Station realignment plans - Network Rail meeting with Harborough Council

The long-debated upgrade scheme for Market Harborough station and the line through it took a tentative step forward in late January.  Network Rail held a private meeting with Harborough District Council on 25th January and a public information event is to be held at the town's Market Hall on Saturday 27th February between 10am and 7pm. Network Rail states that the plans are at an early stage so details of the scheme are awaited.  They are understood to involve the full realignment of about one and a half miles of the line from the southern end of the station through to just north of Great Bowden, with a complete rebuild of the station at platform level.  All of this would be on existing railway land but it does mean relocating the station car park to the east side of the line. That gives the opportunity to improve the road access, which is currently awkward and congested.  We in Harborough Rail Users welcome these early signs of progress but of course we await both the actual scope of the proposed scheme and the timescale for implementing it.