Harborough rail users
Improving the quality of Market Harborough's rail service
December 2020 sees significant changes to services on the Midland Main Line from St Pancras, which includes Market Harborough. The main change is the opening of the EMR Electric service between London and Corby, which doubles in frequency to two per hour each way. This brings the standard pattern of EMR train services out of St Pancras to six per hour in each direction, comprising:
This means that we retain two trains per hour in each direction. Southbound, they will all call at Kettering only, then fast to St Pancras. We shall have to change at Kettering to reach any other intermediate station between there and London. Passengers for Thameslink-only destinations such as Harpenden or St Albans will have to change twice. However, the peak-time bus connection between Wellingborough and Bedford will cease, as trains will be reinstated. Northbound, our trains will all go to Nottingham, essentially as now. One per hour will be non-stop from Leicester; the other will call at Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway and Beeston. The only significant change from now is that the East Midlands Parkway stop transfers from the fast train to the stopping train. We do not yet know the actual timings, of course, nor about any variations to this standard pattern during peak times or for early morning or late evening services. For example, some of our late evening northbound trains currently go to Derby or Leeds, as that is where the depots are. Full details of the proposed timetable are available at: https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/december2020
Harborough Rail Users will be responding to the consultation. Please let us know if there is anything you would like us to take into account: use the Get in Touch facility on our website https://www.harborough-rail.org.uk/get-in-touch.html or email us at feedback@harborough-rail.co.uk This is a public consultation, so the EMR website gives a facility for you to respond directly as well. The consultation closes on 15th February 2020. And don’t forget, this is the timetable for December 2020 – a year away yet! For well over 100 years, there has been a barrow-crossing across the tracks at the south end of the platforms at Market Harborough. However, with the opening of the new car park and step-free access to the southbound platform, the need to take disabled passengers across at track level from one platform to the other is much reduced. This crossing is the last one on the whole line and there is a strong desire to close it and remove the obvious risk it involves.
However, the need for all passengers to be able to transfer from one platform to the other remains. Until the new footbridge is built (summer 2019), EMT are proposing a free accessible taxi between the respective station entrances. This will be a temporary arrangement until the new bridge is open. In principle, HRU welcome the closure of the crossing as it is an anachronism on a busy main line in 2018. However, we have sought assurances that the taxi arrangement will be properly accessible and user-friendly. We do not want passengers to have to wait unduly and certainly not risk missing their trains. EMT have undertaken to put in hand such arrangements. Further details are at: https://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/information/media/news/marketharborough/ Harborough Rail Users has submitted its response to the Department for Transport's consultation on the next East Midlands rail franchise. At the last franchise change, Market Harborough was threatened with a severe reduction in its train service. We campaigned hard to retain two trains an hour - and we succeeded.
This time, the exact nature of the train service is not so clear. The main proposal is a split between electric 'London commuter' services to Corby and 'inter-city' bi-mode (electric plus probably diesel) trains for the rest of the route, with interchange between the two at Kettering. Clearly, this is partly a consequence of the decision not to electrify north from Kettering. Quite where this would leave Market Harborough is not made clear. However, there is much pressure to speed up the journeys between London and Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield. A risk is that this can only realistically be done by cutting out intermediate station stops. During the current East Midlands Trains franchise, Market Harborough has had a good train service of one fast and one stopping service to London each hour, with some additional trains at peak times. In essence, we want to retain a service of this kind. We would want to retain the hourly fast trains, which have attracted substantial growth in usage, plus the hourly semi-fast stopping trains that provide good connectivity to other stations along the line. Though London is the single most important destination, there is also a clear need for a direct service between Leicester, Market Harborough, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway. In addition, there should be better connections at Kettering for the Corby service, especially northbound towards both Market Harborough and Leicester, for which the service is particularly poor at present. We have also called for some enhancements to the planned remodelling of Market Harborough station, especially in terms of disabled access and better waiting shelter and toilets on both new platforms. We now await the outcome of the consultation. This is due in April 2018 when the invitation to tender is due to be issued to shortlisted bidders. Thursday 20th July saw two major announcements by the Department for Transport with significant implications for Market Harborough's train service. The public consultation for the next franchise was launched and, with it, the planned electrification of the main line north of Kettering was formally abandoned.
What is now proposed for delivery by the next train operator is a split of services between 'London Commuter' and 'Intercity'. There would be an electric commuter service between St Pancras and main stations to Kettering and on to Corby and an intercity service using 'bi-mode' trains for the main line via Market Harborough to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield. 'Bi-mode' means trains that can run on either electric or diesel power, so these would be electric from St Pancras to Kettering and diesel thereafter. The DfT is selling this as a major improvement based on new technology as well as saving the major cost and disruption that electrification would have caused. The effect for us in Market Harborough is that our trains will continue to be diesel-operated through our station for the foreseeable future, though they will be electric between Kettering and London. No details of the actual rolling stock are yet given; this will be for the new operator to sort out with the DfT, though we are told that they will be 'modern, fast, efficient and comfortable'. Bi-mode trains are currently being built for the Great Western main line, where planned electrification has been similarly curtailed. The franchise consultation proposals make much of the split between electric commuter services to Corby and the bi-mode (diesel for us!) intercity trains on the non-electrified main line. Nothing is said about Market Harborough itself, though the consultation document seeks a speeding-up of intercity journey times from Nottingham and Sheffield to London 'by up to 20 minutes, by reducing the number of calls to pick up commuters, alongside the line speed improvements' (page 22 of the document). It would appear from the proposals that this means stations south of Kettering, as these will be served by the new electric service to Corby. The implication is that our trains would call at Kettering only, then run non-stop to London. Anyone travelling to, say, Bedford or Luton Airport, would change at Kettering. However, whether this would apply to all trains or only some of them is not yet known. The consultation makes clear that there are numerous and varied aspirations for the next franchise, such as a sufficient level of service for Luton Airport. The overall tone of the document is positive, seeking growth in business and improvements to services. The questions are about how best to achieve this and do so affordably. We in Harborough Rail Users will be preparing our full response to the consultation, which closes on 11th October. We will seek to ensure that we retain at least a level of frequency, quality and speed comparable with the service we have now. We also seek improvements to the timetable to give us later southbound weekday last trains and earlier first trains on Sundays. See the DfT website for:
Leicestershire County Council have convened a Scrutiny Review Panel to consider the Market Harborough Line Speed Improvement project. This is a cross-party group of five County Councillors and within their remit is ‘to gain a better understanding of the project and planned improvements to the track and station’ and ‘to explore and understand…what the benefits and associated constraints are’. The Panel met at County Hall on 18th March to hear presentations from Network Rail and East Midlands Trains. This was followed by a site visit to Market Harborough station. After that, the Panel reconvened at the Harborough District Council offices with local stakeholders including Harborough Rail Users invited to make representations. Steve Jones, Chair of HRU, gave a 15-minute presentation based on HRU's response to Network Rail's consultation, though placing this in the context of the importance of the rail service to the local economy and quality of life. He emphasised the role of the local authorities and the Enterprise Partnership (who also gave a presentation) in supporting and facilitating the scheme including the associated highway implications and other access requirements. As the scheme is not yet fully funded, we all need to work together to ensure that the rebuilt station is of a high standard both in its construction and in the facilities it offers.
The Scrutiny Review Panel also heard from LANRAC (the Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Rail Action Committee), Harborough District Council and from |
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