RMT calls three one-day strikes over Midland Main Line safety

The latest news on East Midlands Rail's unsatisfactory new trains is that the largest railway trade union has called three one-day strikes over its concern that they are unsafe. As BBC News puts it:

A union that represents railway staff has announced plans for its members at East Midlands Railway (EMR) to take strike action over "growing safety concerns the company has failed to address".

The RMT union said it had been in dispute with EMR since April following the rollout of the 810 fleet (Aurora), which it said had been operating with a "significant number" of faults.

It said its members planned to take strike action on Saturday 1 August and the following two Saturdays.

I find these paragraphs in this report particularly worrying:

According to the RMT, EMR has been sending trains into service that are "likely to fail and require a full reset which leaves the train with no active safety systems".

The BBC has seen an operational briefing, which informs control, signalling and operations staff about undertaking an Aux Off / Aux On reset on EMR class 810 units - which may be required to recover certain faults.

"The process takes approximately 20 minutes and results in the temporary loss of several safety-critical systems, creating an increased risk of an uncontrolled evacuation and removing the driver's normal means of communication with the signaller," it states. 

This does tend to cast doubt on EMR's assurances to BBC News that the Aurora trains' shortcomings have no safety implications.

And I can't be the only person who is thinking again about the rail collision near Bedford last month.

There, according to a later Guardian report, an Aurora service from Nottingham to London halted unexpectedly because a fault caused an automatic application of its brakes. This train was then struck in the rear by a Corby to London service that had ignored a red signal:

Investigations continue but it appears that another train protection and warning system (TPWS), widely used on the railway system and designed to automatically stop trains if they pass a red signal, was not installed on this stretch of the Midland mainline.

No wonder RMT is up in arms.

It's not as if EMT has been candid over its problems with the Auroras. It's less than a week since BBC News published a story with the headline:

East Midlands Railway cancellations – is it really just the hot weather?

East Midlands Railway cancels 20 fast services a day because of problems with its new trains

East Midlands Railways has admitted that its problems with its new trains have not all been caused by the recent hot weather.

BBC News reports:

A number of Intercity services, which run to and from London St Pancras, will be cancelled from Monday, while other services will have fewer carriages.

Will Rogers, managing director of EMR, said the performance of the Class 810 fleet had "fallen below the levels we and our customers expect" and that the timetable change was "necessary".

The Intercity services run between London and destinations including Leicester, Nottingham, Lincoln, Derby and Sheffield.

EMR did not say how long the timetable changes would be in place for, but said in a statement they would remain in place while "EMR works with the manufacturer, Hitachi Rail, to resolve disruption for customers as soon as possible".

And the Guardian adds more detail:

EMR is cancelling about 20 fast trains a day between London, Sheffield and Nottingham, while others will also be short-formed and are likely to be crowded. Its new class 810 fleet, previously labelled Auroras when their launch was heralded less than a year ago, have suffered from what EMR has called “performance and reliability issues”.

The operator also criticised Hitachi’s maintenance of the existing fleet that the Auroras were due to replace, the class 222 trains, which it said had “significantly impacted upon EMR’s ability to run a consistent intercity service”.

Interestingly, BBC News ran a story only yesterday under the headline:

East Midlands Railway cancellations – is it really just the hot weather?

In it, my best friend from school, now secretary of the East Midlands branch of the passenger advocacy group Railfuture, said:

"a bit more transparency" around a recovery plan and the issues the operator was facing would be helpful for passengers.

We are not without influence.

The 810 trains are bi-modal – they're able to take power from overhead wires but also have their own diesel engines. They were ordered on Chris Grayling's watch after the Conservative government cancelled its plans to electrify the whole of the St Pancras main line. The wires run out at Wigston, a few miles south of Leicester.

But it's not all bad news. We're getting new taller ticket barriers at Market Harborough station to stop people without tickets boarding the trains that aren't running.

Council gives update on investigation into former Sheriff of Nottingham

Following dozens of nominations from oppressed serfs in Sherwood Forest, West Bridgford Wire wins our Headline of the Day Award.

Following the course of the River Leen through Nottingham

Our History Underfoot – like and subscribe, my children, like and subscribe – follows the course of the River Leen through Nottingham. Just as in John Rogers' London river walks, we are taken to parts of the city we wouldn't normally see.

Except that I have been to some of these places. To prove it, here are my photographs of the railway bridge – I was surprised at how low it was, but didn't guess the reason – and the start of the Tinker's Leen beside the Nottingham Canal.

My latest article for Central Bylines: Freda Jackson and Henry Bird

"There has never been anybody like her. To say that she loved acting just would not be enough. We realised only recently when we were looking at some old clippings that newspaper banner headlines had called her London’s greatest actress."

