East Midlands Parkway railway station

East Midlands Parkway railway station is located north of Ratcliffe-on-Soar on the Midland Main Line in the East Midlands of England. It provides park and ride facilities for rail passengers on the routes from Leicester to Derby and Nottingham. It is also the closest station to East Midlands Airport, some 4 miles (6.4 km) away, but without public transport link.

East Midlands Parkway
National Rail
General information
LocationRatcliffe-on-Soar, Borough of Rushcliffe
England
Coordinates52.8625°N 1.2632°W / 52.8625; -1.2632
Grid referenceSK496296
Managed byEast Midlands Railway
Platforms4
Other information
Station codeEMD
ClassificationDfT category C1
Key dates
26 January 2009Opened
Passengers
2017/18Decrease 0.338 million
 Interchange Increase 26,045
2018/19Increase 0.361 million
 Interchange Decrease 19,949
2019/20Decrease 0.343 million
 Interchange Decrease 19,019
2020/21Decrease 39,350
 Interchange Decrease 3,899
2021/22Increase 0.196 million
 Interchange Increase 13,105
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
East Midlands Parkway is built next to Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station

The station lies in south-west Nottinghamshire, close to the boundaries with Leicestershire and Derbyshire, between the stations at Loughborough, Long Eaton and Attenborough. When it opened, there was a little-used shuttle bus from the station to the airport, but this ceased not long afterwards. An hourly minibus service was re-introduced in 2015[1] but later withdrawn. The main station building and the 850-vehicle car park are to the west of the line, opposite Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. Road access is via the A453, which provides a link to the nearby M1 motorway.

Description

East Midlands Parkway is located near the village of Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, close to the River Trent. Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station is next to the railway on the eastern side. The station is on the Midland Main Line, which runs from London to Nottingham and Sheffield, 118 miles 20 chains (190.30 km) from the London terminus at London St Pancras International.[2] Just north of the station is Trent Junction, where the lines to Nottingham and Sheffield (via Derby) diverge. There are four platforms, two serving the western, "fast" lines, and two serving the eastern, "slow" lines.

Services

Fears were raised by various bodies including East Midlands Airport, about the service pattern proposed for the new station in 2008.[3]

Donington Park motor racing circuit is nearby, and its then-owners expressed their desire for spectators to use the station or coach services when travelling to the circuit.[4][5] The owners were also in support of any future light rail transport to East Midlands Airport itself.

All trains serving the station are operated by East Midlands Railway. The service pattern from London sees two northbound trains per hour (one each to Sheffield and to Nottingham), which leave within seven minutes of each other, and two per hour to London, which leave within 10 minutes of each other.[6] The local service between Leicester and Lincoln Central via Nottingham also calls here once each way every hour.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
East Midlands Railway
Midland Main Line
East Midlands Railway
Ivanhoe Line
Limited service

History

Building work commenced on the new £25.5 million station on 19 December 2007. It was due to be completed by 14 December 2008, but did not finally open until 26 January 2009.[7]

The train operating company Midland Mainline was, until October 2006, responsible for the project, which remained in the planning stages for several years for the want of a small piece of land needed for the project. Responsibility was then transferred to Network Rail which anticipated expenditure of £5 million in 2006/07 and £8 million in 2007/08.[8]

In its first year of operation the station was used by over 250,000 passengers.[9]

Controversy

People in nearby towns including Loughborough voiced their concerns that the opening of the station could lead to the reduction in the number of trains stopping there, although this was denied by former operator Midland Mainline. Another concern was the possible withdrawal of the existing bus service from Loughborough station to East Midlands Airport. A service from Loughborough to the airport (now extended to start from Leicester) is still running; however, since 25 April 2010, it has ceased to serve Loughborough railway station.[10] As a result, there are no longer any direct late-night or early-morning bus services between the railway station and the town centre, with only a limited (every 40 minutes) service operating on Sundays.

