Region in line for ‘rail revolution not seen in 100 years’

ELECTRIFICATION OF EXTRA 4,800 MILES PROPOSED

REGIONAL transport body Midlands Connect has welcomed a report from Network Rail saying it wants to electrify hundreds of miles of lines in the East and West Midlands within the next 30 years.

The UK’s railway operator said it wants to have green trains running on an extra 4,800 miles of railway line by 2050.

As part of its decarbonisation plan, it would like to see high speed passenger and freight trains operating on 4,000 miles of track, hydrogen-powered trains travelling on 400 miles of the network and batterypowered trains on 250 miles of railway.

It has yet to make a decision on what to do with the other sections of track.

The report will come as some consolation to East Midlands Mainline commuters who were told back in 2017 that the government was scrapping £1.1 billion plans to electrify the whole of the line from London St Pancras to Sheffield.

Instead, electrification will now only go as far as Market Harborough, and “bi-mode” trains will run on electricity for part of the route before switching to less green diesel. That decision came after millions of pounds had already been spent remodelling a number of railway bridges in Leicestershire to accommodate the overhead cabling required for electrification.

Politicians and business leaders have continued pushing the government to reverse the decision which they said short-changed the East Midlands. Campaigners say electrification would shorten journey times and also reduce the amount of pollution from the trains.

Midlands Connect is the transport partner of the Midlands Engine, and the region’s “sub-national” transport body. Its director Maria Machancoses, pictured, said she believed the Network Rail announcement would unleash a “rail revolution in the

Midlands not seen in a hundred years”.

She said: “It will create skilled jobs, help level up the economy and help the UK to meet its net-zero target. But not only that, passengers will see improved reliability and faster journeys.

“The historic report recommends the electrification of almost all the Midlands rail network over the next few decades, and Midlands Connect looks forward to working with Network Rail and Department for Transport in developing the sequencing and the case for investment.

“The government’s agenda is rightly build back better and build back greener and we are supporting that every step of the way.

“This project will help our work to deliver investment and growth to every corner of the region.

“This gives us the green light to engineer a system that really couples the East and West Midlands for the first time with decent, speedy and effective rail links.

“There are clearly opportunities now like committing to extend electrification of the Midland Main Line from Market Harborough and Sheffield and further electrification of other main lines and busy commuter routes must be, I believe, the top priorities.”

Writing in the Network Rail report – called the Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy – Paul McMahon, managing director of its system operator, said: “This strategy shows the best way of doing this includes a long-term, stable and efficient programme of electrification which will last for at least 30 years, alongside the introduction of new technology.

“If we can do this, I am confident that rail will play a vital role in helping build Britain back better and achieve the Government’s commitment to achieve net zero by 2050.”