Nottingham City Council has persuaded the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to approve major track and signal improvements to Nottingham Railway Station.

The improvements were given the go ahead this morning, after strong lobbying by the Council and partners including Notts County Council, local businesses and MP's, together with train operators East Midlands Trains and Northern.

The improvements were initially turned down by the ORR in their draft determination back in June.

But after successful lobbying £9.8m has today been allocated to the scheme.

It provide much improved additional track and platform capacity which will solve the longstanding problems of trains often having to wait for a free platform outside the station.

The ORR today also confirmed its earlier indication that it would approve £55m for improvements to the Midland Main Line to reduce the Nottingham to London journey times to 90 minutes.

City Councillor Jane Urquhart, Portfolio Holder for transport and Area Working, said:

"We're absolutely delighted that the Office of the Rail Regulator has listened to the common sense of our case and unlocked the potential for faster journey times and an improved experience for rail passengers to and from Nottingham. It shouldn't be under-estimated just how important this is for the continued growth of the local economy- as well as providing the much needed capacity works, it complements the case for our Hub scheme proposals to transform the Station passenger facilities too. We will be working very hard with Network Rail on the detail of this to get the best deal for Nottingham to make the most of this once in 50 year opportunity. We are also keen to establish a close ongoing dialogue with Network Rail and operators to secure efficient delivery of this exciting package of rail investments for Nottingham and the Midland Mainline with the least disruption for passengers. "


Back in June the ORR recommended only a basic like-for-like track replacement scheme costing around £60m to go ahead in 2011. The loss of the signalling upgrade would effectively cement the existing 1968 Station layout in place with all its attendant inflexibility and reliability problems.

This would have meant the station would not be able to handle any new additional services over this period.

It would also have limited any potential speed increases and platform capacity increases to assist with the ‘ Nottingham in 90’ speed-up, and reduce the potential for Robin Hood Line service enhancements to sort out its poor performance in terms of reliability.

The councils, supported by a wide range of partners, submitted a detailed technical case to the ORR requesting that they reverse their decision and implement the improvements. The ORR’s final determination today has been to allocate £9.8m to the scheme which the ORR says should be enough to complete all the work.

The partners have been lobbying Government for track improvements between London and Nottingham to speed up trains, as well as developing £65m plans to transform Nottingham Station to boost the future prosperity of one of the fastest growing core cities in England.