This is the Northampton-born artist Henry Bird paying tribute to his wife Freda Jackson when she died in 1990.

My latest article for Central Bylines pays tribute to them: Northampton's arts power couple.

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"Australian politics is beautifully, exquisitely, delightfully boring. It is boring in the way it used to be back home - sane, predictable, restrained, broadly rational, and consisting mostly of retail offers to voters rather than screeching rhetoric about identity and culture war." Ian Dunt says Australia can teach Britain how to kill populism.

Rose Runswick fears the Liberal Democrats have accidentally voted for a surveillance state: "Let us be clear, the tech lobby wants this ban to happen so they can have more data to push their agendas. We have seen this with Peter Thiel, an American plutocrat who claimed, "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible," and the use of medical data to help create the ICE raids we see now in America."

"She traces the rise in entrepreneurship to changes in working patterns since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020, when large numbers of people realised their jobs could be done from anywhere with a laptop. Across the UK, coastal towns saw a surge in interest." Zoe Crowther asks if digital nomads can breathe new life into failing resorts.

George Palmer-Soady warns against complacency about the regeneration of Nottingham's Broad Marsh: "Not only would any 12-storey building of its kind block the sunlight from shining over the beautiful Green Heart park, but it would serve as a grim reminder of everything the Broad Marsh had set out not to become."

George Scialabba salutes the moral beauty of George Eliot's Middlemarch.

"A couple of weeks ago I was asked on Times Radio whether I believe in fairies, and I suspect it is a question I will get asked a lot more now that Fairies: A History is published." Francis Young introduces his new book.

Bunny councillor hops away from the Conservatives

Andy Edyvean, a former deputy leader of Rushcliffe Borough Council, has left the Conservative Party and now sits as an Independent, reports BBC News:

In an email to colleagues, Edyvean said he took the "difficult decision" over a "worrying decline in the standards" at a council he "was proud to serve".

One point of interest here is that Edyvean is the councillor for Bunny ward, which wins our Ward of the Week Award. Bunny is a village a few miles south of Nottingham.

I have a memory that the conversation between Brian Clough and the chairman of Nottingham Forest, in in which the former agreed to become the club's manager, took place as they walked round the boundary of Bunny cricket ground, but I can't find any mention of this online.

In search of the Lost Gunthorpe Toll Bridge over the River Trent

Gunthorpe Bridge on the A6097 is the only road crossing of the River Trent between Nottingham and Newark. Built in 1927, it replaced an earlier toll bridge that opened to traffic in 1875.

In this video, Trekking Exploration – subscribe and like, my pretties – goes in search of the toll house and of the bridge's abutments on either side of the river.

Five Nottingham city councillors quit Labour to form new grouping

Five members of Nottingham City Council resigned from the Labour Party this week. Joined by a sixth councillor who resigned from Labour earlier this year, they have formed a new grouping: the Nottingham People's Alliance.

Such is Labour's dominance of the authority, that the new group, which claims to be built on a "progressive socialist platform", is the largest opposition group.

BBC News quotes Nottingham Labour's response to the news:

The Nottingham Labour group called the move "regrettable" but added it was focused on "continuing major improvements" through financial management to save taxpayers' money.

Nottingham Labour added it was investing £15m in front-line services in next year's budget.

"What matters now is that we continue with renewing our council, delivering for our residents, and leading Nottingham forward, and with the investment we're proposing this year alone, we are turning words into action," a spokesperson said.

I appreciate that running a council in the current funding climate is horribly difficult, but shouldn't Labour be able to come up with a better message than this?

A victory for free speech as Reform UK drops its ban on the Nottingham Post

Faced with the threat of legal action, Reform-run Nottinghamshire County Council has backed down and scrapped its ban on journalists from the Nottingham Post.

The Guardian reports:

Nottinghamshire county council, which has been led by Reform since the local elections earlier this year, said it was “committed to the principles of openness” after lifting the sanctions it had placed on journalists from the Nottingham Post and its website, Nottinghamshire Live.

The newspaper will now again be invited to public council events and will be added to the council’s distribution list for press releases. The ban had been in place for more than a month and had been condemned by Keir Starmer and local MPs.

And the newspaper goes on to quote Natalie Fahy, Nottinghamshire Live’s editor:

“I’m pleased this unprecedented ban has been lifted and the situation finally resolved so that we can continue to get on with our jobs as we always have done.

“That means asking questions of elected council officials, having access to publicly funded information and events and holding them to account on behalf of our communities in Nottinghamshire.

“This sends a firm message that journalists will not back down if our freedoms are attacked.”

The ban was put in place because the council's leadership was annoyed by a report the Nottingham Post published about tensions within Reform over the reorganisation of local government in the county. So chalk this up as a victory for the freedom of the press.

