A target date of 2026 has been put on the return of passenger services to the Leicester-Burton-on-Trent ‘Ivanhoe Line’.
It follows Network Rail’s offer to fund the feasibility study into how much work is needed to upgrade the infrastructure on the freight-only route, and how much it will cost.
The revival, which includes several new intermediate stations, has taken 40 years of campaigning so far. There was a breakthrough last year when the Government put the 31-mile line on its shortlist of nine (from 39 national schemes) for Restoring Your Railway funds.
The East Midlands Chamber (EMC) business group understands that if the Ivanhoe Line’s passenger viability is proven, design work proper will begin in mid-2024, and that following parliamentary approval it could open two years later. EMC will itself now work hard to strengthen the case.
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Güntürk Üstün - 05/11/2022 21:06
The hard luck "Ivanhoe Line" was the local passenger service operated on the Midland Main Line between Leicester and Loughborough between 1993, when three intermediate stations were re-opened, and June 2005, when the separate Leicester–Loughborough service was withdrawn. Intermediate stations on the route are now served by East Midlands Railway's hourly service between Leicester, Nottingham and Lincoln. Nevertheless, the "Ivanhoe Line"s future seems promising since its closed section was one of nine schemes chosen to undergo a feasibility scrutiny by Network Rail as part of the government's Restoring Your Railway programme. From now on, let's hope that everything will develop in favor of the "Ivanhoe Line", of course! Dr. Güntürk Üstün
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D - 29/11/2022 00:28
As a Derby local, I await with interest to see whether the line via Ashby and Coalville will actually open this time. It would be wonderful to see a stopping service calling at Derby, Peartree, Willington, Burton and onwards to Leicester.
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David Thornley - 05/11/2022 21:13
I was the last person to board the last train from Leicester to Coalville. I hope they hurry up and reopen the line before I pop my clogs. I also have the last ticket to be issued from Leicester to Coalville....somewhere!
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MR RUSSELL JOHNSON - 28/12/2022 15:57
As Hugglescote near Coalville is expanding with up to 5000 new homes it would be prudent to have a station off Grange road near the Birch Tree island A511 as a great way of getting commuters off the road and onto rail, the signal box is in situ, land is available for a Station to be built
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Stephen Malkin - 04/05/2023 07:34
It's an absolute no brainer given the amount of commuters that live in South Derbyshire
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