Improve the railway first, then better links to London will come
Transport Secretary in Lincoln visit: The overall capacity of the railway line has to be improved before Lincoln can have better train links to London, said Patrick McLoughlin when he visited the city.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin at Lincoln Central station on June 26, 2014. Photo: Steve Smailes/The Lincolnite
The overall capacity of the railway line has to be improved before Lincoln can have better train links to London, said Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin when he visited the city on June 26.
He was on a tour of the East Coast Main Line on Thursday. During stops at Doncaster, Peterborough and Hitchin, the Transport Secretary viewed recent Network Rail improvements along the route, part of a £130 million programme.
Patrick McLoughlin said: “What we’re seeing with our railways is a massive growth in usage across the country. Therefore we have to deal not only with passenger growth, but also with freight — there’s 60% more freight travelling on our railways than 10 years ago.
“We’re putting the franchise out to tender and I hope the bidding companies come back with some realistic ideas to serve Lincoln better than it is currently served.
“That’s part of the reason to going out to the market to see what those companies come forward with.
“One thing that I’m doing as Secretary of State for Transport to get more services here is to make sure that we’ve got the rail lines. That’s the investment that I talked about today.
“You can’t actually look at getting more services to a place like Lincoln unless you can improve the overall capacity of the railway line.
“There’s £100 million invested in schemes such as the Hitchin flyover and the Doncaster flyover — they all mean that you can get more services on the railway line.”
As part of the tour, Patrick McLoughlin officially opened the North Doncaster Chord, a £45 million railway flyover at Shaftholme that will help remove slow-moving freight services from the East Coast Main Line.
“I have not seen the details for the three [East Coast Main Line] bids,” he said. “They have just come into the department and they are being looked at by the officials in the department, and I won’t get to know the details of those bids for a few months yet.”
The Department of Transport is expected to reveal the preferred bidder in November.
“I’ve come out with Karl [McCartney] today because I know how important he regards train services to Lincoln, particularly ahead of next year’s Magna Carta commemorations.
“It is for the companies to come forward and say how they would best serve the areas, and that’s what it’s being looked at, and studied at the moment in the Department for Transport.
“Karl had a very positive meeting where he had the three companies putting the franchise bids here in Lincoln, and making the case for Lincoln directly to them.”
Improvement plans in Lincoln
Lincoln MP Karl McCartney at Lincoln Central station after the Transport Secretary visit on june 26, 2014. Photo: Steve Smailes/The Lincolnite
Lincoln MP Karl McCartney said: “Today we had a meeting with business leaders at the Lincoln Hotel, with representatives from Stagecoach, PC Coaches, and some of the other businesses from around the city, the University of Lincoln, the FSB, LEP and Chamber of Commerce.
“We had a good and in-depth conversation with the Secretary of State for Transport over a number of rail and road issues that impact on my constituency.
“We’ve even talked about lengthening platform one here in Lincoln Central station. That’s because we know the current East Coast stock are going to be around for a while, and we currently have selective door opening — there are three extra coaches which don’t get to sit on the platform.
“It would be quite a small engineering job in a way to make the platform longer here, in which case it would be much more conducive to travel to and from London from Lincoln Central station.
“That’s a very small point though. We’ve obviously talked about the level crossings, the footbridges, which I am proud to have got sorted after 30 years.
“I’ve also mentioned the brown signs, which I’m also happy to have on the A1, again, something that we’ve been talking about for 25 years.
“The Eastern Bypass has been talked about too, which is now happening — and we have the last few hurdles to go through.”
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Grantham singer Holly Humberstone went stateside for a performance and interview on The Late Late Show with James Corden on Thursday.
Holly, 21, performed her hit single Falling Asleep At The Wheel remotely from a dimly lit road in an unknown location.
The special performance piece was broadcast on the American talk show on Thursday night, and depicted Holly sat in the middle of a dimly lit road with her keyboard.
