East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It consists of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland; the region has an area of 15,627 km2, with a population over 4.5 million in 2011. There are five main urban centres, Leicester, Lincoln and Nottingham. Others include Boston, Chesterfield, Grantham, Kettering, Mansfield, Newark-on-Trent and Wellingborough. Relative proximity to London and its position on the national motorway and trunk road networks help the East Midlands to thrive as an economic hub. Nottingham and Leicester are each classified as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network; the region is served by East Midlands Airport, which lies between Derby and Nottingham. The high point at 636 m is Kinder Scout, in the Peak District of the southern Pennines in northwest Derbyshire near Glossop. Other upland, hilly areas of 95 to 280 m in altitude, together with lakes and reservoirs, rise in and around the Charnwood Forest north of Leicester, in the Lincolnshire Wolds.
The region's major rivers, the Nene, the Soar, the Trent and the Welland, flow in a northeasterly direction towards the Humber and the Wash. The Derwent, rises in the High Peak before flowing south to join the Trent some 2 miles before its conflux with the Soar; the centre of the East Midlands area lies between Bingham and Bottesford, Leicestershire. The geographical centre of England lies in Higham on the Hill in west Leicestershire, close to the boundary between the Leicestershire and Warwickshire; some 88 per cent of the land is rural in character, although agriculture accounts for less than three per cent of the region's jobs. Lincolnshire is the only maritime county of the six, with a true North Sea coastline of about 30 miles due to the protection afforded by Spurn Head and the North Norfolk foreshore. Church Flatts Farm in Coton in the Elms, South Derbyshire, is the furthest place from the sea in the UK. In April 1936 the first Ordnance Survey trig point was sited at Cold Ashby in Northamptonshire.
The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and The Wildlife Trusts are based next to the River Trent and Newark Castle railway station. The National Centre for Earth Observation is at the University of Leicester; the region is home to large quantities of limestone, the East Midlands Oil Province. Charnwood Forest is noted for its abundant levels of volcanic rock, estimated to be 600 million years old. A quarter of the UK's cement is manufactured in the region, at three sites in Hope and Tunstead in Derbyshire, Ketton Cement Works in Rutland. Of the aggregates produced in the region, 25 per cent are from Derbyshire and four per cent from Leicestershire. Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire each produce around 30 per cent of the region's sand and gravel output. Barwell in Leicestershire was the site of Britain's largest meteorite on 24 December 1965; the 2008 Lincolnshire earthquake was 5.2 in magnitude. Areas of the East Midlands designated by the East Midlands Biodiversity Partnership as Biodiversity Conservation Areas include: Charnwood Forest Coversand Heaths Derbyshire Peak Fringe and Lower Derwent Humberhead Levels Leighland Forest The Lincolnshire Limewoods and Heaths The Lincolnshire coast The Peak District Rockingham Forest Sherwood Forest Rutland, SW Lincolnshire and N Northamptonshire The Wash Areas of the East Midlands designated by the East Midlands Biodiversity Partnership as Biodiversity Enhancement Areas include: The Coalfields The Daventry Grasslands The Fens The Lincolnshire Coastal Grazing Marshes The Lincolnshire Wolds The National Forest The Yardley-Whittlewood RidgeTwo of the nationally designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are: The Peak District The Lincolnshire Wolds Several towns in the southern part of the region, including Market Harborough, Rothwell, Kettering, Thrapston and Stamford, lie within the boundaries of what was once Rockingham Forest – designated a royal forest by William the Conqueror and was long hunted by English kings and queens.
The National Forest is an environmental project in central England run by The National Forest Company. Areas of north Leicestershire, south Derbyshire and south-east Staffordshire covering around 200 square miles are being planted in an attempt to blend ancient woodland with new plantings, it stretches from the western outskirts of Leicester in the east to Burton upon Trent in the west, is planned to link the ancient forests of Needwood and Charnwood. Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire attracts many visitors, is best known for its ties with the legend of Robin Hood. Regional financial funding decisions for the East Midlands are taken by East Midlands Councils, based in Melton Mowbray. East Midlands Councils is an unelected body made up of representatives of local government in the region; the defunct East Midlands Development Agency was headquartered next to the BBC's East Midlands office in Nottingham and made financial decisions regarding economic development in the region. Since the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government launched its austerity programme after the 2010 general election, regional bodies such as those have been devolved to smaller groups now on a county level.
