Call for reopening to provide direct rail service between Leicester and Northampton

Another day, another call for the reopening of a stretch of East Midland railway.

This time the line in question is the old Great Central between Rugby and Leicester to provide a direct service between Leicester and Northampton. The new line would also serve Broughton Astley, Lutterworth and the vast Magna Park distribution centre.

It would be great to see two new stations in the Harborough district, and it takes a ridiculously long time to get from Leicester to Northampton by train, but how much demand would there be for such a service?

And if there is a good demand then it just strengthens the argument that the line from Market Harborough to Northampton should never have been closed.

It's also not clear that we should pay much attention to these stories. Though there seems to be plenty of money for feasibility studies, there is little sign of the much larger sums that would be needed to reopen lines.