MIDLAND MAINLINE

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{{BS4|||exHST|||Meadowhall
{{BS4|||xKBFa|||Sheffield
{{BS4|exSTRlf|eABZlg||xKBFa||Nottingham
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'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.
On 22 June, the Department for Transport announced that Midland Mainline had lost the franchise to operate these services from 11 November 2007. Services will be transferred to East Midlands Trains and Midland Mainline will cease to operate^[1]
.

Contents

Service patterns

Limited Services

Project Rio

Named Trains

Performance

Rolling Stock

Current fleet

Class 43

Class 222

Past fleet

Stations Served

Stations No Longer Served

Future

London St. Pancras

New East Midlands Franchise

References

External links

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:

★ Luton Airport Parkway

★ Bedford

★ Wellingborough

★ Kettering

★ Market Harborough

★ Leicester

★ Loughborough

★ Long Eaton

★ Derby
with a journey time of 1 hour 56 minutes.

★ Extension to Burton upon Trent calling at:

★
★ Willington

★
★ Burton upon Trent
with a journey time of 2 hours 26 minutes.

★ Extension to Barnsley, generally calling at:

★
★ Belper

★
★ Chesterfield

★
★ Dronfield occasional service

★
★ Sheffield

★
★ Meadowhall

★
★ Barnsley
with a journey time around 3 hours 14 minutes.

★ Extension to Scarborough (Saturdays). This service calls at Scarborough during part of the summer timetable only, all other times this service terminates at York. This service calls at:

★
★ Chesterfield

★
★ Sheffield

★
★ Meadowhall

★
★ Doncaster

★
★ York

★
★ Scarborough
with a journey time of 4 hours 46 minutes to Scarborough and 3 hours 56 minutes to York.
This service is operated by a four or five car Class 222 ''Meridian''.
'xx25: fast to Sheffield,' generally calling just at:

★ Leicester

★ Derby

★ Chesterfield

★ Sheffield
with a journey time around 2 hours 21 minutes.

★ This train forms the limited (see below) extension to Leeds generally calling at:

★
★ Doncaster

★
★ Wakefield

★
★ Leeds
with a journey time of 3 hours 17 minutes

★ Extension to York (Sundays) calling at:

★
★ Doncaster

★
★ York
with a journey time of 2 hours 14 minutes from Leicester
This service is generally operated by a Class 43 ''High Speed Train'', although a few diagrams use an eight car Class 222 ''Meridian''
'xx30: semi-fast to Nottingham,' calling at:

★ Luton

★ Bedford

★ Wellingborough

★ Kettering

★ Market Harborough

★ Leicester

★ Loughborough

★ Beeston

★ Nottingham
with a journey time of 1 hour 56 minutes.
This service is operated by a four or five car Class 222 ''Meridian''
'xx55: fast to Nottingham,' generally calling at:

★ Leicester

★ Loughborough (every hour or two).

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

★ 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 9 minutes.

★ The services between London, Luton and Bedford supplement the high frequency Thameslink now known as First Capital Connect commuter service. The Midland Main Line between London and Bedford is electrified.

Limited Services

There is a limited service between London St Pancras and Leeds, with three early morning departures from Leeds and four 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 on the Midland route 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 along the Erewash Valley to Chesterfield 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.

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.

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 Midlands Express on the 07:05 Sheffield to St. Pancras.

Performance

Categorised as a long distance operator Midland Mainline compares favourably to other operators in its category, with the highest Public Performance Measure: 91.5% for the last quarter of 2006^[2], published by the Office of Rail Regulation. This is not a surprise, given that Midland Mainline was also awarded Passenger Operator of the Year 2006^[3].

Rolling Stock

Midland Mainline operate the following trains.

Current fleet

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Quantity	Unit numbers	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 43 ''High Speed Train''		Diesel Locomotive	125	200	28	43007 / 43043 - 43050 / 43052 / 43054 - 43055 / 43058 - 43061 / 43064 / 43066 / 43072 - 43076 / 43081 - 43083 / 43085 / 43104 / 43166 / 43178 / 43184 /	Midland Main Line	1976 - 1982
Class 222 ''Meridian''		diesel-electric multiple unit	125	200	23	222001 - 222023	Midland Main Line	2003
Mark 3 coach		Passenger Rolling stock	125	200			Midland Main Line	1975 - 1988

Class 43

'Class 43 names':

★ 43049 - Neville Hill

★ 43069 - Rio Enterprise

★ 43072 - Derby Etches Park

Class 222

'Class 222 names':

★ 222004 - CITY OF SHEFFIELD

★ 222005 - CITY OF NOTTINGHAM

★ 222006 - CITY OF LEICESTER

★ 222007 - CITY OF DERBY
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.

Past fleet

' Class '	' Image '	' 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. They are still in use today with midland mainline livery but with Central Trains branding.

Stations Served

★ Midland Mainline operate at twenty seven stations, of which it manages eight:
London St Pancras, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield.

★ Other stations served include:
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.

Stations No Longer Served

★ Stations which used to be served:
Duffield, Ambergate, Whatstandwell, Cromford, Matlock Bath, Matlock, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly.

Future

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.

New East Midlands Franchise

It was announced that the current Midland Mainline franchise will continue to operate until November 2007 as part of a franchise reshuffle in the Midlands. The new East Midlands franchise includes 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.^[4] On 31st October 2006 Invitations to Tender were issued to the following bidders:^[5]

★ Arriva Trains East Midlands Limited (Arriva)

★ First East Midlands Limited (First Group)

★ NXE Trains Limited (National Express Group)

★ Stagecoach Midland Rail Limited (Stagecoach Group)
On the 22 June, the Department for Transport announced that Stagecoach had won the franchise.^[1]
As National Express, the company that currently runs Midland Mainline has lost the franchise bid, from the 11 November 2007 all services will be transferred to East Midlands Trains and Midland Mainline will cease to exist.

References

1. Department for Transport announces winner of East Midlands franchise
2. http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/320.pdf
3. http://www.midlandmainline.com/mainpage.aspx?id=229
4. Department for Transport announces pre-qualified bidders for 3 new franchises Government News Network
5. Invitations to Tender issued for three new rail franchises Government News Network
6. Department for Transport announces winner of East Midlands franchise

External links

★ Midland Mainline website