December 6, 2011 11.22 am This story is over 146 months old

Direct Lincoln-London trains to depart earlier

New timetable: East Midlands Trains’ new timetable moves morning direct trains to London earlier and extends services.

The morning direct rail service between Lincoln and London will now depart earlier as part of East Midlands Trains’ new timetable.

From December 11, direct Lincoln to London trains will depart at 07.04am, calling additionally at Lowdham, and arriving at St Pancras station at 10am.

There will also be an additional weekday afternoon service between Lincoln and Newark North Gate, departing at 15.44.

In addition, the 18.25 Leicester to Nottingham service will be extended to run to Lincoln, with an arrival time of 20.17.

On Sundays, the 17.25 Lincoln to Newark North Gate and the 17.56 Newark to Lincoln services will additionally run throughout the year.

Winter contingency plans

East Midlands Trains and Network Rail say they are better prepared than ever before to deal with severe weather following last year’s harsh winter.

A special anti-freeze that can withstand temperatures as low as minus 28 degrees Celsius will be used in on-train coolant systems.

Other winter contingency measures include special timetables agreed in advance with Network Rail to help keep main routes open and plans to help with removing snow from stations and maintenance depots.

The East Midlands Trains Twitter account (@EMTrains) will now also alert passengers to how services are running.

David Horne, Managing Director for East Midlands Trains, said: “We will always face challenges in times of severe weather disruption, but the plans we have in place for this year will help us to make sure that we can offer our passengers the best possible service and the most useful information in these difficult circumstances.”

Martin Frobisher, Route Managing Director for Network Rail, added: “We have learned some useful lessons following the extreme weather last year. Our teams are well prepared and, working with East Midlands Trains, we are confident we can deliver the best possible service this winter.”