Lincoln Central railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Lincoln
code = LCN


manager = East Midlands Trains
locale = Lincoln
borough = Lincoln
usage0203 = 1.215
usage0405 = 1.278
usage0506 = 1.340
usage0607 = 1.418
platforms = 5
start = August 4, 1846
latitude = 53.226
longitude = -0.539

Lincoln railway station serves the city of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England. The station is operated by East Midlands Trains, who provide services along with Northern Rail.

Lincoln Central is now the only station in Lincoln, after the closure of Lincoln St. Marks in 1985. The station building was designed in 1848 for the Great Northern Railway by J H Taylor.

The station has the PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together.

Platform layout

There are five platforms at the station, numbered 1 to 5:

* Platforms 1 and 2 are bay platforms used for stabling units and for services to the east, usually to Peterborough, and occasionally to Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
* Platform 3, nearest the station entrance, serves all terminating arrivals and through services from the west and is also occasionally used for eastbound services originating from Lincoln.
* Platforms 4 and 5 serve terminating arrivals from the east and all westbound departures (to Leicester via Newark North Gate and Nottingham via the "Midland" line, and to Sheffield and Doncaster leaving via the "Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Line").
* Although many passengers believe that platform 4 is always used by trains towards Newark and Nottingham, and platform 5 is always used by trains towards Gainsborough, Sheffield and Doncaster, this is not actually true. Under normal circumstances the practice is to use platform 4 for all westbound departures with platform 5 only being used as necessary.
* Platform 4 is also used when carriages need to be attached to or detached from westbound trains as it is straight; the curvature of platform 5 can cause problems with modern autocouplers.
* Platform 5 is mostly used for westbound trains which wait at Lincoln for some time, hence its regular use by many Northern Rail services but also sees use for through trains when platform 4 is being used for attaching or detaching carriages.

Resignalling

Network Rail plan a major resignalling scheme for Lincoln Central during the years 2007-2009 which will see:
* the replacement of the semaphore signals with colour light signals,
* the concentration of all signalling control into one signal box rather than the current four,
* track relaying, and
* new points and crossovers which will allow all three through platforms at Lincoln to be used in both directions and will allow trains from the east to enter the two bay platforms (3 and 4) directly [cite web|url=http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=3089&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=6/|title=Massive investment for Lincoln's railway this summer|date=13 June 2007|publisher=Network Rail] .

As a direct result, terminating trains will no longer need to shunt from one side of the station to the other to take up their return workings, which will reduce turnaround times for terminating trains and improve train service punctuality and reliability.

As part of the overall scheme, Lincoln Central's platforms will be renumbered from 3-7 to 1-5: the current platform 3 will be renumbered as platform 1, and similarly across the station until platform 7 is reached, which will be renumbered as platform 5.

All four signal boxes - High Street, East Holmes, West Holmes and Pelham Street Junction - will eventually be closed. It is likely all will eventually be demolished, except High Street and East Holmes which are listed buildings. All four signal boxes will be replaced by a new state of the art signalling centre near the current West Holmes box.

This work was completed as planned and the station reopened on 1 September 2008 [ [http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=3893&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=6 "Lincoln back on the Rails" Network Rail Media Centre, 1 September 2008] . Accessed 2008-09-04] .

Future services

For many years, Lincoln has not been served with a direct rail service to London. However, the awarding of two new rail franchises will see this remedied.

New franchise operator East Midlands Trains has proposed the introduction of a daily service between Lincoln Central and London St Pancras via Nottingham. [cite web|url=http://www.stagecoachgroup.com/scg/media/press/pr2007/2007-06-22/|title=Stagecoach Group welcomes East Midlands rail franchise win|date=22nd June 2007|publisher=Stagecoach Group]

On 14 August 2007, it was announced that National Express East Coast would take over the InterCity East Coast Franchise in December 2007. As part of the commitment, NXEC plan to introduce a two-hourly service between Lincoln Central and London Kings Cross, starting in 2009. This service will alternate with a two-hourly service to York. [cite web|url=http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=156130&command=displayContent&sourceNode=242285&home=yes&more_nodeId1=156139&contentPK=18111762|title=From Lincoln to London in just two hours with new rail link|date=15th August 2007|publisher=Lincolnshire Echo] [cite web|url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/icecf1/nxecawardedcontract|title=National Express awarded contract for growth on InterCity East Coast|date=14 August 2007|publisher=Department for Transport]

In addition, Humber & City, an open-access operator owned by Renaissance Trains, has proposed running services between Cleethorpes and Stratford via Lincoln.

Nottingham County Council, the Department for Transport and Network Rail are in discussion about various improvements to the line towards Nottingham including a doubling of service. [cite web|url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=134487&command=displayContent&sourceNode=134482&contentPK=20380020&folderPk=78489&pNodeId=134461|title=125MPH TRAINS TO CUT JOURNEY TIMES|date=April 12 2008|publisher=Nottingham Evening Post]

References

External links