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SubscribeUnveiling of new trains Officers from the branch committee were invited to the grand unveiling of the new Midland Mainline diesel multiple units at Adtranz on 3 November. The diesels will provide a new semi-fast service on the line from next May, although two units are provisionally timetabled to provide one daily return service each from mid-March.
Leicester transport policy The branch has responded to consultation on Leicester City Council's transport policy. In particular we have advised on the implications of the council's proposal for a 15-minute frequency on local rail services, a laudable aim but one which will test the capacity of the track and signalling systems through Leicester.
Central Railway Robert Rafferty, development director of Central Railway plc, spoke to a public meeting organised by the branch on 10 October about his company's ambitious but well-researched plans for a new freight railway from Lille to Liverpool. The new line is intended to take a 40% market share of cross-channel lorry traffic. Most of the route will be built alongside existing railways or on trackbeds of disused lines, in particular the Great Central Railway between Aylesbury and Leicester and the Woodhead route across the Pennines. Seven road-rail freight terminals are proposed, including one at Shawell near the M1/M6/A14 junction. The line will also be available to passenger train operators, and new stations will be provided where required. As well as taking an estimated two million lorry journeys off the roads each year, the scheme would relieve the mounting problems of saturated capacity on the southern section of the West Coast main line. The speaker's optimism about the proposal rested on there now being a more favourable political climate than when a previous, flawed proposal was rejected by Parliament in 1996.
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