As a region today, there is no overriding body with significant financial or planning powers for the East Midlands. The East Midlands' largest settlements are Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield, Mansfield and Kettering. Leicester is the largest
National Rail
National Rail in the United Kingdom is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies of England and Wales. The TOCs run the passenger services provided by the British Railways Board, from 1965 using the brand name British Rail. Northern Ireland, bordered by the Republic of Ireland, has a different system. National Rail services share a ticketing structure and inter-availability that do not extend to services which were not part of British Rail; the name and the accompanying double arrow symbol are trademarks of the Secretary of State for Transport. National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail. National Rail is a brand used to promote passenger railway services, providing some harmonisation for passengers in ticketing, while Network Rail is the organisation which owns and manages most of the fixed assets of the railway network, including tracks and signals; the two coincide where passenger services are run.
Most major Network Rail lines carry freight traffic and some lines are freight only. There are some scheduled passenger services on managed, non-Network Rail lines, for example Heathrow Express, which runs on Network Rail track; the London Underground overlaps with Network Rail in places. Twenty eight owned train operating companies, each franchised for a defined term by government, operate passenger trains on the main rail network in Great Britain; the Rail Delivery Group is the trade association representing the TOCs and provides core services, including the provision of the National Rail Enquiries service. It runs Rail Settlement Plan, which allocates ticket revenue to the various TOCs, Rail Staff Travel, which manages travel facilities for railway staff, it does not compile the national timetable, the joint responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail. Since the privatisation of British Rail there is no longer a single approach to design on railways in Great Britain; the look and feel of signage and marketing material is the preserve of the individual TOCs.
However, National Rail continues to use BR's famous double-arrow symbol, designed by Gerald Burney of the Design Research Unit. It has been incorporated in the National Rail logotype and is displayed on tickets, the National Rail website and other publicity; the trademark rights to the double arrow symbol remain state-owned, being vested in the Secretary of State for Transport. The double arrow symbol is used to indicate a railway station on British traffic signs; the National Rail logo was introduced by ATOC in 1999, was used on the Great Britain public timetable for the first time in the edition valid from 26 September in that year. Rules for its use are set out in the Corporate Identity Style Guidelines published by the Rail Delivery Group, available on its website. "In 1964 the Design Research Unit—Britain’s first multi-disciplinary design agency founded in 1943 by Misha Black, Milner Gray and Herbert Read—was commissioned to breathe new life into the nation’s neglected railway industry".
The NR title is sometimes described as a "brand". As it was used by British Rail, the single operator before franchising, its use maintains continuity and public familiarity; the lettering used in the National Rail logotype is a modified form of the typeface Sassoon Bold. Some train operating companies continue to use the former British Rail Rail Alphabet lettering to varying degrees in station signage, although its use is no longer universal; the British Rail typefaces of choice from 1965 were Helvetica and Univers, with others coming into use during the sectorisation period after 1983. TOCs may use what they like: examples include Futura, Frutiger, a modified version of Precious by London Midland. Although TOCs compete against each other for franchises, for passengers on routes where more than one TOC operates, the strapline used with the National Rail logo is'Britain's train companies working together'. Several conurbations have their own metro or tram systems, most of which are not part of National Rail.
These include the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, London Tramlink, Blackpool Tramway, Glasgow Subway, Tyne & Wear Metro, Manchester Metrolink, Sheffield Supertram, Midland Metro and Nottingham Express Transit. On the other hand, the self-contained Merseyrail system is part of the National Rail network, urban rail networks around Birmingham, Cardiff and West Yorkshire consist of National Rail services. London Overground is a hybrid: its services are operated via a concession awarded by Transport for London, are branded accordingly, but until 2010 all its routes used infrastructure owned by Network Rail. LO now possesses some infrastructure in its own right, following the reopening of the former London Underground East London line as the East London Railway. Since all the previous LO routes were operated by National Rail franchise Silverlink until November 2007, they have continued to be shown in the National Rail timetable and are still considered to be a part of National Rail.
