Plans for £100m Coventry to Nottingham rail link announced

Midlands Connect, which is government-funded, is calling for better links between the neighbouring cities of Leicester and Coventry

A £100m scheme to reconnect three Midlands cities by rail could be running by 2025, subject to funding, according to a regional transport group.

Midlands Connect said it had completed a strategic business case for a direct link between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham.

It said it would reduce the time it took to travel across the Midlands.

The Department for Transport said it was assessing the plans.

'Not good enough'

The plans form part of a £2bn rail upgrade proposal put forward for the region by Midlands Connect, the government-funded body behind long-term transport plans for the area.

The group said there was a "strong case" for the project and it had narrowed it down to two - one which called at the Warwickshire town of Nuneaton and one which ran direct between the three cities.

It said it would reinstate direct rail services between the cities for the first time in two decades, after they were cancelled due to more London services being introduced.

Maria Machancoses, CEO of Midlands Connect, said: "The slow, indirect and inconvenient rail connections between the major cities of Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham are stilting productivity, stifling opportunity and forcing travellers to make unsustainable transport choices.

"Just 3% of trips along parts of this corridor are made by train. With this investment, we can change that."

'It's easier to commute to London'

Tara Gatherer says it is easier to commute to London than between neighbouring cities in the Midlands

Student Tara Gatherer is one of many Midlanders who have found the 26-mile (41km) trip between her home city of Leicester and Coventry, where several of her friends are based, an arduous expedition.

"I would say, in normal times, I make the trip about three times a month by train and it's awkward, difficult and takes a long time.

"Until a recent timetable change, you only had one or two minutes to catch the connection at Nuneaton - and the train from Leicester was often delayed - and it was an hour until the next train. So it turned your journey of almost an hour into more than two, if you were unlucky," the 33-year-old said.

"It's easier to commute to London from Leicester than it is to get from East to West Midlands which seems silly."

Were the scheme to get the go-ahead, Midlands Connect said journey times between Coventry and Leicester would fall from 54 to 38 minutes, with trips from Coventry to Nottingham down to 70 minutes from 108 minutes.

It said there would also be more direct links between Loughborough, in Leicestershire, and Coventry.

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The Labour-run councils of Leicester and Coventry said they backed the case.

Sir Peter Soulsby, Leicester City Mayor, said: "I can't think of two UK cities other than Coventry and Leicester that are as close, yet so appallingly connected by rail.

"At the moment it can take up to an hour and 20 minutes to travel less than 25 miles, and passengers have to change trains halfway - it's simply not good enough."

Councillor George Duggins, leader of Coventry City Council, described the lack of a route as a "missing link".

"At the moment the Midlands' east-west rail connections are sub-standard, holding us back from a more productive and sustainable future," he said.

The Department for Transport said: "We have received the business case for improving links between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham, which we are now assessing."