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.   

Work on the long-awaited electrification of the main line from Kettering to Market Harborough officially started on Saturday 11th December.  Much preparatory work had already taken place, including cutting back of lineside vegetation that might interfere with the overhead lines, plus a start on the power supply substation at Braybrooke, just outside Market Harborough.  The first job for the electrification teams, who are operating out of site compounds at Rushton, Braybrooke and behind Platform 1 at Market Harborough, is to install the tubular steel piles in the ground to support the overhead line masts.  Several of these were already in place at Braybrooke on 11th December.  Work continues on this operation, mostly overnight plus some weekend working, until January.
Once complete, the electrification and power supply upgrade will enable the new Aurora trains to operate on electric power south from Market Harborough when they are introduced into service in 2023.  By then, we hope the decision to continue beyond Market Harborough will have been made, in accordance with the Government’s promise in its Integrated Rail Plan, published on 18th November 2021, to electrify the whole Midland Main Line.