Leicester is the worst-connected big city by rail in Britain

Exclusive: A village in Cornwall has better links to major UK cities than the place Thomas Cook started his empire

Leicester is the worst-connected big city in Britain in terms of rail links.

Research by The Independent shows that the East Midlands city has a narrower range of train services than a village in Cornwall.

Each of the 12 largest cities outside London was evaluated on four criteria.

First, from that city how many of the other 11 are served by regular direct rail links?

Next, the number of fast train departures each hour from the city to London.

Whether there is direct access from the city’s main rail station to a tram or metro network?

And whether there is a connection to the nearest airport? One point was awarded for a train, metro or tram, and half for a bus link.

While Leicester has three nonstop trains an hour to London, to major cities outside the capital it has regular direct links only to Birmingham, Nottingham and Sheffield. There are three daily trains to Leeds, but they are of little use to travellers as the first does not leave until shortly before 8pm.

The city is on the East Midlands line from London St Pancras to South Yorkshire, but has long lost its wider connections.

Leicester was, ironically, the original headquarters for the pioneer of organised rail travel, Thomas Cook. A statue of the founder of the tourism empire stands adjacent to the city’s station.

Nicky Gardner, co-author of Europe by Rail, said: “Prior to the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, Leicester had multiple direct daily trains to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.

“The downgrading of the Midland main line curbed Leicester’s connectivity, with the closure of the Great Central further depleting the departure lists.”

Scott Knowles, chief executive of East Midlands Chamber, said: “Rail links are an essential element of the regional transport infrastructure.

“As major contributors to the UK economy, and being located in the heart of the country, Leicester needs and deserves the best possible transport links.

“By the government’s own figures, for many years the east midlands has received only 60 per cent of the national average per head when it comes to infrastructure investment.

“This has to change if Leicester and the wider region is to realise its fantastic potential.“

The small Cornish village of Par now has better connections than Leicester – even though it has only one-200th of the population.

Passengers from Par, a small station inland from Fowey, enjoy hourly fast services to London and direct connections to seven of the 12 biggest cities outside the capital. A sleeper train runs six nights a week to Paddington.

Cardiff is the second-worst connected big city in Britain. It scores overall as badly as Leicester, but has more regular fast trains and direct links to a wider range of cities outside London: Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham.

In addition, a new train operator, Grand Union, plans an extra hourly service to London that would improve the showing for the Welsh capital.

Birmingham has by far the best links by rail of any city outside London, with direct connections from New Street station to all 11 of the other big cities (as well as Par in Cornwall).

It also has three Virgin Trains departures each hour to London Euston, in addition to half-hourly departures from Snow Hill to Marylebone station in the capital.

There are frequent trains to Birmingham International for the city’s airport, and the West Midlands Metro now stops outside New Street.

Manchester was some distance behind in second place. It also has three Virgin Trains each hour to London, though no connection with Leicester. But it earnt points for an airport link and access to the tram network.

Newcastle and Edinburgh share third place. The Scottish capital fared much better than Glasgow, in joint ninth place with Liverpool, because Edinburgh has more frequent trains to London, and immediate access at Haymarket station to the tram line – including a direct link to the airport.

Sheffield is fifth, with Bristol and Leeds sharing sixth position. Nottingham takes eighth place.

Liverpool and Glasgow can both claim that they should have scored more highly: a direct link between the two cities was due to start in 2018 but has yet to begin.

The best connected station in London is St Pancras, which in the 1960s was a candidate for demolition.

Besides its original purpose as the terminus for the East Midlands main line, St Pancras also offers high-speed Southeastern services to Kent, Eurostar links to Paris, Brussels and the south of France, and Thameslink trains to Cambridge, Brighton and the airport stations for Gatwick and Luton.

When combined with King’s Cross, to which St Pancras is adjacent, the pair comprise by far the best rail hub in Britain.

The 12 cities and their scores

1. Birmingham (18)

2. Manchester (15)

3. = Edinburgh (12)

3. = Newcastle (12)

5. Sheffield (11)

6. = Bristol (10.5)

6. = Leeds (10.5)

8. Nottingham (9.5)

9. = Liverpool (8.5)

9. = Glasgow (8.5)

11. Cardiff (6.5)

12. Leicester (6.5)