East Midlands Parkway railway station

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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected future railway station.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the railway station approaches, and more information becomes available.

East Midlands Parkway is a planned railway station in the East Midlands of England, to serve East Midlands Airport. It will also provide park and ride facilities for commuters.

The station will be situated north of Ratcliffe on Soar on the already-existing Midland Main Line, in Nottinghamshire 500m from the border with Leicestershire and 2km from Derbyshire. On the Midland Main Line, it will be between Long Eaton or Beeston, and Loughborough. Frequent shuttle buses will provide a link to the airport.

Midland Mainline were until October 2006, responsible for the project, which has been in the planning stages for years. This has now passed over to Network Rail, although it is likely Midland Mainline will help with the development.

The construction of the station has not been uncontroversial, and land for the station had to be compulsorily purchased by the government for the project, against the objections of Powergen, Friends of the Earth Nottinghamshire County Council, and the Campaign to Protect Rural England. [1] [2] There are also concerns from the people of Loughborough that the opening of the station could lead to the reduction in the number of stopping trains, or even a total closure, although both have been denied by Midland Mainline, and also the withdrawal of the current bus service from Loughborough Station to the Airport, which also provides the only bus service to Derby, as well as a useful service from the north of the town to the town centre and station. Additionally the service runs almost 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and being subsidised by the airport is of very high quality and reliability, something that can't be said of most of the other of the town's bus services ^{[citation needed]}.

The main bulk of the station, including car parking, will be to the west of the line, opposite Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. Road access will be via the A453, which provides a link to the nearby M1 motorway.

The Network Rail document Route 19 Midland Main and East Midlands anticipates expenditure of GBP 5 million in 2006/07 and GBP 8 million in 2007/08 with opening in 2008/09.