Market Harborough railway station

Market Harborough Add→{{rail-interchange}}
General information
Location	District of Harborough
Managed by	East Midlands Trains
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	MHR
History
Opened	1850

Market Harborough Station in 1957

Market Harborough railway station serves the town of Market Harborough in Leicestershire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, 16 miles (26 km) south-east of Leicester and is served by the fast and semi-fast East Midlands Trains Class 222 "Meridian"/HST services. The station is situated to the east of Market Harborough town centre.

Being relatively close to London, the frequency of trains to the capital in the morning and evening peak is excellent for commuting, with a train running (occasionally non stop) every twenty minutes with the quickest journeys taking fifty-five minutes.

As of late 2009, Market Harborough is a Penalty fare station, meaning that as there are facilities to buy tickets at the station, a valid ticket or Permit to travel must be shown when requested, rather than being able to buy tickets on the train.

History

Market Harborough was the largest station within the county boundary south of Leicester. Such was the volume of traffic, a junction for five different directions at its height, by 1870 plans for an engine shed were released in addition to the already provided loco pit, turntable and water tank. A shed was never built but this did not stop it becoming a sub-shed of Leicester in later years.

The original station was built by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in 1850 on its line between Stamford to Rugby and thence to Euston. The Midland Railway shared it from 1857 when it built its extension from Leicester to Bedford and Hitchin.

As traffic built up, the Midland built a new line at a higher elevation, crossing the LNWR and then running parallel to a new joint station in the present position. The Midland line was quadrupled in 1879 and the new station opened in 1885.

The station was the scene of a serious accident in 1862. An excursion train bound for Burton-upon-Trent stopped to pick up water, and a second train bound for Leicester collided with the rear of it.

The service on the original LNWR line was drastically reduced in 1960 and finally closed in 1966. The Midland line continues, with the platform buildings and canopies replaced with modern designs in the sixties. The main building survived, however, and was carefully restored in 1981.

Summary of former services

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Lubenham		London and North Western Railway Rugby to Peterborough East		Ashley and Weston
Clipston and Oxendon		London and North Western Railway Northampton to Nottingham		Hallaton
East Langton		Midland Railway Midland Main Line		Desborough and Rothwell

Services

A Map of East Midlands Trains InterCity services showing the current service pattern each hour

The service pattern from London St Pancras is uneven, with two trains leaving in 15 minutes and then the next train in 45 minutes this continues every hour off peak. Trains to London are around every half hour and all off peak trains now start or end at Nottingham. One of these are fast going non-stop to or from London. While the other is a semi-fast service via Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway. Services north to Nottingham call at Leicester and either Loughborough and Beeston or East Midlands Parkway. In the morning and evening some services are extended to Lincoln via Newark. All services are operated by East Midlands Trains.

The weekend sees trains operating to York and, in the summer, Scarborough. EMT hope that in the future when Network Rail have completed track upgrades that they will be able to run to Skegness at the weekends.

Faster East Midlands Trains services to/from Sheffield often run through at high speed, but do not stop. Interchange with Faster services can be made at Leicester.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Leicester		East Midlands Trains Midland Main Line		St Pancras International
				Kettering

Bus services depart from outside the station and operate throughout the town and also to both Lutterworth, Hinckley and Leicester.

The initial specification for the East Midlands Trains franchise, which started in 2007, would have seen a big reduction in the number of trains calling at Market Harborough. These plans were fought against by the Harborough Rail Users' Group, and, as a result, the final specification saw no reduction in services.

Stagecoach promised as part of their bid that they would create additional car parking spaces at stations along their route, Market Harborough's new larger car park opened early in 2008.

Future

Market Harborough station is located on a large curve on the Midland Main Line, as a result of this line speeds through the station have always been relatively slow, at around 60 mph (100 km/h). The track layout is set to change significantly over the next couple of years as Network Rail engineers set about straightening the line, as part of their overall plan to increase overall line speeds, it is planned that both platforms will be extended by up to 106 metres by no later than 2012.

The railway through Leicestershire is not electrified therefore all services are operated by diesel trains. This is set to change by 2023 when a scheme to electrify the remainder of the Midland Main Line is to be completed, this along with faster line speeds, means the town will be around 60 minutes from the capital.

External links

• Train times and station information for Market Harborough railway station from National Rail