Tell us how rail improvements would affect your business!
June 2023
- We want to hear from you!
- Join our Rural Powerhouse Conference
- Politicians and business rally for motorway junction improvements
- Rail improvement plans launched in Lincoln
- Join us at the STB conference
We want to hear from you!
Midlands Connect is asking local businesses how the Midlands Rail Hub would impact them
Midlands Rail Hub is the region’s biggest and most ambitious rail improvement scheme, delivering better and more frequent rail connections across the Midlands and further afield.
Proposed improvements to the rail network would add more than 14 million more seats each year and provide faster, more frequent, or new rail links between over 30 locations including: Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Redditch, Nuneaton, Worcester, Hereford, Cardiff, Bristol, Cheltenham and Leicester.
We have submitted a business case to Department for Transport to fund the rail improvements. To support this, please complete the quick survey and tell us how a better-connected rail network across the Midlands and further afield will impact your business and colleagues.
Join us for our Rural Powerhouse Conference
Our second rural conference will take place in June
The Rural Powerhouse Conference will take place on Monday 12th June at The Civic Suite, Parkside, Station Approach in Melton Mowbray.
We will be joined by local authorities, decision makers and experts for a number of keynote speeches, panels and discussions throughout the day.
We will also catch-up with our rural mobility competition winners one year on.
MPs gather to rally behind motorway improvements
We met politicians and businesses calling for intervention at junction 28 of the M1
Mark Fletcher, MP for Bolsover chaired the session on the notorious junction. Mr Fletcher and our CEO, Maria Machancoses, were joined by Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, the Department for Transport, and National Highways. As well as businesses from the are who were impacted by delays to the junction.
We submit major East Midlands rail plans
Plans to increase line speed between Nottingham and Lincoln were submitted to government
Pictured L-R: Ruth Carver, Greater Lincolnshire LEP; Roy Colclough, Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce; Tawhida Yaacoub, Midlands Connect; Karl McCartney, MP for Lincoln; Kevin Hughes, EMR; Vanessa Strange and Jayne Wingad, Lincolnshire County Council.
We launched the Strategic Outline Business Case for improvements to the Castle Line between Nottingham and Lincoln. Local leaders met in Lincoln to celebrate the launch.
Currently just 10% of journeys between these two cities are made by rail. Our plans hope to increase line speed by 25mph, eventually leading to an increase in frequency.
Our CEO, Maria, commented on the launch:
“This is an important connection between two major urban areas, and our plans for investment represent the first step in encouraging more passengers to use the trains.
“We recognise the need to make train travel more attractive and help people transition to sustainable transport."
Join us at the STB Conference!
Registration is now live
The annual STB (sub-national transport body) Conference is back! The seven English STBs will be in Birmingham on 5th June; to present , collaborate, and network.
Registration is now live. For more information and a full programme click here. To sign up to attend, click the button below.
If you have any other queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at mcadmin@midlandsconnect.uk or drop us a tweet @midsconnect
Further details of our work and news stories can be found at our website www.midlandsconnect.uk
