Editing Midland Mainline (train operating company) (section)

==Rolling stock==
[[File:43056 at St Pancras.jpg|thumb|43056 at St Pancras]]
Midland Mainline inherited a fleet of [[InterCity 125|High Speed Trains]] from [[British Rail]]. Enhancements were carried out to the power cars of the HSTs, most notably a revised lighting cluster.{{CN|date=September 2023}}

In April 1997, Midland Mainline ordered 13 (later expanded to 17) [[British Rail Class 170|Class 170 ''Turbostars'']] to operate stopping services.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://production.investis.com/nx/oc/rfi/afa/oc_1997/1997-10-14 |title = 14 October 1997 - Midland Mainline orders more trains |date = 14 October 1997 |publisher = National Express}}</ref> Originally, all were ordered as two-carriage sets before it was decided to increase 10 to three-carriage sets. During May 1999, the first Class 170 entered service with the operator; the type's arrival permitted a new timetable with increased frequencies to be introduced, in which the Class 170s operated the majority of the stops south of Leicester, allowing the HSTs to be better used on the longer-distance services.{{CN|date=September 2023}}

To cover for a shortage of HSTs, Midland Mainline hired two [[FM Rail|Fragonset]] [[British Rail Class 47|Class 47]] locomotives to top and tail a set of [[Eversholt Rail Group|HSBC Rail]] [[British Railways Mark 2|Mark 2]] carriages on a morning service from [[Nottingham station|Nottingham]] to [[St Pancras railway station|London St Pancras]] and evening return to [[Sheffield station|Sheffield]] from February 2002.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = |magazine = [[Rail Magazine]] |issue = 430 |date = 6 March 2002 |page = 12}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2023}} In October 2002, Midland Mainline was able to replace these, after leasing an additional five HST power cars and two sets of [[British Rail Mark 3|Mark 3]] carriages that had been released by [[Virgin CrossCountry]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title = |magazine = [[Rail Magazine]] |issue = 447 |date = 30 October 2002 |page = 55}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2023}}

During February 2002, Midland Mainline ordered sixteen four-carriage and seven nine-carriage [[British Rail Class 222|Class 222 ''Meridian'']] trains based on Virgin CrossCountry's [[British Rail Class 220|Class 220 ''Voyager'']], but with developments to improve passenger comfort and address some of the criticisms aimed at the Voyager.<ref>{{cite web |title = Rail firm orders 23 new trains |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1820168.stm |publisher = [[BBC News]] |date = 14 February 2002 |access-date = 13 September 2012}}</ref> The first of these sets entered service in May 2004.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = |magazine = [[Rail Magazine]] |issue = 489 |date = 9 June 2004 |page = 6}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2023}} The four-carriage sets replaced the Class 170s, which were transferred to [[Central Trains]], while the nine-carriage sets were ordered to operate a new service from London St Pancras to [[Leeds railway station|Leeds]] via Nottingham and the [[Erewash Valley Line]].<ref name=TimetableMay07/> When the [[Strategic Rail Authority]] ruled that there was not enough demand for this service, the nine-carriage sets were left sitting idle<ref>{{cite web |title = New train fleet left sitting idle |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/3965351.stm |publisher = BBC News |date = 29 October 2004 |access-date = 13 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title = |magazine = [[Rail Magazine]] |issue = 485 |date = 14 April 2004 |page = 12}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2023}} until eventually they were put into use on the services between Nottingham/Sheffield and London St Pancras from July 2005, releasing one HST for hire to [[Great Western Railway (train operating company)|First Great Western]] while it refurbished its fleet and two other HSTs to [[Great North Eastern Railway]] (GNER) to allow that operator to run extra services to Leeds from May 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://railwayuk.50webs.com/about222.html |title = Class 222 Meridian / Pioneer |publisher = Railway UK}}</ref>

As the nine-carriage Meridians were lightly loaded while the four-carriage sets were overcrowded, it was decided in 2006 to reduce all of the nine-carriage sets to eight carriages, the removed carriages then being used to extend seven of the four-carriage sets to five carriages.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = MML creates eight-car Meridians |magazine = [[The Railway Magazine]] |issue = 1268 |date = December 2006 |page = 8}}</ref> A further reconfiguration of the Meridians took place in 2008, shortly after [[East Midlands Trains]] took over Midland Mainline's services, when six of the eight-carriage sets were reduced to seven carriages and the remaining set was reduced to five carriages, allowing all nine of the remaining four-carriage sets to be extended to five carriages.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = EMT continues its shuffle of Class 222 vehicles |magazine = [[Rail Express]] |issue = 145 |date = June 2008 |page = 53}}</ref>

To operate the Project Rio services to [[Manchester Piccadilly station|Manchester Piccadilly]], 23 HST power cars and associated Mark 3 carriages were transferred from Virgin CrossCountry in May 2003.<ref>{{cite magazine |title = |magazine = [[Rail Magazine]] |issue = 465 |date = 9 July 2003 |page = 40}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2023}} Whilst these were undergoing overhaul, a First Great Western HST was hired from May 2003 until February 2004. <ref>{{cite magazine |title = |magazine = [[Rail Magazine]] |issue = 463 |date = 11 June 2003 |page = 40}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=May 2023}}<!-- Page not re-added as it seems user who first added cite got page and issue pramators mixed up --> When Project Rio concluded in September 2004, some sets were transferred to First Great Western and GNER, while others went into storage.<ref name=125Group/>

Midland Mainline's fleet consisted of the following trains at the time they ceased operating:

===Final fleet===
{| class="wikitable"
|----- bgcolor=#f9f9f9
! rowspan="2" |Class
! rowspan="2" |Image
! rowspan="2" |Type
! colspan="2" |Top speed
! rowspan="2" |Quantity
! rowspan="2" |Routes operated
! rowspan="2" |Built
|----- bgcolor=#f9f9f9
!&nbsp;mph&nbsp;
!&nbsp;km/h&nbsp;
|-
|[[British Rail Class 43 (HST)|Class 43]]
|[[File:MML43035 at Nottingham 2005-10-14 01.jpg|100px]]
|[[Diesel locomotive]]
|rowspan="3"|125
|rowspan="3"|200
|31
|rowspan="3"|[[Midland Main Line]]
|1976–1982
|-
|[[British Rail Class 222|Class 222 ''Meridian'']]
|[[File:MML222009 at Nottingham 2005-11-14 02.jpg|100px]]
|[[Diesel multiple unit]]
|23
|2003–2005
|-
|[[British Rail Mark 3|Mark 3 carriage]]
|[[File:British Rail Mk 3 42051 at Kings Cross.jpg|100px]]
|[[Passenger car (rail)|Passenger carriage]]
|
|1975–1982
|}

===Previous fleet===
{| class="wikitable"
|----- bgcolor=#f9f9f9
! rowspan="2" |Class
! rowspan="2" |Image
! rowspan="2" |Type
! colspan="2" |Top speed
! rowspan="2" |Quantity
! rowspan="2" |Routes operated
! rowspan="2" |Built
! rowspan="2" |Left fleet
|----- bgcolor=#f9f9f9
!&nbsp;mph&nbsp;
!&nbsp;km/h&nbsp;
|-
|[[British Rail Class 170|Class 170 ''Turbostar'']]
|[[File:170110 and 170117 at Derby.JPG|100px]]
|[[Diesel multiple unit]]
|100
|160
|17
|[[Midland Main Line]]
|1999
|2004
|-
|}