The Automatic Number Plate Recognition, ANPR, system came into use at Market Harborough station’s main car park on 28th November 2025.  Installation had started on 24th November. Pleasingly, the car park was free of charge during the few days in the transition period and there appeared to be a visible increase in usage!  For more information on the system, see the story below at 6th October 2025.
Parking is still charged daily but is now payable on entry.  Harborough Rail Users have expressed concerns to EMR about this, partly for non-regular users not knowing what to do and having little time before their train arrives.  Others may not know exactly when they will be returning.  Pay on exit would solve both problems.  EMR insist that the system is easy to use and allows additional days to be purchased as needed via the mobile phone app (see left).
There are some benefits compared with the old barrier system, including free parking for Blue Badge holders (subject to registering their badge on the system) and the 30 minutes’ grace before payment is required, allowing free short-stay parking. 
​Arrangements have also been made for the Station Adopters, Market Harborough in Bloom Volunteers, to be able to park free of charge when carrying out activities at the station.

The AGM of Harborough Rail Users took place as planned on 26th November at the Methodist Church Centre in the town.
Steve Jones was re-elected as Chair, and the other officers and Committee were elected for the forthcoming year.  We were pleased to welcome another new member to our Committee.  The meeting noted with pleasure the forthcoming reinstatement from December 15th of a later last train back from London on weekdays, at 22:35 from St Pancras.  We also noted the improved bus connections at the station since June. We are hopeful a new operator for the station café can soon be found.
The priorities for the group were confirmed.  These are:

• The train service and connectivity.  We shall continue to press for earlier first trains on Sundays, especially given the unreliability of the present first southbound trains. Improved connections at Kettering onto the EMR Connect service are a priority.  Better connections at Leicester for Birmingham are also sought.
• The introduction of the new ‘Aurora’ bi-mode trains. Once all are in service, these will bring greater capacity plus more reliable wi-fi and seat reservations.  Moreover, their operational performance may give rise to reviews of the timetable.  HRU would want to take part in any consultations about future timetables and stopping patterns, for example, the potential for some Intercity calls at Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway. Both have an important interchange role, which for Bedford will greatly increase when East West Rail opens to Oxford and eventually Cambridge.
• Further improvements to the station, including reopening of the café, and landscaping works;
• Monitoring the operation of ANPR in the station car park. This may help to alleviate the lack of designated short-stay parking on the east side of the station. We also continue to seek covered cycle parking for occasional users for whom joining the Cycle Hub scheme is not worthwhile;
• Further integration of bus services with trains at Market Harborough, especially extension of the X3 bus route to and from the station;
• Maintaining a continued watching brief on the debate about reopening the Northampton line.
• Possibly joining a Community Rail Partnership should that come into existence for Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough, as has been proposed. Doing so would help strengthen links between ‘the railway’ and ‘the community’, in turn giving us another means of access to more influence on rail services etc. at Market Harborough.

The 2024-25 HRU Annual Report can be viewed here:  

EMR have announced that many of their station car parks are to have Automatic Number Plate Recognition, ANPR, technology installed, starting later in October. 
Market Harborough is included, along with Kettering and Wellingborough, in November 2025. (Market Harborough will receive its ANPR equipment on 24th November 2025, which will come into use a day or two later.)
ANPR uses cameras to capture and recognise vehicle registration numbers, helping to manage car park access more efficiently and securely. EMR are working with car park operator APCOA and the system replaces car park tickets and card permits. 
EMR advise that customers will need to pay on arrival, within 30 minutes of entry.  Drop-off and pick-up zones included in ANPR areas will have a 30-minute free period.  As pick-up and drop spaces at Market Harborough are very limited, this is a significant advantage. If a journey is disrupted and customers return after their pre-paid day parking has expired, any extra charges can be refunded via APCOA's customer service team. 
Parking for Blue Badge holders will become park free of charge.  This is a major improvement, but users must register their vehicle in advance with APCOA.
Customers will continue to be charged a day rate while using the car parks - as is the case currently.  They will be able to pay for parking in the following ways:

• Paystations at stations
• Cash at station ticket offices - but only when the ticket office is open
• By phone (An automated telephony system)
• ScanPay (By scanning a QR code on signs at the station)
• By the APCOA Connect App
• On the APCOA website, including Auto-pay functionality to automatically charge each time the customer parks

More information about the ANPR system, including frequently asked questions, can be found here: https://www.eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/anpr-car-parking
ANPR is well established at other stations around the country.  We in Harborough Rail Users welcome some of the changes ANPR will bring, not least because the car park barriers can be temperamental!  We are also pleased that Blue Badge holders will be able to park free of charge, subject to registering their vehicle beforehand.
​We have raised some questions with EMR regarding concessions for the station adopters (the volunteers who maintain the flower planters around the station) and the degree of flexibility allowed for car park season-ticket holders.  

​Market Harborough in Bloom Volunteers are the Station Adopters for Market Harborough station. They maintain the award-winning amenity planting across the town centre, including the station. Harborough Rail Users maintain close links with them, with Chair Steve Jones also being one of the Station Adopters. 
Judging for the East Midlands in Bloom regional competition took place on Monday 30th June.  Timing for this was hardly ideal, as the station is partly a building site for the platform reconstruction, see item below at 28th June.  However, the station is an important part of Market Harborough in Bloom and the judges visited, along with EMR’s Community Engagement manager, Kaye Robinson, on 30th June.  Despite the environs of the station looking in places like an industrial wasteland, the judges seemed impressed with the volunteers’ efforts.  We await their verdict!

The platforms at Market Harborough station are being substantially reconstructed during four weekends from 21-22 June to 12-13 July, with other work during weekdays where this does not affect train operations. 
It has been discovered that the infill material between the front and back walls has failed, leading to some unevenness and surface cracking.  It is being dug out and replaced.  As the platforms are only six years old, we understand this work is being undertaken by the contractors at no cost to the railway.  Luckily, the line is already closed at weekends until the end of July for track engineering work at Wigston, so advantage of that has been taken for the platform work. The station has been a very busy work-site, with many people and vehicles engaged and large tonnages of material both removed and delivered.
Replacement buses have been running every 20 minutes between Kettering, Market Harborough and Leicester during this work, though they would have been running anyway because of the other engineering work closing the line through Wigston.
The work is being done one section of the platforms at a time.  The contractors are clearly under pressure to complete each respective section and hand it back intact in time for the first train on Monday mornings.