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Corby railway station

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Corby
General information
LocationCorby
Managed byEast Midlands Trains
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeCOR
Key dates
1879Opened
1966-1967Closed
1987Reopened
1990Closed
23 February 2009Reopened

Corby is a railway station owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains (EMT). It serves the town of Corby in Northamptonshire, England. The current station, opened on 23 February 2009, replaces the original closed in 1966 which was briefly reopened in 1987 with a shuttle service DMU from Kettering, only to close again in 1990.

Plans for the current station, built on a site adjacent to the original were approved in late 2007. The station opened with a single return train Monday - Friday whilst EMT awaited the additional trains required for the full service. The full service, which provides an hourly service to London commenced on 27 April 2009.

As of late 2009 Corby is a Penalty fare station, a valid ticket or Permit to travel must be shown when requested.

History

Corby station opened in 1879[1] and closed in April 1966. It was on the Midland Railway's "alternative route" between Kettering and Nottingham, bypassing the present main line via Market Harborough, Leicester and Loughborough and passing through Corby, Oakham and Melton Mowbray instead. The station was initially named "Weldon and Corby" to avoid confusion with Corby Glen station in Lincolnshire.[1] Corby, along with other stations along the line, closed to passengers in May 1967. Corby was one of the largest towns in Europe without a railway station[2] although others, such as Herten in Germany and Lomza in Poland, are larger.

The Oakham – Melton Mowbray section remained open throughout to passengers as part of the Peterborough to Leicester line, and the line south through Corby had remained open for freight - it passes through the 1,920 yard Corby Tunnel just north of the town, and further north crosses the colossal 82-arch Welland Viaduct. The line as far as Corby was singled in 1987 by British Rail. On 13 April 1987 a local council subsidised passenger service was reintroduced with 11 shuttle trains running daily between Corby and Kettering, usually operating using a single DMU.[1] Ambitious plans to extend it to Leicester were proposed but, despite the fact that more than 100,000 people used the service within the first 12 months, and a campaign against closure by "Corbyrail", it became irregular and unreliable, leading to the withdrawal of subsidies by the Council and the cessation of passenger services on 2 June 1990.[1]

Reopening

Proposals

A plan was put forward to include the Kettering–Corby line in a cross-country service from Swindon to Peterborough, but this came to nothing.[3] In 2001, Midland Mainline, the rail operator in the county, decided against building a station for Corby. In 2003, Corby’s urban regeneration company, Catalyst Corby, announced plans to build a new station by 2011.[4]

More positive news came in June 2006 when the Department for Transport (DfT) informed prospective bidders for the new East Midlands rail franchise - bringing together Midland Mainline services from London St Pancras and the eastern section of the Central Trains network - that they would have to include in their tenders a price for a service to a new station in Corby. The DfT's East Midlands rail franchise consultation noted that Corby had been targeted for substantial housing growth over the course of the franchise and the provision of a station would be in line with the Sustainable Communities Plan. A new service for the town could be formed as an extension of the hourly London to Kettering train service.[5]

Announcements

The new station at Corby, looking south. The platform of the 1987 station can be seen on the right.

In April 2007, Network Rail announced that it had allocated £1.2 million towards the rebuilding of the station as a response to housing and jobs growth in the county. A final decision on the station, which could be open by December 2008, would be made by the Department for Transport.[6] On 22 June the DfT confirmed that Stagecoach had won the franchise and revealed that the company – operating as East Midlands Trains (EMT) – would run an extra hourly London - Kettering service, with the possibility of extending this to a new station in Corby.[7] This would put Corby within 75 minutes of central London.[8]

An article in the June 2008 edition of the railway industry magazine Modern Railways,[9] produced in cooperation with EMT, suggested that from December 2008 Corby could be served by trains leaving St Pancras for Kettering at 8 minutes past each hour. However, pending the removal of infrastructure constraints – notably, the need for Network Rail to reinstate a third track between Wellingborough and Kettering and raise the line speed between Corby and Kettering – an hourly through service to and from Corby will be unfeasible initially (trains being unable to make the run from Kettering to Corby and back within the projected timings). Therefore, with the possible exception of some peak-time services, the connection to and from Corby would have mostly to be provided by a shuttle service, with a change of trains at Kettering. For this, EMT would need to lease additional rolling stock (it was speculated that this could be Class 222 stock cascaded from Hull Trains[10][11]). In addition, DfT approval of the hourly Kettering service was still awaited.

Train services had been due to start on 14 December 2008,[12] but EMT admitted that it had yet to secure agreement with the DfT and Rolling Stock Operating Company (ROSCO) for the four additional trains needed for the service. EMT then announced that services would not commence from Corby until 20 March 2009.[13]

The station's opening was then brought forward to the 23 February 2009,[14] albeit with a very limited interim timetable of one direct train to London and back each day.[15] EMT promised that more services will commence once an additional three trains have become available.[16] On 7 April 2009, East Midlands Trains announced that the full hourly service (13 trains each way) would commence from Monday 27 April 2009. [17]

Transport secretary Geoff Hoon presided over ceremonies to officially open the station on April 30, 2009. The station now serves hourly passenger trains between Corby and London.[18]

Design and construction

Site clearance works in March 2008. The platform remaining from the old Midland station can just be seen at the right of the picture, below some 'British Rail lights', from the period when the station was briefly open in the 1980s.

