July 29, 2014 4.59 pm
This story is over 95 months old
Councils band together to pay for better Lincoln to Nottingham trains
CastleLine: County and district councils are pledging money for the £700k cost to improve the frequency and speed of trains between Lincoln and Newark.
County and district councils are pledging money towards the £700,000 yearly cost to improve the frequency and speed of trains between Lincoln and Newark.
The CastleLine initiative will see Lincolnshire County Council, the City of Lincoln Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and other authorities raise money to put towards better train connections.
The councils and Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) have committed a combined £205,000 per year for three years to trial the scheme, which would require more than £2.1m in total.
If successful, the partnership will lobby for the improved service to be funded by the Department of Transport (DfT) and franchise post 2018.
The City of Lincoln Council was first to approve £10,000 per year for the next three years to go towards the scheme.
Lincolnshire County Council is expected to contribute £60,000 yearly towards the scheme, and so is Nottinghamshire County Council.
The proposed service would deliver an average reduction in journey times of around 7 minutes eastbound and 3 minutes westbound for Lincoln.
It would also double the frequency for Hykeham, as well reduce journey times.
Newark, Carlton, Burton Joyce and Fiskerton, Bleasby, Thurgarton and Rolleston would also benefit from increases in the number of trains running under the project proposals.
East Midlands Trains would use its only spare train and carriages for the extra services.
Ian Kitchen, Transport Policy Manager at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “This investment enables us to get more services into Hykeham Station, as well as reducing the journey time between Lincoln and Nottingham on some services.
“A number of organisations have already declared their willingness to contribute money towards this, and we just need to secure the support of the Department for Transport for the scheme to go ahead.
“It’s difficult to give a timescale at this stage but if everything goes well improvements could be in place sometime in 2015,” he said.
Neil Cuttell, Regeneration Manager for the City of Lincoln Council, added: “The rail project proposes to not only improve rail speed times but also make appropriate improvements to infrastructure and services.”
An East Midlands Trains spokesperson said: “Since East Midlands Trains took over the franchise in 2007, we have invested over £30m in train refurbishments and £40m in station improvements and we continue to do more.
“However, a long standing aspiration we have always had for Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire has been to improve the train service and the timetable east from Nottingham.
“In partnership with a number of local authorities, we have been developing proposals to provide an improved train service for passengers travelling between Nottingham and Lincoln.
“We welcome the funding from the City of Lincoln Council and Lincolnshire County Council, however the additional services do depend on a wider package of funding that is still to be finalised. East Midlands Trains, along with many local authorities, are continuing to work on this.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The importance the railways have for Lincoln and its local economy is well recognised.
“This is an interesting offer and detailed work is now being undertaken by the DfT to examine these proposals,” he added.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
Works to replace worn out carriageway on the A151 Dozens Bank in West Pinchbeck will start in late July.
The start date for the project is Monday 25 July, with the scheme expected to last for up to three weeks (subject to weather).
As part of the project, a full 24/7 closure of Dozens Bank will be in place from Crown Hall Farm to Lake Ross Caravan Park.
The diversion route for the closure will be via A151 to Bourne / A15 to Market Deeping roundabout / A1175 to A1175-A16 Applegreen roundabout / A16 to A16-A151 roundabout / A151 to West Pinchbeck, and vice versa. A local diversion will also be in place for Clay Drove.
Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for highways, said: “Although we had to postpone this important project last year, I’m really glad to say works to improve Dozens Bank are now planned to start next month.
“This will involve removing the current carriageway and replacing it with 1,600 tonnes of tarmac and stone.
“When finished, these improvements will make travelling the A151 much safer and more comfortable for all road users.”
The county council carried out temporary repairs to Dozens Bank in October 2022 to resume two-way movement and it easier for people to get around.
Can you help us to identify the man in these images?
We would like to speak to him in relation to an armed incident at 12:40pm on Friday 17 June on Farebrother Street, Grimsby, close to the junction of Garner Street. No one is believed to have been harmed during the incident.
It is believed the man was wearing a green North Face jacket, dark trousers and grey/green Nike trainers with thick white soles.
If you see this man, do not approach him, but contact us immediately.
We appreciate the images are not clear, but if you are able to identify the man, you can contact us on our non-emergency number 101, quoting log 213 of 17 June.
Whatsapp
