Rail News – Late October 2023
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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been urged to “switch on” the East Midlands rail network as fast as possible by accelerating work to electrify the region’s main link to London.
The Midland Mainline carries 3.75 million passenger journeys a year between Chesterfield, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and London, but trains still have to travel on diesel power for part of the journey – impacting emissions, reliability and the time it takes to travel.
While the Midland Mainline section between London and Bedford was switched to electric power in the 1980s, the final section into the heart of the East Midlands still hasn’t been upgraded 40 years on.