The North Northants Development Company and English Partnerships submitted plans for the design of the station in late July 2007 and detailed planning permission was granted by the Council in November. The Development Company predicted that the new station will unlock an estimated £200 million pounds of further commercial investment in Corby, creating more than 1,200 jobs. It added that the station will also provide added impetus for residential development and aid the transformation of town centre shopping and civic facilities.[19]

The entire project cost around £3 million and construction began in June 2008 following the conclusion of an agreement with Kettering construction firm Mainline Contractors. The station was built at Station Road adjacent to the site of the old station and will act as a transport interchange for Corby with bus and taxi facilities being relocated here.[20] A new road will lead into the interchange which will also have a 140-space car park, taxi rank, drop-off and pick-up areas and a bus area.[21][22] Site clearance works began in March 2008 and were completed in the summer.

The station is the second to be built to the modular station design developed by Network Rail, following Mitcham Eastfields station.[23] There has been criticism of the design by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment which has stated that:

[t]here is no evidence of strong design thinking and little indication to suggest the concept has been considered as an integrated whole. This can be read in the awkward junction between the station building and the canopy and poor siting of the railings and street furniture in relation to the station structure. There is also a lack of finesse to the elevations, as illustrated by the mismatch between doors and panels. Taken together, these shortcomings lend the station an ungainly and impoverished form.

— Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, [24]

An artist's impression of what the station could look like was seen on the website of the local MP. In June 2009, it was announced that the station had won the Institution of Highways and Transportation's Award for Effective Partnerships and received praise for having been built on time, within budget and to a high standard.[25]

Services

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

Trains run approximately once every hour between Corby and Kettering, 7 days per week, with most services continuing to London St. Pancras.

East Midlands Trains operates one return service from Melton Mowbray and Oakham, meaning that passenger trains once again travel over the Harringworth Viaduct on a regular basis. The possibility of extending further services in the future is being explored for implementation from 2010.[26]

Preceding station   National Rail National Rail   Following station
East Midlands TrainsTerminus
East Midlands Trains
London-Melton Mowbray

East-West Rail Link - Northern Route

The Kettering to Manton line via Corby was also considered for reopening to passengers as part of the East West Rail Link between Oxford and Cambridge. Three routes were considered, with Corby being on the northern route. A new chord would have been required at Manton to allow direct running between Corby and Stamford. Despite being the cheapest of the three options, the northern route has now been ruled out as being too circuitous.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Steaming ahead to transform a village". Northants Evening Telegraph. 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
  2. ^ The Independent, "Back on Track", 30 January 2008, p. 4.
  3. ^ Railwatch
  4. ^ "New train station 'possible'". BBC News. 2003-06-20. Retrieved 2006-07-12.
  5. ^ Regeneration & Renewal, "Franchise puts town back on track", 16 June 2006, p. 22.
  6. ^ "Railway station plan gets boost". BBC News. 2007-04-03. Retrieved 2007-05-08.
  7. ^ Birmingham Post, "Stagecoach wins East Midlands rail franchise", 23 June 2007, p. 2.
  8. ^ "Stagecoach wins railway franchise". BBC News. 2007-06-20. Retrieved 2007-06-24.
  9. ^ Modern Railways no 717, June 2008, Ian Allen Publishing Ltd, p.71–74
  10. ^ http://91.186.0.3/~keepingt/rm/169/RMAN_169.pdf East Midlands Trains Interview
  11. ^ Modern Railways Issue 772 (November 2008)
  12. ^ "PDF timetables". East Midlands Trains. 25 November 2008.
  13. ^ "Corby train delays labelled 'shambolic'". Northants Evening Telegraph. 25 November 2008.
  14. ^ Corby article
  15. ^ "Direct train service gets going". BBC News Online. 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
  16. ^ "East Midlands Trains announces first trains for Corby". East Midlands Trains. 2009-02-17. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
  17. ^ "East Midlands Trains announces start date for full services from Corby". East Midlands Trains. 2009-04-07. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  18. ^ The Career Engineer. April 30, 2009 http://www.thecareerengineer.com/static_content.cgi?record_type=news&record_id=19147528. Retrieved April 30, 2009. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ^ Regeneration & Renewal, "Green Light for Corby train station after 17 years", 29 June 2007, p. 2.
  20. ^ ING Media, "Green light for new train station signals major boost for on-going renaissance of Corby", 22 June 2007.
  21. ^ "Railway station plans submitted". BBC News. 2007-08-04. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  22. ^ Evening Telegraph, "Date set for work on Corby rail station", 22 February 2008.
  23. ^ "Modular station opens this month". Railway Gazette International. 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2008-05-02.
  24. ^ CABE, "Corby Rail Station", 24 September 2007.
  25. ^ ">"Award for railway station project". BBC News. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  26. ^ "Rail service could run north of town". Northants Evening Telegraph. February 21, 2008.
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