Network Rail has successfully completed its overhead line equipment upgrade on time and under budget.
The £84 million Midland Main Line improvement project ran until June this year and saw the upgrades between London and Bedford.
New overhead wires and infrastructure have been installed and replace the old 1980s structures.
This prevented high-speed trains from running at full capacity. Now trains can run at full capacity, improving their reliability and efficiency.
The Midland Main Line project called OLE125 has seen 40 miles covered, with 401 head spans replaced, 108 wire runs upgraded, 209 balance weight anchor upgrades and 636,618 total project hours.
“The successful OLE125 project has been about making the Midland Main Line more efficient and greener. This upgrade, combined with the wider electrification of the line, will mean the benefits are gained over a large area of our railway.
“We would like to thank everyone who helped us deliver the upgrades, which will have clear benefits for passengers as bi-mode trains can now run more efficiently between London and Bedford.
“We are also grateful to our neighbours living near the line for their patience while we worked on these major improvements and also maximised our time on track by carrying out many other maintenance tasks at the same time.”
Paul Cater, Network Rail senior portfolio manager,
Responses
Bi-mode trains render continuous electricification unnecessary; better to electrify the remaining ~80% that is easy to do and leave the remaining ~20% to be diesel or battery operated sections. For example: getting clearance for 25KV ac under London Road bridge in Leicester would be enormously expensive; instead, coast into the station northbound, and pull away southbound using an on-board power source for the first ~100m or maybe all the way to Wigston South Junction.
With the Midland Main Line partly electrified from London St. Pancras to Wigston south of Leicester. I do think that the electrification should extend to Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby. Despite Class 810 Bi-mode Auroras that East Midlands Railway have ordered and to enter service some time later this year.