MML electrification project pushes towards Leicester

NETWORK Rail has started the next phase of electrifying the Midland Main Line (MML), with work on piling the bases for the overhead masts taking place. Working overnight, the hollow steel piles will be placed at 50-metre intervals along each side of the 12 miles of line between Market Harborough and Wigston Electrification teams have been working on the Glendon Jct to Market Harborough section for the past nine months, and work includes construction of a new electrical feeder station at Braybrooke – a preparatory step for when East Midlands Railway introduces its Hitachi Class 810 Aurora bi-mode trains sometime in 2023. The piling work will continue until August 2023, with the overhead wires installed next year, too.