Support for county rail improvements

COUNTY councillors have not given up hope of lobbying for further rail improvements across Leicestershire.

At a recent Environment and Transport Scrutiny meeting there were three separate railway topics on the agenda.

These were the overall strategy for the county, the future of the Leicester-Burton-upon-Trent project and improvements at Market Harborough.

Hinckley Lib Dem representative, Cllr David Bill said: “The overall strategy, if implemented, could result in the reinstatement of the Nottingham–Coventry service through Hinckley. We did not allow the Ivanhoe project to be killed off and improvements at Market Harborough will result in a faster service to London for people who travel through Leicester to get to the capital.”

The panel agreed to support the Market Har- borough station improvements which involves straightening the track to allow for faster journey times and longer platforms.

These are part of a £38 million package of measures surrounding the electrification of the Midland Mainline, seen as an important step in boosting the county economy and strengthening transport links with London and across the East Midlands.

Meanwhile councillors decided not to abandon hope of reinstating the Leicester to Burton route - the Ivanhoe line - despite investigations showing it would be ‘poor value for money’.

Instead the panel chose to support the continuation of lobbying both nationally and regionally for the upgrade of the line as a potential freight track which may allow for the further consideration of passenger services in the future.