Midland Main Line

The Midland Main Line (MML) is a major railway line in the UK. It runs between London St Pancras and Sheffield.

The line goes through important cities like Leicester, Derby, and Chesterfield. There is also a branch that ends in Nottingham. This railway is very busy. It helps people and goods travel across England.

Today, fast passenger trains on the Midland Main Line are run by East Midlands Railway. Some parts of the line, especially near London and south of Leicester, have electricity powering the trains. Other parts connect to different train networks. These include the Thameslink network which goes to places like Brighton, and the Cross Country Route operated by CrossCountry.

The Midland Main Line was getting some big improvements. These included new digital signals and more electric trains from London to Sheffield. But in 2025, these plans were stopped for now. There were also ideas to connect the famous High Speed 2 train line to the Midland Main Line at East Midlands Parkway.

History

Midland Counties early developments

The Midland Main Line was built in steps from the 1830s to the 1870s. The first part opened in 1839 between Nottingham and Derby. More parts opened soon after, linking places like Leicester and Leeds.

Midland Main Line southern extensions

The railway needed help to reach London, so it used another line. In the 1850s, a new route was built from Leicester to Hitchin, giving better access to London. Later, a longer route all the way to London opened in 1868.

Northernmost sections

Plans to build a direct line to Manchester were stopped, but new routes were added through places like Sheffield and the Yorkshire Dales.

Under British Railways and privatisation

After World War II, many trains on the line were changed to use diesel. In the 1970s, plans were made to add electricity, but only part of the line got it. Later, faster trains and upgrades helped improve the line.

Network Rail route strategy for freight (2007)

Network Rail made plans to improve the line for freight trains, making it easier for goods to travel across the country.

Network Rail 2010 route plan

Traffic on the Midland Main Line was growing fast, so new plans were made to help it handle more trains. These included making stations better, adding more tracks, and improving signals.

Thameslink Programme

The Thameslink Programme made stations better and longer so more trains could stop there. New trains now run on this route.

Station improvements

Many stations were improved or rebuilt, and some new stations were added or planned.

Extension of electrification

The line was electrified as far as Bedford in the 1980s, but plans to go further faced delays. Work to extend electrification to places like Corby and Nottingham started in 2011. By 2025, the line was electrified as far as Wigston South Junction.

2021 Integrated Rail Plan

In 2021, new plans were announced to finish electrifying the line, improve signalling, and connect it to a new high-speed rail line. This would help trains reach Derby and Nottingham more easily.

Route definition

The Midland Main Line is a railway route. People have used this name since the 1840s. It started with fast trains for the Midland Railway. A guide from 1848 first wrote about it. Newspapers talked about it too. By 1867, the line went to St Pancras station. In 1868, it was the main north to south route through Sheffield. It also went to Manchester, Leeds, and Carlisle. Later, British Rail used the name for the route between St Pancras and Sheffield. Today, Network Rail uses it for the lines between St Pancras and Chesterfield.

Bradshaw's Guide

Derby Mercury

Birmingham Journal

Train operating companies

East Midlands Railway

The main train company on this line is East Midlands Railway. They run four big trains every hour from London St Pancras. Two of these trains go to Nottingham, and two go to Sheffield. They use special trains called Class 222 Meridian for these trips.

They also have a train service every two hours from London St Pancras to Corby, called EMR Connect. These trains are Class 360 Desiro and can run on electricity.

Govia Thameslink Railway

Govia Thameslink Railway runs many trains all day long south of Bedford. These trains are part of the Thameslink route and go to places like London Bridge, Gatwick Airport, Brighton, and Sutton. They use Class 700 trains that can run on electricity.

CrossCountry

CrossCountry has a train every hour between Derby and Sheffield. Their trains go all the way from the South West to the North East of England. They also run trains every two hours between Nottingham and Derby, continuing on to Birmingham New Street and Cardiff Central.

Northern Trains

Northern Trains runs a train every hour from Leeds to Nottingham. The train stops in Barnsley and Alfreton along the way.

TransPennine Express

TransPennine Express also runs trains around Sheffield. One of their routes goes from Liverpool Lime Street to Cleethorpes.

Route description

The Midland Main Line is a major railway that connects London St Pancras to Sheffield. It passes through cities like Leicester and Derby. There is also a branch that goes to Nottingham. Trains on this line are run by East Midlands Railway.

The railway has special parts to watch over trains, and some parts connect to other railways. In the past, the line went further to places like Manchester and Carlisle, but some of these parts are not used today. The line has many important bridges and structures along its route.

For marketing and franchising, this is no longer considered part of the Midland Main Line: see Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway

The line was once the Midland Railway's route from London St Pancras to Manchester. It had a branch at Ambergate Junction along the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway, now called the Derwent Valley line. In the past, it had special trains like The Palatine. Later, it carried the Midland Pullman.

The line closed in the 1960s between Matlock and Buxton. This cut off a link between Manchester and the East Midlands. A part of the old route is kept by the Peak Rail group, running between Matlock and Rowsley.

For marketing and franchising, this is no longer considered part of the Midland Main Line: see Settle–Carlisle Railway.

World War I stopped the Midland Railway from finishing a direct route through the West Riding to join the Settle and Carlisle line.

The first part of the Midland's West Riding extension from the main line at Royston to Dewsbury opened before the war. The rest was not finished. This part included a viaduct at Dewsbury over the River Calder, a tunnel under Dewsbury Moor, and a new railway into Bradford from the south at a lower level than the existing railway.

The gap between the stations at Bradford still exists today.

Two big viaducts remain on the finished part of the line between Royston Junction and Dewsbury. The line had two goods stations and sometimes carried special passenger trains before closing in 1968.

The route goes through the following places:

• Leeds along the Airedale line
  • Apperley Junction for the Wharfedale line
• Shipley: with a junction for the branch line to Bradford Forster Square
• Saltaire
• Bingley
• Crossflatts
• Keighley
  • for the Worth Valley Branch junction to Oxenhope.
• Steeton & Silsden
• Cononley
• Skipton
  • Settle Junction for the line to Morecambe
    • Giggleswick
    • Clapham
      • for the junction for Ingleton and a connection via Sedbergh to Low Gill on the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) West Coast Main Line
    • Bentham
    • Lancaster Green Ayre
      • At this point, the line split for two lines:
        • Morecambe
        • Heysham Port, including a station for Middleton Road Heysham
• Settle
• Horton-in-Ribblesdale
• Ribblehead
• Dent
• Garsdale
  • At Hawes, there was a connection with the North Eastern Railway (NER) line across the Pennines to Northallerton
• Kirkby Stephen
• Appleby
• Langwathby
• Armathwaite
• Cumwhinton
• Carlisle.

Former stations

The Midland Main Line used to stop at many more places than it does now. Some old stops between London and Leicester included Camden Road, Haverstock Hill, and Finchley Road.

Between Leicester and Trent Junction, there were stops such as Leicester Humberstone Road and Kegworth. Other old stations served areas like the Derwent Valley and the Erewash Valley, and went all the way up to Chesterfield and towards Leeds.