Midland Mainline


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Midland Mainline (MML) was a British train operating company owned by the National Express Group and based in Derby. It was created after the privatisation of British Rail. Midland Mainline services operated from April 1996 to November 2007.

Midland Mainline ran fast and semi-fast passenger services from London to the East Midlands and Yorkshire, on the Midland Main Line. Trains ran from London St Pancras which it used exclusively. Most services ran between London and either Sheffield, Derby, or Nottingham. Some services extended to Leeds, York, Barnsley and Burton upon Trent.

On 22 June 2007, the Department for Transport announced that Midland Mainline had lost the franchise to operate these services from 11 November 2007. Services were transferred to East Midlands Trains, operated by Stagecoach Group. Midland Mainline then ceased to operate.

Service patterns
The off peak service pattern, upon conclusion of the franchise in November 2007, consisted of four departures per hour from St Pancras. There were two 'fast' and two 'semi-fast' trains per hour. The hourly pattern from St Pancras was as below:

xx00: semi-fast to Derby, calling at: with a journey time of 1 hour 56 minutes.
 * Luton Airport Parkway
 * Bedford
 * Wellingborough
 * Kettering
 * Market Harborough
 * Leicester
 * Loughborough
 * Long Eaton
 * Derby

with a journey time of 2 hours 26 minutes.
 * Extension to Burton upon Trent calling at:
 * Willington
 * Burton upon Trent

with a journey time around 3 hours 14 minutes.
 * Extension to Barnsley, generally calling at:
 * Belper
 * Chesterfield
 * Dronfield occasional service
 * Sheffield
 * Meadowhall
 * Barnsley

with a journey time of 4 hours 46 minutes to Scarborough and 3 hours 56 minutes to York.
 * Extension to Scarborough (Saturdays). This service called at Scarborough during part of the summer timetable only, all other times this service terminated at York. This service called at:
 * Chesterfield
 * Sheffield
 * Meadowhall
 * Doncaster
 * York
 * Scarborough

This service was operated by a four or five car Class 222 Meridian.

xx25: fast to Sheffield, generally calling just at: with a journey time around 2 hours 21 minutes.
 * Leicester
 * Derby
 * Chesterfield
 * Sheffield

with a journey time of 3 hours 17 minutes
 * This train forms the limited (see below) extension to Leeds generally calling at:
 * Doncaster
 * Wakefield
 * Leeds

with a journey time of 2 hours 14 minutes from Leicester
 * Extension to York (Sundays) calling at:
 * Doncaster
 * York

This service was 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: with a journey time of 1 hour 56 minutes.
 * Luton
 * Bedford
 * Wellingborough
 * Kettering
 * Market Harborough
 * Leicester
 * Loughborough
 * Beeston
 * Nottingham

This service was operated by a four or five car Class 222 Meridian

xx55: fast to Nottingham, generally calling at: with a journey time of 1 hour 41 minutes.
 * Leicester
 * Loughborough (every hour or two).
 * Nottingham

This service was 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) called at Leicester with the fastest journey time to and from London of 1 hour 9 minutes.


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

Limited Services


Midland Mainline operated 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 was the Maintrain depot at Neville Hill in Leeds.

The service did 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 operated between London St Pancras and Sheffield via Nottingham and along the Erewash Valley to Chesterfield serving Langley Mill and Alfreton.

There were also a small number of through trains between St Pancras and Burton upon Trent, Belper, and Barnsley.

Midland Mainline operated 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.

Through trains between London St Pancras and Matlock were stopped when Class 222 Meridian units were introduced as they are not allowed on the Derwent Valley Line branch line, unlike the Class 170 Turbostar which previously operated the route.

There was also a Saturday service from London to York at 06:20 and arriving at 10:16. It formed the first service of the day out of St Pancras. The return trip was 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.

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. It 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 compared favourably to other operators in its category. The last performance figures for Midland Mainline published by the Office of Rail Regulation were a Public Performance Measure of 92.9% for the third quarter of the financial year 2007/8 and a Monthly Annual Average of 92.4%. Midland Mainline was also awarded Passenger Operator of the Year 2006.

Onboard service
Midland Mainline trains boasted a buffet car, known as the "MM bar", which served hot and cold food and drinks. Midland Mainline was the only operator to offer complimentary free tea and coffee to all passengers, including those in standard class. In 2007, the company announced that it would be serving Fairtrade tea and coffee on its trains. 4.5 million cups were served to passengers each year.

Rolling stock
Midland Mainline's fleet consisted of the following trains at the time they ceased service.

Fleet
Midland Mainline had the following named units / locos.

Midland Mainline re-configured the Meridian units from the end of 2006 to the start of 2007, 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.

Stations
London St Pancras, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield. 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.
 * Midland Mainline operated at twenty seven stations, of which it managed eight:
 * Other stations served included:

Duffield, Ambergate, Whatstandwell, Cromford, Matlock Bath, Matlock, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly.
 * Stations which used to be served but then had their Midland Mainline services stop before the franchise ended:

The End
The Midland Mainline franchise continued to operate until November 2007 before becoming part of the East Midlands franchise which includes former Central Trains services in the East Midlands.

On the 22 June 2007, the Department for Transport announced that Stagecoach had won the franchise.

As National Express, the company that currently runs Midland Mainline, lost the franchise bid, on the 11 November 2007 all services transferred to East Midlands Trains and Midland Mainline ceased to exist.