In message , at 14:43:58 on
Wed, 2 Aug 2017, Recliner remarked:

A class 700 all the way to Leicester? Ouch!

How far further north do you think Leicester is than Peterborough?

By rail, I'd have thought it was nearly 20 miles further?

Very close in mileage. For trains with a similar number of stops it's
just 7 minutes. And that's with diesel on the MML, an electric train
should be able to close the gap significantly.

Or not, as the case may be: the current diesels can travel at up to
125mph, but the wiring to Bedford was only designed for 100mph

Even if the latter is true (I don't recall anyone saying that the MML
electrification to Sheffield would mean re-doing London-Bedford), the
line speed for the InterCity trains south of Bedford isn't as high as
125mph.

running. And IEPs on diesel power probably won't be able to get up to
125mph.

Huh? The InterCity trains on MML will converge upon Meridians/Voyagers,
once the HSTs are retired.

So if the HSTs are replaced by IEPs,

They won't be.

the service may actually slow down.
--
Roland Perry