Nottingham to Lincoln Line

Nottingham-Lincoln Line
A East Midlands Trains class 153 at Lincoln
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire Leicestershire East Midlands
Termini	Nottingham Lincoln Central
Stations	13
Operation
Opened	1846
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	East Midlands Trains East Coast
Rolling stock	Class 43 "HST" Class 153 "Super Sprinter" Class 156 "Super Sprinter" Class 158 "Express Sprinter" Class 222 "Meridian"
Technical
No. of tracks	Two
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	maximum

Nottingham to Lincoln Line
Legend
Lincoln Central Hykeham Thorpe-on-the-Hill Swinderby Collingham East Coast Main Line Newark flat crossing Newark North Gate East Coast Main Line Newark Castle Rolleston Fiskerton Bleasby Thurgarton Lowdham Burton Joyce Carlton Nottingham to Grantham Line Nottingham

The Nottingham to Lincoln Line is a railway line in central England, running north-east from Nottingham to Lincoln.

The line between Newark and Lincoln is currently only cleared for speeds. Nottinghamshire County Council has paid for a study into 90-mile-per-hour (140 km/h) running.

History

The Nottingham to Lincoln line was opened by the Midland Railway on 3 August 1846. It was engineered by George Stephenson. Originally the line ended at Lincoln Midland station (later renamed St. Marks) which was built as a terminus. The line was later extended to a junction just east of Lincoln Central railway station (the former Great Northern station), enabling through running from Nottingham to the South Humber ports and Cleethorpes. This extension led to over a hundred years of pedestrian and driver frustration in central Lincoln because there were two mainline level crossings on the High Street within 350 metres, resulting in congestion and traffic chaos. Lincoln St. Marks station was closed (along with its High Street crossing) in the mid-1980s when a diversionary curve was laid to allow services from Nottingham to enter Lincoln Central. The old station building is now part of a shopping centre and houses Lakeland.

Most passenger trains were taken over by diesel units from 14 April 1958, taking about an hour between the two cities.

Current operations

Passenger services on the line are provided by East Midlands Trains, using a mix of mainly Class 156 diesel multiple units, Class 158 diesel multiple units, and pairs of Class 153 diesel multiple units. At certain times Class 156 and Class 153 trains run coupled together. Many trains on this route continue southward from Nottingham to Leicester via the Midland Main Line. Some trains call at Newark North Gate (this is generally the first two and last two trains of the day) by running down the spur at the side of the East Coast Main Line and then reversing back again. Many trains also run between Newark North Gate and Lincoln Central throughout the day, usually timed to provide connections to London Kings Cross and other stations on the East Coast Main Line. Every other hour this service continues to Grimsby from Lincoln Central, with the first and last trains of the day continuing to Cleethorpes. Summer Sundays see a scheduled Newark NG - Lincoln Central - Cleethorpes service. As of 22 May 2011 East Coast now runs one train a day from London to Lincoln.

The line serves the following places.

• Nottingham
• Carlton
• Burton Joyce
• Lowdham
• Thurgarton
• Bleasby
• Fiskerton
• Rolleston
• Newark-on-Trent
• Collingham
• Swinderby
• North Hykeham
• Lincoln

Service

The service is generally hourly Monday-Saturday with a less frequent service on Sunday. The first trains usually depart on Sundays in either direction during mid-afternoon, giving no morning Sunday service. One train daily on a Monday to Saturday runs along the line from Lincoln Central to London St. Pancras in the morning, and from London St. Pancras back to Lincoln Central in the evening. It only calls at the busier stations along the line, namely Collingham, Newark Castle, Lowdham (evening journey only) and Nottingham. The train travels along the Midland Main Line for the Nottingham - London portion of the journey. There is also one return train a day run by East Coast from Lincoln to London King's Cross which leaves/joins the Nottingham to Lincoln line at the flat crossing with the ECML just north of Newark NorthGate station.