The Department for Transport has announced that the Midland Main Line is to be electrified to Market Harborough.  This is an extension of the scheme currently under way to electrify from Bedford to Kettering and Corby.  The decision had been anticipated, as the power supply for that electrification will be from the National Grid high-voltage power line that crosses the railway near Braybrooke, just south of Market Harborough.  It makes sense to feed that power back to Kettering using overhead wires rather than an underground conduit, and then to extend it for 'the last mile' into Market Harborough.  The decision means that our trains will run electrically all the way between Market Harborough and London.  This will make them quieter, cleaner and faster.  Until electrification is extended further, however, they will switch to diesel for the section north to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield.  
The Market Harborough electrification is due to be completed in December 2023.
The decision is warmly welcome, but we need to ensure that Market Harborough retains an inter-city service rather than becoming the terminus for outer-suburban trains.

At the 2018 AGM on 29th November, Harborough Rail Users reviewed the past year’s activities and set the scene for campaign topics for the next year. 
Important decisions will be made over the next few months that will have a major effect on our station and train services for many years to come.

​The main issues for Harborough Rail Users are:

1. Market Harborough station, including the Access for All improvements and track realignment.  The new platforms are beginning to take shape and some of the new track has been laid.  It will be a major improvement on the present station, but we will continue to press for better access arrangements from the booking hall to the new platforms, better shelter, provision of facilities such as toilets for the southbound platform, and the promised cycle hub. 
2. The next East Midlands franchise.  We have submitted our detailed response to the Department for Transport consultation.  We have also met all three companies who are bidding and have given them details of what we hope to see in the next franchise, which is due to start in August 2019.   The government’s specification retains our essential two trains per hour service in each direction throughout the day. We need to retain a good mix of fast and stopping trains, combining regular fast services to London with stopping trains giving good connectivity to intermediate stations such as Kettering, Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway, plus good connections for Corby.  We have called for some timetable improvements such as earlier trains northbound in the morning, including Sundays, and later last trains southbound in the evenings.  The franchise specification requires the reinstatement of peak-time trains between Wellingborough and Bedford ‘as soon as reasonably practical’.
3. Electrification.  Though the scheme for the whole line north of Kettering has been cancelled, we await the decision on whether overhead wires or an underground conduit will be used to connect the Corby line electrification to the planned power substation at Braybrooke.  If overhead lines are to be installed, a further decision is awaited on whether that would then be extended for ‘the last mile’ into Market Harborough.  On a related note, decisions are awaited on rolling stock.  The franchise specification requires a new fleet of bi-mode trains for the main line, to be fully in service by the end of 2023.  We shall be taking a keen interest in the specifications for any new bi-mode or other trains that may be ordered.  There also remains the question of replacing or modifying the present HSTs to make them compliant with accessibility and other regulations that come into force in 2020, three years before full introduction of any new stock.