Liberal Democrats call on Nigel Farage to sort our Nottinghamshire's Reform UK council

NEW: 'No idea, genuinely': Watch as Reform economic chief gets confused over existing relationships between Notts County Council and regional leaders.

Cllr James Walker-Gurley, a new Reform cabinet member in Notts, sat down with us last week. It didn't go well.@laurenamonaghan pic.twitter.com/6SjvTFtejL

— Andrew Topping (@AToppingJourno) June 23, 2025

Today's Guardian reports that the Liberal Democrats have written to Nigel Farage to demand that he steps in to reverse the "dangerous and chilling" decision by Nottinghamshire's ruling Reform UK group to stop talking to local newspapers and the BBC.

The Lib Dems, says, the paper, have suggested that the move may breach local government’s code of conduct, which calls on elected officials to "submit themselves to the scrutiny".

But why has the Reform leader of Nottinghamshire County Council ordered his councillors not to talk to journalists?

The Guardian suggests there are two reasons. The first is an interview the new Reform cabinet member Cllr James Walker-Gurley, a new Reform cabinet member, gave to Notts TV in June. You can see it above.

The second reason is a story in the Nottingham Post about disagreements between Reform councillors on the reorganisation of local government within the county.

Well, it's not the media's fault if a cabinet member appears not to be on top of his brief, and the Nottingham Post story was a perfectly reasonable one for a local newspaper to run.

Incidentally, Notts TV, a local television station, is closing down tomorrow, but that's not Reform's doing.

The Grantham Canal from West Bridgford to Cotgrave

A walk with Towpath Treks along the western half of the Grantham Canal. We see where the canal joins the Trent at West Bridgford and then follow it as far as the former mining town of Cotgrave.

Although it has been closed for the best part of a century, the canal looks eminently restorable. The major obstacle will be that the route near West Bridgford has been lost to a road scheme, so a new way of reaching the Trent will have to be found.

And then there are the bridges. In the 1950s, 46 of the 69 that cross the canal were lowered as part of road improvement schemes.

So though it looks possible, restoration will be expensive. See The Grantham Canal Society site for the latest news.

Electrification of the Midland Mainline is paused yet again

Yesterday the news was full of stories about government investment in the railways: today we heard a familiar story in this part of the world. As BBC News reports:

East Midlands council leaders have said they are dismayed at the government's decision to indefinitely pause the northwards electrification of the Midland Mainline.

The London to Sheffield railway line has been upgraded to take electric trains as far as South Wigston in Leicestershire, but the Department for Transport (DfT) confirmed on Tuesday the further extension of the project was on hold.

The story goes on to quote the Grand Poobah of Leicester, Sir Peter Soulsby:

"Each pause damages confidence, makes delivery more expensive and pushes back the benefits for passengers, freight and the environment."

and Elaine Clark, chief executive of the rail industry body Rail Forum:

"Stopping Midland Mainline electrification makes no sense.

"It is a shovel-ready project that could deliver tangible benefits this parliament.

"It's a bad decision for the UK taxpayer and it's a bad decision for users of the Midland Mainline, with several of our larger cities now condemned to using diesel traction for the foreseeable future."

And for a rail project that would bring great benefits to the East Midlands but is probably even further away than full electrification of the Midland Mainline, see the proposal for a dive-under at Nuneaton, allowing a direct service from Nottingham and Leicester to Coventry again.

The abandoned church of St John the Baptist, Colwick, next to Nottingham Racecourse

We're used to Trekking Exploration searching for abandoned railway lines, but this time he searches for an abandoned church next door to Nottingham Racecourse in Colwick Park.

As the YouTube blurb explains:

The listed grade II church dedicated to St John the Baptist now stands in ruins near Colwick Hall. It was built by Sir John Byron in the 16th century incorporating 14th and 15th century sections from an earlier church. In the mid-17th century the church was repaired and a chancel and steeple built by Sir John Musters. Later in the century, the tower and chancel were rebuilt. Towards the end of the 19th century, a vestry and an organ chamber were added.

By the early years of the twentieth century, the church was in a poor state. Although repairs were continually made, the condition of the church deteriorated. In 1936 it was finally closed as being unsafe. A new Church of St John the Baptist was built in Colwick in 1950.

The Joy of Six 1368

"The answer was a two-pronged attack. The first was a wholesale culture war against 'social justice', which presented BLM, climate, feminist and migrant rights activists as a fifth column determined to bring the country to a halt. The second was passing new and draconian legislation to tackle this so-called left-wing 'threat'." Open Democracy researches the tactics used by the last Conservative government to ban protest.

Mic Wright looks at the way the 'no English food on my holiday' woman was stitched up by the local and national press.

