Draft:Railways in Northamptonshire

The network of railways in Northamptonshire have been in operation since 1859 and serve the county via passenger and freight trains. Two trunk railway routes, the Midland Main Line and the West Coast Main Line, cross the county of Northamptonshire.

History
At its peak, Northamptonshire had 75 railway stations. It now has only six, at: Northampton and Long Buckby on the West Coast Main Line; Kettering, Wellingborough and Corby on the Midland Main Line; along with Kings Sutton, only a few yards from the boundary with Oxfordshire on the Chiltern Main Line.

Before the Nationalisation of British Railways in 1948 and the creation of British Railways, three of the Big Four railway companies operated in Northamptonshire: the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, London and North Eastern Railway and Great Western Railway. Only the Southern Railway was not represented.

Corby rail history
Corby was described as the largest town in Britain without a railway station. The railway running through the town from Kettering to Oakham in Rutland was previously used only by freight traffic and occasional diverted passenger trains that did not stop at the station. The line through Corby was once part of a main line to Nottingham through Melton Mowbray, but the stretch between Melton and Nottingham was closed in 1968. In the 1980s, an experimental passenger shuttle service ran between Corby and Kettering but was withdrawn a few years later. On 23 February 2009, a new railway station opened, providing direct hourly access to London St Pancras. Following the opening of Corby Station, Rushden then became the largest town in the United Kingdom without a direct railway station. As of 2023, Corby is served by two regular EMR services per hour to London St Pancras International, branded as the Luton Airport Express and EMR Connect.

Closed lines and stations
Railway services in Northamptonshire were significantly reduced by the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Closure of the line connecting Northampton to Peterborough by way of Wellingborough, Thrapston, and Oundle left eastern Northamptonshire devoid of railways. Part of this route was reopened in 1977 as the Nene Valley Railway. A section of one of the closed lines, the Northampton to Market Harborough line, is now the Northampton & Lamport heritage railway, while the route as a whole forms a part of the National Cycle Network as the Brampton Valley Way.

As early as 1897, Northamptonshire would have had its own Channel Tunnel rail link with the creation of the Great Central Railway, which was intended to connect to a tunnel under the English Channel. Although the complete project never came to fruition, the rail link through Northamptonshire was constructed, and had stations at Charwelton, Woodford Halse, Helmdon and Brackley. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923 (and of British Railways in 1948) before its closure in 1966.

Bedford-Northampton line
The Bedford-Northampton line provided passenger services from Bedford Midland station to Northampton Bridge Street station.

Northampton and Peterborough Railway
The Northampton and Peterborough Railway opened in 1845 and connected Northampton to Peterborough.

Northampton–Market Harborough line
The Northampton–Market Harborough line connected Northampton to Market Harborough. The line allowed for further connections from Northampton directly north without need to change at Birmingham, enabling a direct connection to Leicester.

Closed stations
A number of stations on currently operational lines have also been closed. Roade station on the Northampton Loop and Blisworth station on the ECML were both closed as part of the Beeching cuts in 1964.

In Northampton, Northampton Bridge Street and Northampton St. John's Street were both closed when their corresponding railways were closed.

Current operations
As of 2023, Northamptonshire is served by Chiltern Railways, East Midlands Railway, Avanti West Coast, and West Midlands Trains under the London Northwestern Railway brand.

Future
In June 2009, the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) recommended opening a new station on the former Irchester railway station site for Rushden, Higham Ferrers and Irchester, called Rushden Parkway.

The Rushden Historical Transport Society, operators of the Rushden, Higham and Wellingborough Railway, would like to see the railway fully reopen between Wellingborough and Higham Ferrers.

High Speed 2 will go through the southern part of the county but will not have any stations.