Before the performance, she was interviewed by the show’s host James Corden and said she has big plans for 2021, including releasing a song she has written with Matty Healy, the frontman of The 1975.
Holly sat down for an interview with James Corden on The Late Late Show. | Photo: The Late Late Show with James Corden on YouTube
Holly told The Late Late Show: “It’s been a really surreal year, I feel like all my interactions have been over social media, which is really weird and really cool because people from Brazil are messaging me saying ‘I love your music’.
“I think it will be even weirder when I get out and play live shows.
“The song with Matty (Healy, from The 1975) will be part of my next EP, which will come out in the next few months.”
It is just the next step in Holly’s meteoric rise through the music industry, after she came 2nd in the BBC’s Sound of 2021 list.
A Lincoln chef and distillery entrepreneur now also makes and sells a range of sauces based on the periodic table of elements, with some of them too hot to handle for many.
Nerd Sauce is the latest creation by Sam Owen, owner of the Salted Orange Food Company, and the idea came in the spring of 2020 when weddings and events were cancelled by coronavirus lockdown.
The sauces are inspired by the periodic table, with each sauce having its own elements of local ingredients and hot chillies.
The daunting Naga Death Sauce, containing one of the hottest chillies in the world. | Photo: Steve Smailes
The hottest sauce on offer is the Naga Death Sauce, at a mind-blowing 1.3 million Scoville units, and has a pretty intense slogan of “quite simply, this is how death feels”.
In stark contrast to that, the Sriracha inspired Kashmiri sauce has just 2,000 Scoville, the opposite end of the spectrum to the Naga Death Sauce.
There are a total of 12 sauces on offer at the moment. | Photo: Steve Smailes
Other sauces include a ketchup mixed with balsamic vinegar and paprika, and an American BBQ sauce with molasses, Worcester sauce and cider vinegar.
The first 12 flavours have now been launched by Nerd Sauce, and more creations are expected to come in the near future.
Beetroot ketchup puts a Lincolnshire produce twist on the classic. | Photo: Steve Smailes
Owner of Nerd Sauce Sam Owen said: “As a chef, I believe that flavour and quality is everything, and through Nerd Sauce I wanted to bring something new to the table (pun intended), something with locally sourced, naturally good quality ingredients, and that isn’t filled to the brim with water or thickener.
“I believe that sauces are much more than their ingredients, and the range we have launched today, has something for every taste from the Sunday roast right through to the Friday night takeaway, some have been inspired by the classics, whilst others are like nothing you have tasted before.”
You can browse the selection online on the Nerd Sauce website, with prices varying from £2.85 to £5 a bottle.
The Royal Air Force Sentinel R1 aircraft has completed its last operational flight from RAF Waddington after 14 years of service.
The aircraft was commissioned through engineering firm Raytheon UK in response to an Urgent Operational Requirement during Operation Herrick in 2008, for an Airborne Stand-off Radar.
Five aircraft were acquired and V (Army Corporation) Squadron, which is based at RAF Waddington, was reformed to operate the aircraft. It has flown around 32,300 hours and conducted approximately 4,870 sorties during its service life.
Sentinel’s longest flight of 12 hours and 30 minutes was achieved on March 30, 2011 during Operation Ellamy in Libya. Its final flight was carried out on Thursday, February 25 this year.
The withdrawal from service was first announced as part of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review
The surveillance role of the Sentinel will now be carried out by other aircraft in RAF service, including the newly introduced Poseidon and forthcoming Protector amongst others.
The Sentinel has been involved in multiple operations including Op Herrick (Afghanistan), Op Telic (Iraq), Op Shader (Iraq/Syria), Op Turus (West Africa), Op Ellamy (Libya), Op Newcombe (North Africa), Op Pitchpole (UK Floods), and Op Kipion (Middle East).
On the squadrons recent return from Op Shader, Vice Admiral Sir Ben Kay, the UK Commander of Joint Operations, said: “Right to the end of its commission, V(AC) Squadron has been a constant among my deployed Force Elements. It is a record to be proud of.”
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