Monday 30 January 2012

Electric trains and mothballs

In the Mercury's "Business Monthly" supplement on 23 January, there was an article relating to the electrification of the Midland Mainline and the perceived benefits of bringing Leicester within an hour of London by train.

Inset within the article was a piece about the testing of Virgin's Pendolino tilting trains in the county. However, in true Mercury research style, this states that the last time electric trains were seen in Leicestershire was in 2005 and that the track was mothballed once the testing was completed.

Clearly, this is not true as the new London Underground stock being built by Bombardier in Derby is currently being tested on the test track. If I am not mistaken these are "electric trains" and a section of track has been electrified to replicate the London Underground system.




One of the new London Underground trains returning from the test track is seen above at Bagworth, Leicestershire on 11 January 2012. The train has two locomotives and a barrier wagon at each end.