First year

To mark the first year of operation of the station, East Midlands Trains offered unlimited travel from the station for the day on Saturday 30 January 2010 under the promotional 'Red Dot Day' banner.[11] The 850 space car park was full for the first time since the station opened and 2,787 passengers travelled.[12] The station saw 182,412 journeys in its first full year of operation.

Criticism

The station has been criticised as being poorly located. In 2011-12, East Midlands Parkway attracted just over one third of the projected annual passengers.[13]

Facilities

East Midlands Parkway is a staffed station with four platforms and a ticket office, which is open 06:00–19:30 on Mondays to Saturdays and 07:30–19:30 on Sundays. Other facilities include:

When opened 2009, East Midlands Parkway was one of the greenest stations in the United Kingdom.[14] The station was built using locally sourced and recycled materials and uses a ground-source heating system.[14]

In late 2009, East Midlands Parkway became a penalty fare station, so a valid ticket or permit to travel must be shown when requested.

Multi-modal

From 30 March 2009, the station has been used as an interchange station for combined multi-modal journeys using Megabus-branded services run by Stagecoach (the operators of both East Midlands Trains and of Megabus). The MegabusPlus services transport passengers from cities in the north of England to East Midlands Parkway, where passengers transfer to rail for the service to London.[15]

Routes operated under the MegabusPlus brand are to/from:

Electrification and Future

The Midland Main Line is not electrified north of Kettering; therefore, all services are operated by diesel trains. This was set to change by 2019, when a scheme to electrify the remainder of the line had been due to be completed. This, along with increased line speeds, would have meant that the station would have been under 80 minutes from the capital.[16] However, the electrification scheme was cancelled in 2017.[17]

In November 2021 the Government announced the abandonment of most of the eastern leg High Speed 2 and the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme under the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands (IRP). As part of this the earlier proposal for the HS2 East Midlands Hub station on the Toton sidings site further north has been shelved and instead, the eastern leg of HS2 will connect to the Midland Line at a junction to the south of East Midlands Parkway. This will allow HS2 services to reach Derby and Nottingham directly, the absence of which was a criticism of the previous plan. The IRP also confirmed the rest of the Midland Line would be electrified, reversing a previous decision to cancel electrification.

In October 2023 it was announced that the Eastern Leg of HS2 is cancelled, along with the Birmingham to Manchester line.[18] It will therefore not reach East Midlands Parkway. However the Midlands Rail Hub will go ahead, this will increase the number of trains from the East Midlands to Birmingham by routing more trains to Birmingham Moor Street.[19]

References
  1. Deaves, Phil. "Engineers' Line References: SPC5 Leicester to Ratcliffe Junction". Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  2. "Fears over new station's services". BBC News Online. 26 March 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
  3. "More details about Donington Park". GrandPrix.com. 15 December 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  4. "Public transport only to Donington GP". Crash.net. 28 November 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  5. GB National Rail Timetable May 2016 Edition
  6. "New £25m station officially opens". BBC News Online. 25 January 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
  7. "Route 19 Midland Main Line and East Midlands" (PDF). Network Rail. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  8. "Station beats first year target". BBC News. 26 January 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2010.
  9. "More Skylink services for Leicester". Heanor: Kinchbus Limited. March 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
  10. "(home)". Red Dot Day. East Midlands Trains. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010.
  11. "Train Timetables". East Midlands Trains. 11 December 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  12. "East Midlands Parkway railway station fails to meet target". BBC News. BBC. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  13. "Britain's 'greenest' mainline station opened by Hoon". Railnews. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  14. "Britain's 'greenest' mainline station opened by Hoon". Rail News. 26 January 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2008. ... introducing a new MegabusPlus service. This will transport passengers from town and cities in the North to East Midlands Parkway, where they will complete their journeys south by train.
  15. "Investing in rail, investing in jobs and growth" (Press release). Department for Transport. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  16. "Sheffield, Swansea and Windermere electrification cancelled". Railway Gazette. 20 July 2017.
  17. "Rishi Sunak promises more rail, road and bus links". BBC News. 4 October 2023.
  18. "Midlands Innovation welcomes Midlands Connect's plans for a £2 billion Midlands Rail Hub".
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