Loughborough Gap

The Loughborough Gap is a 500-metre-long (0.3 mi) missing section of the Great Central Railway to the north-east of Loughborough, England. The gap was created by the removal of embankments and bridges during the 1980s and the restoration project has been branded Bridge to the Future and Bridging the Gap. From south-to-north the route crosses the Grand Union Canal, Railway Terrace road, four-track Midland Main Line at Loughborough railway station and the A60 road. The Hermitage Brook watercourse runs parallel.

During the 2010s work began to restore the link in order to join the northern and southern sections of two heritage railways back together giving a total Great Central Railway (heritage railway) line length of 18 miles (29 km). As of 2016^[update], planning permission was granted to the first major component: a replacement 30-metre single-span bridge over the Midland Main Line. An additional station called Loughborough High Level will be built to connect with Loughborough (Midland) station on the Midland Main Line.

As of May 2016^[update], the bridge was intended to be owned by Charnwood Borough Council and then leased back to the Great Central Railway for one hundred years in exchange for maintenance costs. It is expected to be completed in 2019.

As a relatively late-developed railway in the United Kingdom, the GCR was resultantly forced to take some expensive civil engineering choices to complete their route. Just north of Loughborough Central, the railway had to cross the existing Leicester section of the Grand Union Canal, before then crossing the existing Midland Main Line formation as well as avoiding the Hermitage Brook, before moving northwards to Nottingham.

...
Wikipedia