Midland Mainline

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This article is about the train operating company Midland Mainline. For the railway line see Midland Main Line.
Image:Midland Mainline logo.gif
Franchise(s): Midland Mainline
April 1996 – November 2007
Main Region(s): East Midlands,
Yorkshire and the Humber
Other Region(s): East of England
Fleet size: 23 Class 222 Meridian sets
34 HST power cars
Stations: 27 (7 operated)
Parent company: National Express Group
Web site: www.midlandmainline.com

Midland Mainline (MML) is a British train operating company owned by the National Express Group, created after the privatisation of British Rail. Midland Mainline started services in April 1996 and its operations are based in Derby.

It runs fast and semi-fast passenger services from London to the East Midlands and Yorkshire, on the Midland Main Line. Its London terminal is London St Pancras which it currently uses exclusively.

Most services run between London and either Sheffield, Derby, or Nottingham. Some services extend to Leeds, Barnsley and Burton upon Trent.

Midland Mainline operates as far North as Scarborough during the summer timetable on Saturdays only, with the service only operating to York on Sundays, and throughout the winter timetable on Saturdays.

The company also operates a Rail-Link Bus from the town of Corby to Kettering railway station.

Contents

[edit] Service patterns

The off peak service pattern, as of December 2006, consists of four departures per hour from St Pancras. There are two 'fast' and two 'semi-fast' trains per hour. The hourly pattern from St Pancras is as below:

xx00: semi-fast to Derby, calling at:

This service is operated by a four- or five-car Class 222 Meridian. This train forms the limited extensions to Burton upon Trent, Barnsley and Scarborough. This service has an end to end journey time of 1 hour 56 minutes

This service has an end to end journey time of 2 hours 26 minutes.

This service has an end to end journey time around 3 hours 14 minutes.

This service has an end to end journey time of 4 hours 46 minutes to Scarborough and 3 hours 56 minutes to York.

xx25: fast to Sheffield, generally calling just at:

This service is operated by a Class 43 High Speed Train with an end to end journey time around 2 hours 17 minutes. This train forms the limited (see below) extension to Leeds, and the single Sunday service to York:

with an end to end journey time of 3 hours 17 minutes.

with a journey time of 2 hours 14 minutes from Leicester

xx30: semi-fast to Nottingham, calling at:

This service is operated by a Four or Five car Class 222 Meridian with an end to end journey time of 1 hour 56 minutes.

xx55: fast to Nottingham, generally calling at:

This service is generally operated by a eight car Class 222 Meridian although sometimes a diagram uses a Class 43 High Speed Train, with an end to end journey time of 1 hour 41 minutes.

  • All Midland Mainline services (except The Master Cutler morning 'up' service) call at Leicester with the fastest journey time to and from London of 1 hour 5 minutes.

[edit] Limited Service

York railway station from the air
York railway station from the air

There is a limited service between London St Pancras and Leeds, with up to three departures per day (all early morning) from Leeds and up to four late afternoon/evening return trips from St Pancras. This is principally because the main maintenance depot for the Midland Mainline HST power cars is the Maintrain depot at Neville Hill in Leeds.

The service does not compare favourably with the principal service from London to Leeds along the East Coast Main Line operated by GNER. The Midland Main Line has a much slower line speed. The journey time between St Pancras and Leeds along the Midland Mainline is around 3 hours 17 minutes.

Midland Mainline had plans for a regular service between London St Pancras and Leeds via Nottingham, the Erewash Valley, Sheffield and Barnsley but these were rejected by the Strategic Rail Authority.

A small number of trains operate between London St Pancras and Sheffield via Nottingham and / or the Erewash Valley serving Langley Mill and Alfreton. There are also a small number of through trains between St Pancras and Burton upon Trent, Belper, and Barnsley.

Midland Mainline operates summer weekend services between London and Scarborough on Saturdays providing the only through service between the capital and the North Yorkshire coast, and York on Sundays.

There are no longer through trains between London St Pancras and Matlock as the Class 222 Meridian units are not allowed on the Derwent Valley Line branch line, unlike the Class 170 Turbostar which previously operated the route.

There is also a Saturday service from London to York at 06:20 and arriving at 10:16. It forms the first service of the day out of St Pancras. The return trip is at 17:49 and arriving at London at 21:52. The service goes via Doncaster as opposed to Leeds. On Sunday, the service to York runs from Leicester rather than London, with the return service being via the Erewash Valley to Nottingham, where it reverses to call at all MML stations (except Loughborough and Luton Airport Parkway) to London.

[edit] Project Rio

During 2003/4, Midland Mainline operated a temporary service between London St Pancras and Manchester Piccadilly whilst the West Coast Main Line between Manchester and Euston underwent engineering work.

This service was known as Project Rio, named after the footballer Rio Ferdinand who had made a record transfer to Manchester United Football Club. Reportedly, someone involved in the project at a senior level was a Manchester United fan.

The service used the Midland Main Line as far as Trent Junction, before taking the Erewash Valley (avoiding Derby) to Clay Cross, rejoining the Midland Main Line until Dore South Curve, which linked trains onto the Hope Valley Line towards Manchester.

