Further Midland Main Line electrification ‘paused’

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. 

Diesel under the wires. A bi-mode Hitachi train runs south through Market Harborough on Sunday 25th August 2024.  However, this was not one of our new 'Aurora' trains; rather, it was a Hull Trains 'Paragon' unit, diverted into St Pancras because of engineering work on the East Coast Main Line into Kings Cross.  Though equipped for electric operation, this one was running on diesel, as the overhead equipment was not yet approved for use.
Picture: Steve Jones