Chris Taylor pulls no punches on the crisis at De Montfort University: "At the heart of the DMU crisis is an executive clique led by the VC, with enormous power and infused with a business ethos of detachment. They live different lives, speak a different language and have different priorities from the people they manage. For them, the profit imperative comes above any duty to people or place and justifies them taking money from Leicester to speculate in richer cities."

Judging by this interview with Philip Win, the redevelopment of Nottingham's Broad Marsh is going to be less innovative than many hoped.

Dinah Birch on the very uncosy crime novelist P.D. James: "She once told me, disconcertingly, that her experience in the Home Office had persuaded her that murders are more common than people think, and that with level-headed planning they could remain undetected with relative ease."

"Despite its imposing beauty, the space was purposefully designed to look like a larger chapel than it actually is through the trickery of decoration. Its decoration is beautiful though and in the words of Oscar Wilde, this chapel is 'the most delightful private chapel in London'." Voyager of History visits the chapel at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Drone footage of the remarkable Welland Viaduct

Something different from the Trekking Exploration YouTube account: drone footage of the mighty Welland Viaduct. This stands on the line between Corby and Manton Junction, which was built in the late 19th century as part of a quicker route from London to Nottingham.

Today the line is chiefly used for freight, though there is one passenger journey each way between Melton Mowbray and Kettering on weekdays. This is chiefly so drivers can learn the route - it's also used for diversions on the St Pancras main line if there's a pressing need to avoid Market Harborough.

This footage was shot by David Blower.

Subscribe to the Trekking Exploration Facebook page for exclusive content.

Tracing the route of the Nottingham Suburban Railway

The Nottingham Suburban Railway opened in 1889 and had largely lost its passenger trains by 1916. These ceased altogether in 1931.

Goods workings continued until 1951 - the line's southern connection with the rest of the  system at Trent Lane had been lost to enemy bombing in 1941.

Though it was only three and a half miles long, the Nottingham Suburban railway involved some substantial engineering. In this video, Trekking Exploration goes to look for what remains.

The drone footage is good, and a word too for some excellent period photographs of the line.

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"When I retired from professional chess in 2005, I channeled all of my energy into preventing Russia from sliding back into the hands of the KGB, the Soviet Union’s secret police and most sinister spy agency. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful: Vladimir Putin consolidated power and rebuilt an authoritarian state in the image of the Soviet regime under which I was born. Facing imminent arrest, I was forced into exile and have lived in New York since 2013. I never thought I would need to warn Americans about the dangers of dictatorship." Garry Kasparov endorses Kamala Harris.

James Chapman argues that, by backing Donald Trump, senior Conservatives have shown how far their party has fallen.

Anna Merlen says this Presidential election has seen some of America’s richest people promote - and apparently believe - ludicrous hoaxes.

"About a quarter of Europe’s bird population has been wiped out in the last four decades – that is half a billion fewer birds in the sky today compared with 1980. Four in 10 European tree species are classed as threatened, butterfly numbers are down by about a third, one in 10 bee species are dying out, and two-thirds of the habitats of ecological importance are in an unfavourable condition. A fifth of European species face extinction." Fiona Harvey shows how farm subsidies have wrecked Europe's landscapes.

"When November the 5th disappears, it will not be because of any ecumenical or secularist wisdom that consigns all potentially sectarian anniversaries to an atavistic scrapheap - it will, rather, be going the way of Opal Fruits and the Marathon Bar.  A holiday so close to the globally marketable Halloween is less than completely efficient from a multinational corporate perspective and streamlined advertising demands the obliteration of purely local celebratory occasions." Conrad Brunstrom ponders the future of Bonfire Night.

Joseph Earp remembers the last second-hand bookshop in Nottingham: "The Mansfield Road was once renowned for the number of 'antique' and specialist bookshops. By the 2000's only one of these bookshops would remain, Jermy and Westerman."

A noseh at the closed stretch of the Nottingham Canal

A very Leicestershire video filmed in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Steve and friends from LeiceExplore look at what remains of the closed stretch of the Nottingham Canal from Great Northern Basin at Langley Mill in Derbyshire to the city of Nottingham.

They end their ride at Meadow Lane Lock, where the navigable stretch of the canal joins the Trent.

There was a shopping mall, now it's all covered with flowers: The new Nottingham Broad Marsh

For 50 years or more, visitors to Nottingham have been funnelled through a bus station and a shopping centre if they wish to get from the railway station to the city centre.

I went to Nottingham today, partly for the pleasure of not doing that. Because the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre is no more. In its place is Nottingham's new Green Heart - an urban park and public space that is the first stage in the redevelopment of a significant proportion of the city centre.

And Broadmarsh seems to have become Broad Marsh as part of it.