Editing Leicester (section)

====Mainline rail====
[[File:Leicester Railway Station from south.jpg|thumb|[[Leicester railway station]] lies on the eastern side of the city centre on the [[A6 road (Great Britain)|A6]] London Road]]

The rail network is of growing importance in Leicester and, with the start of [[Eurostar]] international services from [[St Pancras railway station|London St Pancras International]] in November 2007, [[Leicester railway station]] has gained connections at St. Pancras station to Lille, Brussels and Paris onwards.

Inter-city services are operated by [[East Midlands Railway]] providing connectivity on 'fast' and 'semi-fast' services to London, the south-east and to major locations in the East Midlands and Yorkshire; there are also local services operating within the East Midlands region. Trans-regional services to the [[West Midlands (region)|West Midlands]] and [[East Anglia]] are provided by [[CrossCountry]], enabling connections at nearby [[Nuneaton railway station|Nuneaton]], onto the [[West Coast main line]], and at [[Peterborough railway station|Peterborough]] to the [[East Coast Main Line]].

The {{convert|99|mi}} from [[Leicester Railway Station]] to [[St Pancras railway station|London St Pancras International]] on the Midland Main Line are covered in an average of 1{{nbsp}}hour 25{{nbsp}}minutes during the morning peak, with journey times as low as 1{{nbsp}}hour 6{{nbsp}}minutes later in the day. Transfers onto [[London Underground]] or [[Thameslink (route)|Thameslink]] train services to London City or West End add another 15 to 25{{nbsp}}minutes to the journey time; double that to Canary Wharf. The journey time to [[Sheffield]] is around one hour, with Leeds and York taking approximately two. [[Birmingham New Street railway station|Birmingham]] is 50{{nbsp}}minutes away and [[Cambridge railway station|Cambridge]], via Peterborough, can be reached in around 1{{nbsp}}hour 55{{nbsp}}minutes with further direct services available onto Stansted Airport in north Essex.