Midland Main Line

The Midland Main Line (MML) is a major railway line in the UK that runs between London St Pancras and Sheffield. It passes through important cities like Leicester, Derby, and Chesterfield, with a branch that ends in Nottingham. This railway is very busy and 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 of the line connect to different train networks, such as 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, like new digital signals and more electric trains all the way 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 stages between the 1830s and the 1870s. The earliest part opened in 1839 between Nottingham and Derby. More sections opened soon after, connecting places like Leicester and Leeds.

Midland Main Line southern extensions

Without its own route to London, the railway needed help from another line to reach the capital. By the 1850s, a new route was built from Leicester to a place called Hitchin, giving better access to London. Later, an even longer route was built all the way to London, opening 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 vehicles. In the 1970s, plans were made to add electricity to the line, but only part of it was done. 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 term Midland Main Line has been used since the late 1840s to describe routes where fast trains ran for the Midland Railway. It was first written about in a guide from 1848 and then often mentioned in newspapers. By 1867, it described a new railway going to St Pancras station. In 1868, it was used for the main route from north to south through Sheffield and also for routes to Manchester, Leeds, and Carlisle. Later, under British Rail, it meant the route between St Pancras and Sheffield, but now 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 connecting London St Pancras to Sheffield, passing through cities like Leicester and Derby. It also has a branch that goes to Nottingham. Trains on this line are run by East Midlands Railway.

The railway has special sections with equipment to monitor trains, and parts of it are connected to other railway networks. In the past, the line extended further to places like Manchester and Carlisle, but some of these parts are no longer used today. The line has many important bridges and structures built 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, branching at Ambergate Junction along the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway, now known as the Derwent Valley line. In days gone by, it featured named expresses such as The Palatine. Much later in the twentieth century, it carried the Midland Pullman.

This line was closed in the 1960s between Matlock and Buxton, severing an important link between Manchester and the East Midlands which has never been satisfactorily replaced by any mode of transport. A section of the route remains in the hands of the Peak Rail preservation group, operating between Matlock and Rowsley to the north.

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

World War I prevented the Midland Railway from finishing its direct route through the West Riding to join the Settle and Carlisle line (which would have cut six miles from the journey and avoided the need for reversal at Leeds).

The first part of the Midland's West Riding extension from the main line at Royston to Dewsbury was opened before the war; however, the second part of the extension was not completed. This involved a viaduct at Dewsbury over the River Calder, a tunnel under Dewsbury Moor and a new approach railway into Bradford from the south at a lower level than the existing railway (a good part of which was to be in tunnel) leading into Bradford Midland or Bradford Forster Square.

The 500 yards (460 m) gap between the stations at Bradford still exists. Closing it today would also need to take into account the different levels between the two Bradford stations, a task made easier in the days of electric rather than steam traction, allowing for steeper gradients than possible at the time of the Midland's proposed extension.

Two impressive viaducts remain on the completed part of the line between Royston Junction and Dewsbury, as a testament to the Midland's ambition to complete a third direct Anglo–Scottish route. The line served two goods stations and provided a route for occasional express passenger trains before its eventual closure in 1968.

The failure to complete this section ended the Midland's hopes of being a serious competitor on routes to Scotland and finally put beyond all doubt that Leeds, not Bradford, would be the West Riding's principal city. Midland trains to Scotland therefore continued to call at Leeds before travelling along the Aire Valley to the Settle and Carlisle line. From Carlisle, they then travelled onwards via either the Glasgow and South Western or Waverley Route. In the past, the line had named expresses, such as the Thames–Clyde Express and The Waverley.

The route takes the following route:

• Leeds along the Airedale line
  • Apperley Junction for the Wharfedale line
• Shipley: with the triangular 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 an end-on junction 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 divided at a triangular junction for the two lines:
        • Morecambe
        • Heysham Port, including a station for Middleton Road Heysham
• Settle
• Horton-in-Ribblesdale
• Ribblehead
• Dent
• Garsdale
  • At Hawes, on the branch to the east of the main line, there was an end-on junction 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 have many more stops than it does today. Some of the old stations between London and Leicester included places like Camden Road, Haverstock Hill, and Finchley Road.

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