These are already due to transfer to another operator.

The platforms at Market Harborough station are being substantially reconstructed during four weekends from 21-22 June to 12-13 July, with other work during weekdays where this does not affect train operations. 
It has been discovered that the infill material between the front and back walls has failed, leading to some unevenness and surface cracking.  It is being dug out and replaced.  As the platforms are only six years old, we understand this work is being undertaken by the contractors at no cost to the railway.  Luckily, the line is already closed at weekends until the end of July for track engineering work at Wigston, so advantage of that has been taken for the platform work. The station has been a very busy work-site, with many people and vehicles engaged and large tonnages of material both removed and delivered.
Replacement buses have been running every 20 minutes between Kettering, Market Harborough and Leicester during this work, though they would have been running anyway because of the other engineering work closing the line through Wigston.
The work is being done one section of the platforms at a time.  The contractors are clearly under pressure to complete each respective section and hand it back intact in time for the first train on Monday mornings.

Harborough Rail Users takes part in the Station Adopters for Market Harborough station.  This group is led by Market Harborough in Bloom Volunteers, who maintain award-winning amenity planting around the station, such as the planting boxes on the platforms plus the two restored parcels trolleys and the ‘goods wagons’ near the car park steps.  All of this is done under the auspices of EMR and their Community Engagement Managers provide much help and guidance. 
Our previous Engagement Manager, Alexa Stott, who had given a great deal of assistance and support, recently left EMR.  We wish her well in her new ventures.  Her replacement, Kaye Robinson, visited the station on 28th March and we had a walk-around and discussed numerous ideas.  One of these is the ‘Stationmaster’s Garden’ the rough bit of ground at the foot of the car park access road, next to the car wash.  We are hopeful that access can be granted to enable volunteers to create a small open space or garden at this gateway location for the town.   This follows disappointment at the withdrawal of funding previously earmarked for an improvement scheme for the station forecourt and adjacent grassy bank under the Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund via Harborough District Council.