Corby railway station Totally Explained

Everything about Corby Railway Station totally explained

|} Corby railway station served the town of Corby in Northamptonshire, England. The station closed in 1966, but was reopened in 1987, only to close again in 1990. Plans have recently been drawn up to reopen the station, and possibly the line north to Oakham, with a provisional opening date of December 2008.

History

Corby station opened in 1879 and closed in April 1966. It was on the Midland Railway’s ‘alternative route’ between Kettering and Nottingham, bypassing the present main line via Market Harborough, Leicester and Loughborough and passing through Corby, Oakham and Melton Mowbray instead. The station was initially named "Weldon and Corby" to avoid confusion with Corby Glen station in Lincolnshire.
The Oakham – Melton Mowbray section remains open to passengers as part of the Peterborough to Leicester line, and the line south through Corby remains open for freight - it passes through the 1,920 yard Corby Tunnel just north of the town, and still further north still it crosses the colossal 82-arch Welland Viaduct. The line as far as Corby was singled in 1987. On 13 April 1987 a passenger service was reintroduced with 11 shuttle trains running daily between Corby and Kettering, usually operating using a single DMU. The service was initially subsidised by the Council and there were ambitious plans to extend it to Leicester. In 2001, Midland Mainline, the rail operator in the county, decided against building a station for Corby. In 2003, Corby’s urban regeneration company, Catalyst Corby, announced plans to build a new station by 2011.
More positive news came in June 2006 when the Department for Transport (DfT) informed prospective bidders for the new East Midlands rail franchise - bringing together Midland Mainline services from St. Pancras station as well as the eastern section of Central Trains - that they'd have to include in their tenders a price for a service to a new station in Corby. The DfT's East Midlands rail franchise consultation noted that Corby had been targeted for substantial housing growth over the course of the franchise and the provision of a station would be in line with the Sustainable Communities Plan. A new service for the town could be formed as an extension of the hourly London to Kettering train.

Announcement

In April 2007 Network Rail announced that it had allocated £1.2 million pounds towards the rebuilding of the station as a response to housing and jobs growth in the county. A final decision on the station, which could be open by December 2008, would be made by the DfT. On 22 June the Dft confirmed that Stagecoach had won the franchise and revealed that the operator would run an extra hourly Kettering - London service, with the possibility of extending this to a new station in Corby. This would put Corby within 75 minutes of Central London.
An article in the June edition of Modern railways (no717), produced in cooperation with the company, suggests that from December 2008 the service to corby would leave St Pancras at XXh08. The article also points to several infrastructure problems remain before a service can begin. Notably, that Network rail need to increase line speed between Corby and Kettering and reinstate a third track between Kettering and Wellingborough. The article says that train won't have sufficient time to make the run in the projected timetable unless these changes are made. It speculates that there could be an off peak shuttle service, with through trains in the peak.
Signoff of the hourly service is still required from the DfT and EMT will need to lease another train (the article speculates that Hull trains could use units freed up by FGW and cascade their present stock to EMT)

Design and construction

The North Northants Development Company and English Partnerships submitted plans for the design of the station in late July 2007 and detailed planning permission was granted by the Council in November. The Development Company predicted that the new station will unlock an estimated £200 million pounds of further commercial investment in Corby, creating more than 1,200 jobs. It added that the station will also provide added impetus for residential development and aid the transformation of town centre shopping and civic facilities.
The entire project will cost up to £3 million and construction is due to begin in June 2008 following the conclusion of an agreement with Kettering construction firm Mainline Contractors. The station will be built at Station Road adjacent to the site of the old station and will act as a transport interchange for Corby with bus and taxi facilities being relocated here. A new road will lead into the interchange which will also have a 140-space car park, taxi rank, drop-off and pick-up areas and a bus area. Site clearance works began in March 2008 and should be completed by the summer.
The station will be the second to be built to the modular station design developed by Network Rail, following Mitcham Eastfields station. There has been criticism of the design by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment which has stated that "[t]here is no evidence of strong design thinking and little indication to suggest the concept has been considered as an integrated whole. This can be read in the awkward junction between the station building and the canopy and poor siting of the railings and street furniture in relation to the station structure. There is also a lack of finesse to the elevations, as illustrated by the mismatch between doors and panels. Taken together, these shortcomings lend the station an ungainly and impoverished form." An artist's impression of what the station could look like can be seen on the website of the local MP (External Link

Services north

East Midlands Trains, a subsidiary set up by Stagecoach to run the East Midlands rail franchise, is looking into the possibility of operating a service north to Oakham and beyond from 2010.

Further Information

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