MP campaigns for passenger line to be reinstated

An MP said she will continue to campaign for a passenger rail link through the Midlands to be reinstated.

Funding to restore the Ivanhoe line, which connects Leicester and Burton through North West Leicestershire and South Derbyshire, was withdrawn after the Restoring Your Railways scheme was scrapped following a change in government in 2024.

Amanda Hack, Labour MP for North West Leicestershire, raised the issue in a debate in Westminster on Wednesday.

"We want to keep putting the pressure on to get this line up and running for passenger traffic as soon as possible," she said following the debate.

Hack added: "We have an existing line that's still in place, that's already being used for freight.

"It makes absolute sense to reopen it for passenger services.

"North West Leicestershire has 74 of the 600 homes owned by HS2, but at some point in the future those homes will be sold.

"What I'd like to see is that money being set aside for rail service or transport services in North West Leicestershire."

A Network Rail-backed business case to reinstate the line, which closed to passengers as part of the infamous Beeching cuts of the 1960s, had been with the previous Conservative government with hopes work could start in 2024.

However, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Treasury needed to find £5.5bn of savings in 2024 and a further £8.1bn in 2025.

Campaigner Douglas McLay said: "There is a desperate need for improved transport along the A512 corridor from Burton to Leicester.

"The road network is poor, slow, with a lot of congestion and buses, which go round the houses, are very slow and quite unreliable.

"It's holding up development in the area."

Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.