Main Work On £350m Rail Electrification To Start This Week
Written by HFM News on 21st December 2021
The main work on the electrification of the railway between Kettering and Market Harborough will begin on Christmas Eve.
Network Rail staff will work throughout Christmas as they begin to install the equipment which will carry the electric wires.
Preparations for the £350m project began earlier this year, when vegetation was cleared at the side of the tracks.
The work is due to be completed by 2024, when new so-called ‘Bi-model’ trains will be able to run between the two towns.
Eventually the whole of the Midland Mainline will be electrified to Sheffield, enabling quicker journeys on more environmentally-friendly trains.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the start of the major work during a visit to contractors SPL in Leicester, who are making the wiring gantries for the upgrade:
Grant Shapps during the visit to Leicester