Heathrow Express and Eurostar are not part of the National Rail network despite sharing of stations. Northern Ireland Railways were
Nottingham–Lincoln line
The Nottingham–Lincoln line is a railway line in central England, running north-east from Nottingham to Lincoln. The Nottingham to Lincoln line was engineered by Robert Stephenson; the contractors for the line were Craven and Son of Newark and Nottingham who built many of the stations. Lincoln railway station was built by the contractor Mr. Burton of Lincoln; the line was inspected by General Pasley on 31 July 1846 and opened on 4 August 1846. The line ended at Lincoln Midland station, built as a terminus; the line was extended to a junction just east of Lincoln Central railway station, enabling through running from Nottingham to the South Humber ports and Cleethorpes. This extension led to over a hundred years of pedestrian and driver frustration in central Lincoln because there were two mainline level crossings on the High Street within 350 metres, resulting in congestion and traffic chaos. Lincoln St. Marks station was closed in the mid-1980s when a diversionary curve was laid to allow services from Nottingham to enter Lincoln Central.
The old station building is now part of a shopping centre and houses Lakeland. Most passenger trains were taken over by diesel units from 14 April 1958, taking about an hour between the two cities. Passenger services on the line are provided by East Midlands Trains, using a mix of Class 156 diesel multiple units, Class 158 diesel multiple units, pairs of Class 153 diesel multiple units. At certain times Class 156 and Class 153 trains run coupled together. Many trains on this route continue southward from Nottingham to Leicester via the Midland Main Line; some trains call at Newark North Gate by running down the spur at the side of the East Coast Main Line and reversing back again. Many trains run between Newark North Gate and Lincoln Central throughout the day timed to provide connections to London King's Cross and other stations on the East Coast Main Line; every other hour this service continues to Grimsby from Lincoln Central, with the first and last trains of the day continuing to Cleethorpes.
Summer Sundays see. As of 22 May 2011 East Coast now runs one train a day from London to Lincoln; the line between Newark and Lincoln is only cleared for 50–70-mile-per-hour speeds. Nottinghamshire County Council has paid for a study into 90-mile-per-hour running; the line serves the following places. Nottingham Carlton Burton Joyce Lowdham Thurgarton Bleasby Fiskerton Rolleston Newark-on-Trent Collingham Swinderby North Hykeham Lincoln The timetable has been improved on the line since 2015, with additional trains introduced between Newark Castle and Nottingham in addition to the primary Nottingham to Lincoln ones; the Sunday service on the line has been increased since the May 2017 timetable change, with the former afternoon-only timetable improved to an hourly frequency each way starting from mid-morning and the intermediate stations served at least every two hours. One train daily on a Monday to Saturday runs along the line from Lincoln Central to London St. Pancras in the morning, from London St. Pancras back to Lincoln Central in the evening.
It only calls at the busier stations along the line, namely Collingham, Newark Castle and Nottingham. The train travels along the Midland Main Line for the Nottingham–London portion of the journey. There is one return train a day run by East Coast from Lincoln to London King's Cross which leaves/joins the Nottingham to Lincoln line at the flat crossing with the ECML just north of Newark North Gate station
Network Rail
Network Rail is the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an arm's length public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders, which reinvests its income in the railways. Network Rail's main customers are the private train operating companies, responsible for passenger transport, freight operating companies, who provide train services on the infrastructure that the company owns and maintains. Since 1 September 2014, Network Rail has been classified as a "public sector body". To cope with rising passenger numbers, Network Rail is undertaking a £38 billion programme of upgrades to the network, including Crossrail, electrification of lines, upgrading Thameslink and a new high-speed line. Britain's railway system was built by private companies, but it was nationalised by the Transport Act 1947 and run by British Railways until re-privatisation, begun in 1994 and completed in 1997. Infrastructure and freight services were separated at that time.
