Ilkeston train station bid wins £4.5m investment

The new station will open near the site of Ilkeston's last station

A new railway station is to be built in a Derbyshire town after the scheme got government backing.

The proposed £6.5m station in Ilkeston is one of four schemes that successfully applied for money from a £20m Department for Transport fund.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the scheme had been awarded £4.5m from the New Station Fund.

The station will open in 2014 and will connect Ilkeston to Northern Rail's Sheffield to Nottingham route.

'A real win'

Mr McLoughlin, who is also a Conservative MP for Derbyshire Dales, said: "Ilkeston is one of the largest towns in the country that doesn't actually have a railway connection.

"The truth of the matter is we've seen massive growth on the railways over the past 15 years. The pressure on me as secretary of state is to provide more services."

Ilkeston once had three railway stations but lost the last one in 1967 after it was axed in the Beeching Report.

The new building will be located near the site of Ilkeston's last station.

It will have two platforms, automated ticket machines, a 150-space car park and a taxi rank.

Jessica Lee, Conservative MP for Erewash, said: "This is fantastic news for Ilkeston. We need a station to help people get out and about for training and jobs and also to bring businesses into the town. I have no doubt at all, this is a real win for the town."

Derbyshire County Council has agreed to provide £750,000 of funding for the station. Additional contributions will come from Erewash Borough Council and other funding sources.

Glennice Birkin, a Labour county councillor for Ilkeston, said the fact the scheme was going ahead was wonderful news. "People have signed petitions for years and years to get a station in Ilkeston," she said. "I imagine it will be very popular."

Other new stations to benefit from the funding were schemes in Newcourt in Devon, Lea Bridge in London and Pye Corner in Newport.