When the Leicester MAS scheme was being planned the Market Harborough re-alignment was included, but was cut out at a very late stage as part of the de-scoping, money-saving measures. Those original plans proposed the facing and trailing crossovers not on the curve south of the station but on a section of new straight track north of the station. It looks from this presentation as if the plans are to keep the S&C on the curve, which presumably limits the amount of cant that can be applied and so limits the permitted speed. Also, certainly in the early years, this S&C on the curve posed some maintenance and reliability problems. These may well now have been solved, but even so, is it desirable to keep the S&C on what is quite a sharp curve if there is any possibility of moving it to an easier location? Or is it that any change of location would be too difficult if not combined with re-signalling?
According to Modern Railways at that time, the S&C was put on the curve for the very reason that it wouldn't be affected if the remodelling went ahead later, and I think it was also mentioned that it would be useful for single line working during the work. Unless it is now planned to do this in a total blockade the second of those reasons at least is still valid. However the presentation does mention points in the northern part of the work, but there is no mention of loops so perhaps these are more crossovers.
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That's a very detailed report, the current speed restrictions took me by surprise because the curve doesn't appear very tight viewed from above on a map also didn't know the bend north of the station was part of the plans too. So there's a £9.3 million shortfall I'm sure some sort of stealth tax or a small rise in ticket prices can cover that amount. Have similar track realignments for increased line speed been carried out on the other main lines?
The long curve south of the station doesn't change though according to the presentation it gets a higher speed. As you say this curve isn't too tight and as it is surrounded by bits of the town it would be a horrendous job to straighten it out. As pointed out above it appears the crossovers on the curve are staying, although if this is wrong in the presentation and they are being removed then it would explain how they manage to increase the speed there.
The realignments take out the reverse curves through the platforms, which I think are on a tighter radius than the curves further south. Also the platforms probably limit the amount of cant and/or transition lengths too, further restricting the speed. Further north the MML is restored to its original alignment, removing the kink introduced when it was re-routed to pass over the Melton Mowbray line.
Many similar projects have been done elsewhere, particularly on the ECML in BR days where there was an active policy of realigning the worst curves to reduce journey times a few seconds at a time. The largest of those was probably the re-building of Peterborough to get rid of the sharp curve which restricted non-stopping trains, and a smaller station-related one was at Durham. The Rugby re-modelling was a more recent example on the WCML.