Between 1994 and 2002 the infrastructure was operated by Railtrack. The Hatfield train crash on 17 October 2000 was a defining moment in the collapse of Railtrack; the immediate major repairs undertaken across the whole British railway network were estimated to have cost in the order of £580 million and Railtrack had no idea how many more'Hatfields' were waiting to happen because it had lost considerable in-house engineering skill following the sale or closure of many of the engineering and maintenance functions of British Rail to external companies. The costs of modernising the West Coast Main Line were spiralling. In 2001, Railtrack announced that, despite making a pre-tax profit before exceptional expenses of £199m, the £733m of costs and compensation paid out over the Hatfield crash had plunged Railtrack from profit into a loss of £534m, it approached the government for funding, which it used to pay a £137m dividend to its shareholders in May 2001. Network Rail Ltd took over control by buying Railtrack plc, in "railway administration", from Railtrack Group plc for £500 million.
The purchase was completed on 3 October 2002. The former company had thus never ceased to exist but continued under another name: for this reason Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd was the defendant in prosecutions in respect of events which had occurred in the days of Railtrack. Following an initial period in which Network Rail established itself and demonstrated its competence in addressing the principal challenges of improving asset condition, reducing unit costs and tackling delay, the Government's Rail Review in 2004 said that Network Rail should be given responsibility for whole-industry performance reporting, timetable development, specification of small and medium network enhancements, the delivery of route-specific utilisation strategies; some of these are functions which Network Rail had. The SRA was abolished in November 2006; the company moved its headquarters to Kings Place, 90 York Way, from 40 Melton Street, Euston, in August 2008. In October 2008, Sir Ian McAllister announced that he would not stand for re-election as chairman of Network Rail.
He had held the position for six years. He noted that as Network Rail moved to a "new phase in its development" it was appropriate for a new chairman to lead it there. Many track safety initiatives have been introduced in the time Network Rail has been responsible for this area; the latest, announced in December 2008, known as "All Orange", states that all track personnel must not only wear orange hi-vis waistcoats or jackets, but must wear orange hi-vis trousers at all times when working on or near the track. This ruling came into force in January 2009 for maintenance and property workers and in April 2009 for infrastructure and investment sites. In 2009, allegations appeared in the media from the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association concerning treatment of Network Rail employees. Former chief executive Iain Coucher was accused of financial impropriety involving unspecified payments to his business partner Victoria Pender during his tenure at Network Rail. An internal investigation held by Network Rail in 2010, vetted by its auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers, uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing.
An independent enquiry headed by Anthony White QC in 2011 further examined the claims, but exonerated Coucher. Critical commentary appeared in the media concerning the knighthood awarded to John Armitt in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to engineering and construction. Armitt was Chief Executive of Network Rail at the time of the 2007 Grayrigg derailment and the family of a victim of the accident criticised the award, which coincidentally was conferred on the same day that Network Rail were prosecuted for the accident. In 2011 the company began the process of reorganising its operational structure into nine semi-autonomous regional entities, each with their own managing director; the reorganisation has been interpreted as a move back towards vertical integration of track and train operations. In 2016 Network Rail failed to check whether the Flying Scotsman could fit through tunnels along the Borders Route resulting in the ca
Cotgrave
Cotgrave is a town and civil parish in the borough of Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, about 5 miles south-east of the centre of Nottingham. The village sits at the edge of the South Nottinghamshire Wolds about 131 feet above sea level. Cotgrave's 2001 population of 7,373 people fell to 7,203 at the 2011 Census when Owthorpe was included. With an ancient heart that has escaped development, Cotgrave still has a village atmosphere despite its population; this is accented by its amenities and infrastructure, which have remained comparatively underdeveloped though large housing estates were built round the village in the 1960s for people working for the coalmine. It is sandwiched between the A52, A606 and A46. To the west are Tollerton and Nottingham Airport, which has facilities for private planes and flight instruction. Cotgrave's origins may be in the Iron Age. A 6th-century Anglo-Saxon burial ground has been excavated at Mill Hill to the north of the old village. There was a Saxon church a century before the Norman Conquest.
