East Midlands Route
Our Region
Our Eastern region is one of the busiest in our network, spanning much of the East of England, and carrying over one billion passengers each year. The region is home to four of Network Rail’s routes, the Anglia, East Coast, East Midlands, and North & East routes.
Our Eastern region plays an essential role for many commuters getting to and from some of the country’s busiest cities, including London, Newcastle, Leeds, and Sheffield. As well as making sure our passengers can travel to their destinations safely, we play an important part in moving freight, with over a million tonnes travelling through our region each week.
Our Route
The East Midlands route serves suburban commuter links throughout the East Midlands, as well as longer distance services from London to the three biggest cities in the East Midlands.
Our route includes the Midlands Main Line (MML), which runs from London St Pancras to Sheffield, connecting passengers to Leicester, Derby, and Bedford. It is currently undergoing the largest upgrade since it was completed in 1870
Work is ongoing on the route to enable better, more comfortable, and more efficient journeys, with more seats and less crowding. The upgrade will support the growth of the regional economies, connecting people to more jobs, education, and leisure opportunities. It is being completed as part of the national Railway Upgrade Plan.
Key Station
The Midlands Main Line terminates at London St Pancras International, where passengers can change trains and board the Eurostar to France!
Our Projects
East West Rail
The East West Rail scheme will re-stablish a rail link between Cambridge and Oxford to improve connections between East Anglia and central, southern, and Western England. We’re delivering this large-scale project in three ‘Connection Stages’ to minimise disruption for our passengers and local communities.
The project is about more than just laying down steel and concrete: we’re integrating the whole railway to increase reliability of our services, and to allow passengers to reach their destinations more efficiently
Upgrading a 175-year-old tunnel
As part of a £2 million investment, in 2023 our Engineers replaced almost 1.6 kilometres of rail, supporting ballast, and sleepers along both tracks through the 175-year-old Meir tunnel. These tracks hadn’t received any major works since 1968, and this essential upgrade will allow passengers to continue to use this route reliably for the next 50 years.
The ECDP will create more punctual services, reducing signal failures, and allowing seamless communication between Signallers and train drivers.
Our Improvements
As part of a £2 million investment, in 2023 our Engineers replaced almost 1.6 kilometres of rail, supporting ballast, and sleepers along both tracks through the 175-year-old Meir tunnel. These tracks hadn’t received any major works since 1968, and this essential upgrade will allow passengers to continue to use this route reliably for the next 50 years.
The ECDP will create more punctual services, reducing signal failures, and allowing seamless communication between Signallers and train drivers.