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ELECTRIFICATION & POWER
Sparking the Midlands ©NETWORK RAIL
Previous overhead line equipment being installed
PETER STANTON
T
he Midland Main Line is a significant railway route in England, running from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London’s St Pancras International station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham, and Chesterfield. Express passenger services on the line are operated by East Midlands Railway. The line hosts a London suburban commuting service pattern to Bedford with a not insignificant freight flow on the route, focusing on a major aggregate operation at Mountsorrel. Rail Engineer covered an Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ conference in June 2013. That event looked at the emerging national plan for railway electrification and, in particular, the proposals for electrification of the Midland Main Line onward to Sheffield. The well-developed outline proposals were presented by the then Network Rail route delivery director; supported by a robust technical strategy. Unfortunately, the onward development was ‘paused’ by the Department of Transport resulting in a serious loss of momentum as contractors demobilised. More promisingly, on 18 November 2021, the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) was published stating that electrification of the whole line would take place. Rail Engineer previously revisited the subject in April 2021 with an optimistic view of the delivery of new rolling stock and an anticipation of electrification through the entire route to Sheffield and Nottingham.
Rail Engineer | Issue 205 | Nov-Dec 2023
STOPS AND STARTS The position in 2021 had stopped at electrification of the main line onward from Bedford to Kettering and the branch to Corby. However, currently, despite the ‘pauses’, we find the electrification work, led by SPL Powerlines, has progressed towards Market Harborough with much equipment installed and the route infrastructure adapted to suit. The choice of this route section addition lies in the fact that the bulk supply point was commissioned at Braybrooke as part of the full route-long electrification scheme. It is noted that Braybrooke feeder station is needed to support the now commissioned London to Corby (L2C) scheme in 2021. The current feeder station at Long Meadow Farm, which replaced Sundon Feeder Station, feeds the existing Mk3b OLE equipment all the way to Corby via Kettering. The current traction system