The Roman Fosse Way passes a mile to the east. The A46 follows its course, during improvements in 2012–13, excavations uncovered Ice Age flint tools. Evidence of an Iron Age settlement was found at Owthorpe Junction, just to the east, a 4,000-year-old Neolithic circular monument with eight Bronze Age burials emerged further north at Stragglethorpe junction; the place-name Cotgrave seems to contain an Old English personal name, Cotta, + grāf, grove or copse..so'Cotta's grove'. The present substantial church, All Saints', dates from the 12th century, with several subsequent alterations and additions. An arson attack in 1996 caused considerable damage, but the church has since been restored at great expense; the church has a ring of eight bells, most made by Taylor's. A team of ringers practise on Fridays and Sundays. An outbreak of plague in 1637 killed 93 of a population of 500, including 46 children. All Saints' was used as a food store for the village during the outbreak. Money to pay for goods was disinfected as it was passed through a hollowed stone filled with vinegar to the men who had locked themselves away in the church.
This stone is still in the church. On Scrimshire Lane, near the church, can be found an old wall, dubbed the "Thousand-Year Wall", it is riddled with small holes made by, providing a home for a large group of solitary bees. Nearby, through a lych gate, is a graveyard that is, separated from the church by a road. There can be found there a pillar on three tiers commemorating those of the village lost in service during the world wars; the church has a stained glass window, by J. F. Gascoyne & Son of Nottingham, dedicated in 1920 as a war memorial. There is a window on the north aisle, east of the north door, depicting the koepe towers and underground workings of Cotgrave Colliery, sunk in the 1960s and abandoned in the 1980s; the window was installed after the fire at the church in 1996. Cotgrave has a war memorial sited in the graveyard at Scrimshaw Lane to the west of All Saints, it commemorates the fallen of both world wars. The War Memorials Trust has helped towards the upkeep of this. Twelve men from the First World War are listed above four from the Second World War on two metal panels on the east face of the memorial.
The south face, names Walter Henstock, died 1920. An active British Legion group that includes nearby villages is marking the four-year centenary of the Great War by researching the men from the villages who gave their lives. Details of the Colston Bassett and Cotgrave Great War Project, as far as they can be traced so far, appear on its website; the surnames of those noted lost in the First World War are Lacey, Middleton, Simpson, Hayes, Marshall, Carrington, Henstock. Those from the Second World War; the epitaph reads: "Be thou faithful into death and I will give you a crown of life." The epitaph is referred to as the Cotgrave Cross, as is the six-foot-high monument at the east end of the church. With partly ashlar construction parts from the 20th century and parts from the 16th, it is somewhat of a mystery, as it is thought of as ancient, yet does not appear on photographs or pictures prior to the early 20th century; the site is near an important old junction. There were for some time thoughts that the war memorial should be moved to that site and the Cross moved to the country park, but this was dismissed as costly.
There is a further memorial plaque, carved in oak, displayed to the right of the north door in All Saints' and a commemorative stained glass window to the east of the south aisle. To the north at Cotgrave Place, near the golf course, there is a memorial to a Vickers Wellington bomber that crashed on 8 February 1941; the aircraft, from No. 12 Squadron dispersed from RAF Station Binbrook to nearby RAF Station Tollerton, was on a gunnery training flight when the pilot encountered control problems. The aircraft hit an oak tree, just short of the still existing runway, next to where the golf club house now stands. A plaque nearby commemorates seven of the crew on board. In birth order: William Upton, county cricketer for Nottinghamshire in 1827–28, was born and died in Cotgrave. Elinor Mordaunt and traveller, was born in Cotgrave. Ernest Hayes, born in Gripps Cottage, joined the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1916 and received the Military Medal three times for bravery on the Western Front in 1918.
