Construction work has finally started on a new railway station near East Midlands Airport (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/7151014.stm

Quotes from the East Midlands Franchise Consultation Document :

"This will give the new East Midlands Parkway station at least two services an hour to London, two services an hour to Nottingham, at least one to Derby and at least three to Leicester."

"The new station will abstract much of its demand from Loughborough, Long Eaton and Beeston. To take account of this the number of calls off-peak at Loughborough will be reduced from five every two hours to two every hour. In the peak some additional calls at Loughborough will be added into the Sheffield to London service and/or the Nottingham to London service. The hourly London service at Beeston and Long Eaton will be retained in December 2008. Following the opening of East Midlands Parkway should demand fall significantly at either Beeston or Long Eaton station the level of service will be reviewed."

"Bidders will be expected to work with Network Rail to ensure the commissioning of this new station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar, near junction 24 of the M1. The station will be mainly a rail-head for journeys from the East Midlands to London, but will also serve East Midlands Airport and some local flows within the East Midlands. The station is planned to be in service in time for the December 2008 timetable change although the franchise agreement will allow sufficient flexibility should this date change. The proposed service for the new station is covered in the Service Pattern section of this document."