Capital gain for rail passengers
Passengers are set to benefit from hourly train services between Lincoln and London, the new timetable shows.
As reported in the Echo, the Government-owned train operator East Coast is to run direct services every two hours between Lincoln and Kings Cross from May next year – seven services each way throughout the day.
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Karen Boswell, managing director of East Coast, at Lincoln train station with a copy of the new timetable.
And East Coast's timetable, showcased yesterday at Lincoln Central station, includes additional services between Lincoln and Newark for connections to London.
This means trains will link London and Lincoln every hour for most of the day.
The direct Lincoln to Kings Cross service takes one hour 50 minutes on the outward journey compared to two hours and five minutes with a change at Newark.
On the reverse journey the direct service takes one hour 47 minutes and one hour 50 minutes indirectly via Newark.
The King's Cross service will be a quicker alternative to the direct train link provided by East Midlands Trains, which goes to St Pancras via Nottingham and takes two hours and 50 minutes, introduced in December 2008.
East Coast is set to begin running the new direct services on May 22 next year, with a new franchisee taking over in November 2011.
Services were due to begin running from December this year but the delay is said to be due to complex timetable negotiations.
Eureka! is the culmination of more than 10 years' work and represents the biggest change to the timetable in 20 years.
5 Comments
by John, Lincoln
Wednesday, February 10 2010, 2:55PM
“Open more of our local former Lincolnshire stations and lines. More people need to get into Lincoln to work from around the county than Lincoln people who want to commute daily to London daily. Once every two hours is more than enough Lincoln to London trains. The line from Lincoln is not electrified so how will we get a fast service to London anyway?”
by Stan Butler, On The Busses
Wednesday, February 10 2010, 2:51PM
“An hourly train service to London is all well and good but we need to first face the fact that there is no direct rail link without changing trains at least once to Doncaster, Skegness, Boston, Cleethorpes, Kirton in Lindsey, Brigg and Scunthorpe. There are no trains to Butlins and the Ingoldmels area which attracts tens of thousands of people each year and no trains to Louth with an area population of 18,000 people. The former rail track between Boston, through Louth and upto Grimsby, a mere 35 miles of track needs to be re-openned and bring sustainable green rail transport back in to East Lindsey!”
by Heather, Lincoln
Tuesday, February 09 2010, 6:29PM
“When we moved to Lincoln 30 years ago, it was possible to pop up to London for a day trip after breakfast and return in the evening in time for dinner. It was convenient and affordable so we were still able to do the things we did before the move and visit friends and relatives without any hassle. We miss this and shall welcome the return of this service.”
by rick, lincoln
Tuesday, February 09 2010, 10:04AM
“lets jsut hope they dont overprice it. as it stands the rpice for direct route now is £139, but if you go to newark then london is less than £95”
by jimbo on the costa, spain
Tuesday, February 09 2010, 9:24AM
“Great, but how long will it last b4 being cut to 2 or 3 trains a day fro economic reasons?”