Frank Robinso
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British train operating company owned by Stagecoach Group. Based in Derby, the company provides train services in the East Midlands and parts of Yorkshire, chiefly in Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire; the franchise commenced in November 2007 with the amalgamation of the Midland Mainline and eastern parts of the Central Trains franchises and will run until August 2019. In June 2006 the Department for Transport announced its intention to restructure some rail franchises. Included was an East Midlands franchise combining the Midland Mainline franchise with the East Midlands services of the Central Trains franchise. In September 2006 the Department for Transport announced that Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for the franchise. In June 2007 the Department for Transport awarded the East Midlands franchise to Stagecoach and services operated by Central Trains and Midland Mainline transferred to East Midlands Trains on 11 November 2007.
Due to end in March 2015, the franchise has been extended several times and is now planned to finish in August 2019. In April 2019, the DfT announced that Abellio had won its bid for the East Midlands franchise, after Stagecoach was disqualified from the process due to not meeting pension obligations; the service will be renamed "East Midlands Railway" and the contract is due to last until August 2027. Amidst a background of ongoing rail strikes on a national level, the National Union of Rail and Transport Workers warned in September 2017 that East Midlands Trains staff could be balloted for potential industrial action following a breakdown in negotiations over an ongoing pay rise dispute; the dispute was settled without industrial action, the threat of strikes on East Midlands Trains services was dropped. East Midlands Trains divided its services between two sub-brands: Mainline inter-city services, Connect urban and suburban services, which came from the Central Trains franchise. However, from April 2008, the company dropped the "Mainline" and "Connect" branding in favour of "London" and "Local" services.
It has four broad routes for the areas in which it operates, except for the high-speed services, which all serve London. EMT promised better integration between "London" and "Local" services, together with increased punctuality and becoming more user-friendly. On 25 November 2008, Peter Bone asked if the Secretary of State for Transport supports the "In the Can" campaign, whereby sardines are sent to the Chief Executive to show dissatisfaction at perceived overcrowding. Helen Southworth raised the overcrowding issue on the same day; the service pattern at the start of the franchise was of 4 off-peak departures from London: 2 fast and 2 stopping. Sheffield peak-hour trains extended from and to Leeds, with weekend services extending to York/Scarborough. 1 peak-hour Derby service was extended to one to Barnsley. EMT made no significant changes until the introduction of its December 2008 timetable. In December 2008, EMT made significant changes to the service pattern, similar to the current one. There are five off-peak departures from London: 2 fast, 2 stopping.
A smaller number of Sheffield peak-hour trains continue to extend from and to Leeds, with weekend services extending to York/Scarborough. In addition a Nottingham service is extended to start from Lincoln Central on weekdays and Saturdays. There were plans for 2 return services to Skegness through from London in the summer; the Burton-on-Trent and Barnsley services ceased at the beginning of the December 2008 timetable, when Corby services began. One Corby service was extended to Melton Mowbray at the outset, a second was added to Derby from May 2010. In December 2013, the Midland Main Line started running at 125 mph in some areas, cutting journey times; the Liverpool Lime Street via Warrington Central, Manchester Oxford Road and Piccadilly, Nottingham and Ely to Norwich service was provided by Central Trains. Nottinghamshire County Council has campaigned for better services between the four core cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham. Network Rail's plans for the Northern Hub would deliver extra train paths along the Hope Valley Line, enabling more trains to run from the North West to the East Midlands.
In December 2012, double-unit trains were provided for services between Manchester and Nottingham to ease overcrowding. East Midlands Trains' services can be categorised into two types: London: inter-city services out of London St Pancras station, along the Midland Main Line, to various towns and cities in the East Midlands region including Bedford, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield; some peak-time services serve Lincoln Central, Doncaster and York, while a single Saturday service runs to and from Scarborough in the summer. These services all use Class HST sets, which are painted in a white livery. Local: short- and medium-distance services within the East Midlands region, plus the long-distance route between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich; these services are operated by Sprinters. The Class 158 units are painted in a white livery, while the remaining units are all