The service ran from May 2003 and finished in September 2004. Former Virgin Cross-Country Class 43 High Speed Train sets were used and were quickly painted into Midland Mainline livery.

The service was run at the request of, and underwritten by, the SRA for a period of 1 year. While perhaps popular with a niche market, the total number of passengers per train frequently fell below a dozen between Leicester and Stockport. The considered success (or failure) of Project Rio is perhaps down to the existing Virgin London service still remaining considerably faster than the Hope Valley route, even taking into account the diversions during the engineering works.

[edit] Named Trains

  • The Robin Hood on the 06:30 Sheffield to St. Pancras via Nottingham, and returning as the 17:00 St. Pancras to Nottingham.
  • The Master Cutler on the 06:14 Leeds to St Pancras which runs non stop from Chesterfield, and 16:55 St. Pancras to Leeds return.
  • The Midland Express on the 07:05 Sheffield to St. Pancras.

[edit] Rolling Stock

Midland Mainline operate the following trains.

[edit] Current fleet

Class Image Type Top speed Number Routes operated Built
 mph   km/h 
Class 222 Meridian Diesel-Electric Multiple Unit 125 200 23 Midland Main Line 2003
Class 43 High Speed Train Diesel Locomotive 125 200 34 Midland Main Line 1976 - 1982

Midland Mainline recently re-configured the Meridian units, reducing the nine-car sets to eight-car sets and increasing seven of the four-car sets to five-car sets to better provide for seating demand.

[edit] Past fleet

 Class   Type   Built   Withdrawn   Notes 
Class 170 Turbostar Diesel multiple unit 1998 - 1999 2004 These trains were slowly withdrawn from intercity use and utilised by another National Express Group company, Central Trains in 2004 as Class 222 Meridian were brought into traffic.

[edit] Stations Served

  • Midland Mainline operate at twenty seven stations, of which it manages seven:

Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield.

  • Other stations served include:

London St Pancras, Luton Airport Parkway, Luton, Bedford Midland, Loughborough, Long Eaton, Willington, Burton upon Trent, Beeston, Nottingham, Langley Mill, Alfreton, Dronfield, Meadowhall, Barnsley, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds,York, Scarborough.

[edit] Recent Alterations

  • Stations recently, but not currently served include:

Duffield, Ambergate, Whatstandwell, Cromford, Matlock Bath, Matlock, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly.

[edit] Future

[edit] London St. Pancras

Midland Mainline is currently the exclusive operator at London St Pancras. However, Eurostar will transfer its London - Paris/Brussels services from London Waterloo to St. Pancras in November 2007 once the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) is fully operational. Following this, Southeastern will begin operating high speed domestic services on the CTRL from St. Pancras.

[edit] New East Midlands Franchise

It has been announced that the current Midland Mainline franchise will continue to operate until April 2008 as part of a franchise reshuffle in the Midlands. The new East Midlands franchise will include former Central Trains services in the East Midlands.

The Department for Transport announced on 19th September 2006 that four parties had pre-qualified for the new East Midlands franchise.[1] On 31st October 2006 Invitations to Tender were issued to the following bidders:[2]

It is expected that the new operator of the franchise will be asked to reshuffle the timetable, to better match inter-city demand with commuter demand. It was hoped by many passengers and stakeholders that the new franchise would potentially create new direct services to Northern cities such as Leeds and Manchester. However this looks unlikely by the specification offered by the Department for Transport. A new rail link is proposed for the town of Corby.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Government News Network (2006-09-19). Department for Transport announces pre-qualified bidders for 3 new franchises. Retrieved on November 21, 2006.
  2. ^ Government News Network (2006-10-31). Invitations to Tender issued for three new rail franchises. Retrieved on November 21, 2006.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


Preceded by
InterCity
As part of British Rail		 Operator of Midland Main Line franchise
1996-present		 Succeeded by
N/A
Preceded by
'		 Train Operator of the Year
1999		 Succeeded by
Anglia Railways
Preceded by
London Underground		 Train Operator of the Year
2006		 Incumbent


v • d • e
Current scheduled passenger train operators in Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Domestic: Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains1 - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect
First Great Western - First ScotRail - Grand Central2 - GNER - Heathrow Connect
Hull Trains - Island Line3 - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline1 - Northern Rail
Northern Ireland Railways4 - 'one' - Silverlink1 - Southeastern - Southern
South West Trains - TransPennine Express - Virgin Trains (VWC - VXC1)
International: Enterprise4 - Eurostar
Airport Link: Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express5
Sleeper: Caledonian Sleeper6 - Night Riviera7
1 Ends November 2007 - 2 Starts 20 May 2007 - 3 Operated by South West Trains
4 Operated on the Irish railway network - 5 Operated by 'one' - 6 Operated by First ScotRail
7 Operated by First Great Western


Future passenger train operators and franchises in Great Britain
New Franchises: Cross Country1 - East Midlands1 - InterCity East Coast - London Overground1
West Midlands1
Proposed open-access
operators:		 Glasgow Trains2 - Grand Union2 - Humber & City2 - Wrexham & Shropshire3
1 Starts November 2007 - 2 Proposed - 3 Awaiting Approval
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