THE opening of a new  ‘green’ £25 million parkway station in Leicestershire has been delayed because of legal issues over the purchase of land needed.

The East Midlands Parkway station on the Midland main line at Ratcliffe on Soar – near to a major power station – is now expected to be opened in early 2009, a few weeks after the start of the winter timetable in December.

Tim Shoveller, MD of East Midlands Trains, said: “Whilst we had hoped that the new Parkway station would be open in time for the December timetable changes, we also believe that it’s crucial to open a station that meets the needs of all of its users, and we will continue to work closely with Network Rail to open the station early in 2009.”

The station, which is being built with four platforms and more than 850 car park spaces for passengers joining the railway from the nearby M1 motorway, has been on the drawing board since 1981 when it was first considered by British Rail. But the plan has only just come to fruition after franchise changes and the adoption of the scheme by Network Rail.

The station is being built with strict environmental considerations to make it carbon neutral, ranging from a ground-heat heating system, grey water recycling and locally sourced and recyclable materials.

The station will be for passengers travelling to London and also used as a park and ride station for the East Midlands cities of Leicester, Derby and Nottingham. There will be public transport access to East Midlands Airport.

The underlying environmental aim is to reduce car travel both on the motorway and also in the big East Midlands cities.

During the planning process there were a number of design constraints to be satisfied, said Spencer Gibbons, Network Rail’s route enhancement manager. These included managing issues affecting neighbours and the local community.

Railway constraints have meant that fast line speeds at the station have to be maintained at 110mph, whilst slow line speeds must not be less than 60mph.

The station will also ‘interface’ with the East Midlands Resignalling Project – the new East Midlands signalling centre is operational at Derby.

So far, a centre platform has been built, the station building frame assembled and the car park formation completed along with a road access bridge from the motorway.
The station footbridge and platform have been started.

However, the building still has to be clad, platforms completed, road junctions on the A453 sorted out and the station fitted out for staff and passengers.