Ruth Edwards MP is supporting the bid of the East Midlands Railway Trust seeking funding from the Department for Transport’s ‘Restoring Your Railway Fund’.
The bid proposes to restore a railway link which reconnects a disused trunk railway for passenger and freight services from Ruddington to Leicester via Loughborough, where it joins the Midland Main Line. Ruth was recently appointed Patron to the Trust and has been helping them with the bid.
This comes as the Department for Transport launches its final tranche of ‘Restoring Your Railway’ funding aimed at re-opening railways lines which were previously closed during the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.
The project will provide a new travel route, meaning a minimal weekly passenger service would be two return trains in each direction daily between Ruddington and Leicester, connecting local housing and services with Ruddington village, Rushcliffe Country and Business Parks, East Leake, and the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre.
In addition to this, the re-opening of the line would improve the line’s freight capacity supporting local employers such as British Gypsum through improving inbound and outbound freight access.
There is also the prospect of extending the light rail transit in the area, extending northwards from Ruddington by 1.5 miles to connect with the City’s Nottingham Express Transit (NET2) route to central Nottingham promoting greater connectivity in our local area.
On backing the proposal, Ruth Edwards said:
“This scheme would provide fantastic benefits at a time when our region seeks to recover after the pandemic. It will attract employment and apprenticeship training in building, construction and railway maintenance centred on the scheme’s proposed new terminal station at Ruddington.
“The extra train services in the area would also encourage people to use public transport more regularly, helping to reduce the number of vehicles on our roads as we move towards a green economic recovery.”
Professor David Rae, Chair of East Midlands Railway Trust said
“East Midlands Railway Trust is delighted by the support from our new Patron, Ruth Edwards MP. and from Jane Hunt, MP for Loughborough, from Rushcliffe Borough Council and partner organisations for our ‘Restoring Your Railway’ feasibility study proposal. This project has the potential to ‘reconnect Ruddington’ and other growing communities in South Nottinghamshire via a mainline rail connection, improving connectivity for passengers and freight.”
