News

if the line from Bedford and Sheffield is being updated by Midland Mainline, why would this speed up the journey to Barnsley, its not on the route and is operatied by Northen Rail. please explain

It's pretty complicated but here goes:
Electrification allows trains to run on both ‘classic’ lines and the Government’s proposed new HS2 line – widening access to ‘high speed’ rail services across the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.
A high-capacity ‘electric spine’ running from Yorkshire to Southampton will allow for more reliable electric trains to cut journey times and boost capacity for passengers and freight. This includes around £800 million of electrification and upgrades from Sheffield through Nottingham, Derby and Leicester to Bedford, completing the full electrification of the Midland Main Line out of London St Pancras and the electrification of the line from Bedford to Oxford, Reading, Basingstoke and Southampton.
These are in addition to almost £500 million of Northern Hub schemes already approved across the north of England such as electrification of the north Trans-Pennine route allowing two extra fast trains per hour between Leeds and Manchester, a reduction in journey times between Leeds and Manchester by an average of 15 minutes. Faster journeys between the North West, Sheffield, the East Midlands, Chester, Bradford, Halifax, Hull, Newcastle and the North-East will also be made possible.
There will also be faster journeys and more train capacity from £240 million of improvements along the East Coast Main Line from the North East down through Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire to London by removing bottlenecks along selected routes. These, in essence, allow pockets of opportunities along the track for trains to overtake.
So, its roundabout but it's happening...

does that mean new(ish) trains for barnsley, electric ones, or not?

How long as Barnsley been on the Midland Mainline... The Electricfication should only be Sheffield to Bedford with Beford to London allready been done for First Connect purpose. If someone has decided extend the wires to Barnsley or maybe Leeds using the Barnsley line i can't see Northern Rail been able to do anything about it, The govenment don't seem too botherd about replacing the Pacer units (Class 142) which see used daily on the Barnsley Line... New(Ish) Trains, Its about time Mr Camron sat on a Pacer for a day...142030 or 142067 or any other Bus Seated example would do fine for him

The announcement of the Midland Mainline Electrification alone will have no impact on the Barnsley to Sheffield services, and won't be able to cut journey times in the short term.
Remember this is the just the first of many planned stages of electrification over the next 10-15years.
The Northern Hub Project will eventually see the Liverpool-Manchester electrification (in progress now) continued from Manchester towards Leeds and York to create an electrified Transpennine Route. Only then will it be viable to announce additional schemes to do the 'infill' bits i.e Sheffield-Leeds and Sheffield-Doncaster which would allow numerous Northern services to go over to electric traction, only then will you see any significant journey reduction time.