Metronet Rail is planning to spend £7m to take control of the 21km length of track, which runs from Asfordby towards Nottingham, to test a new generation of air-conditioned London Underground trains.

Metronet - the consortium charged with renewing two-thirds of the underground – has leased the track to test trains entering service on the Metropolitan line from 2009.

Documents submitted to Melton Council outline the firm's plans to upgrade and electrify the track and related works. It has also applied for an increased frequency of the number of passes permitted from 4.5 per hour to 12 passes per hour.

Testing is not expected to start until about this time next year at the earliest. The application is expected to be considered by Melton Council on April 1.