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. 

The electrification through Market Harborough finally went live on Sunday 28th July.  Though we shan’t see electric trains in service here for a few months yet, the installation of the overhead line equipment between Kettering and Wigston South Junction is now complete.  Testing remains to be done, both of the equipment and of the first of the new bi-mode Class 810 trains.  Work also continues on the upgrading of the existing electrification between Bedford and London to accommodate the 125mph top speed of the new trains.
Further information is available from the Network Rail website:
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/east-midlands/midland-main-line-upgrade/
We look forward to the first of our new trains entering service, probably around the end of 2024 or early 2025.

Good progress continues with the electrification of the line from Kettering to Market Harborough.  On 15th March, several overhead support posts were installed behind Platform 1, and other work continues around the station.  The picture below shows one of the masts being lifted into position.
(Photo: Steve Jones)

Network Rail will soon be starting work on the new toilet block and waiting room at Market Harborough station.  This is long awaited, and further information can be found here:
https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/better-facilities-at-market-harborough-station-this-may

Users of Market Harborough station will have noticed evidence of electrification really getting under way.  At the time of writing, overhead line masts have been installed just north of the platforms, and through Little Bowden.  Lengthy stretches of the line through Braybrooke and most of the way to Kettering now have at least some evidence of electrification, whether that be the mast support bases, masts themselves and, in many cases, the gantry brackets that will carry the wires.  The power supply substation at Braybrooke is also very much under construction.  
The Government’s Integrated Rail Plan promises electrification of the entire Midland Main Line, right through to Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield.  We now trust that once the electrification has reached Market Harborough, it can swiftly continue towards Leicester.