Gainsborough to Grimsby - a sad case with a possible light ahead?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

As from the May timetable, the three Saturday only round trips are replaced by a single Monday to Friday only round trip in the middle of the day - arriving Cleethorpes at 11:44 and returning at 13:20.  A 66% service increase - I wonder what the change will do to journey numbers, and whether summer Saturday traveller (I have been on full and standing) from Retford to the seaside will be disappointed.

Northern, in their press release, have announced this train along with other changes. They do not describe the market.

In the North West, to provide additional capacity through the Calder Valley during the on-going TransPennine Route Upgrade engineering work, Northern will introduce a new hourly service between Leeds and Chester via Manchester Victoria on Sundays.

The ‘Dales Rail’ service from Blackpool North to Carlisle will not operate this summer, but Northern is already working with stakeholders on proposals to reintroduce the service in 2024.

In the North East, upon completion of new platform infrastructure at Hartlepool station, Northern will introduce an additional service between Middlesbrough and Newcastle.

Meanwhile, the early morning service between Middlesbrough and Whitby has been removed from the timetable to enable Northern to add capacity on the busier 10.19 service between the two towns.

In Yorkshire, Northern will operate a new weekday return service between Sheffield and Cleethorpes.

Their services from Ilkley and Skipton to Bradford Forster Square will continue to run twice an hour during the peak, but will reduce to one train per hour during the off-peak to reflect lower customer demand.

And while Northern’s Sheffield to Gainsborough Lea Road service remains unchanged, there will no longer be mid-week services from Sheffield to Gainsborough Central during peak times.

[grahame]

Earlier in the year, we wondered what increasing the train service from Sheffield to Cleethorpes from 3 each way to 5 each way per week would do, and I expressed misgivings.   It appears operationally convenient - splitting a 4 car Leeds - Sheffield local train into 2 x 2 car in the middle of the day but I didn't see the benefit for passengers - a removal of the opportunities on Saturdays that I had seen used in the past (and, I agree, an absurd expense in terms of the cost of keeping the line up to passengers standards for that use) with a customer / market potential I could not see.

From Railway World, a journey made on the new service by someone who had used the old one too.

Five years after my previous visit (blog January 2018) it is time to take a day return trip to North Lincolnshire and spend a couple of hours in a town which for 29½ years only enjoyed a rail service on Saturdays, but since May 2023 has instead had a single train on weekdays only.

While the three trains each day on Saturdays between Sheffield and Cleethorpes did at least allow Brigg residents a day in the Steel City, the current one-train service on Mondays to Fridays is pretty useless to the folk in Brigg, unless they happen to want to make a quick shopping trip to Grimsby or Cleethorpes.

I will admit to having a watchful eye on this line over the years.  Brigg and Kirton Lindsey shared with Melksham the "honour" of having an open train station, but with a service so thin that it was of little or no use to the majority of people living in the catchment area of the station.  At Melksham, I thank my lucky stars that the service level has been increased in a tuned way bringing it up from useless to poor (but pretty good for what a single train can do) - and it's proven that "provide a service and people will use it".   I was on the 19:44 from Swindon yesterday, 65 people on the train into Melksham.   I counted six more on the platform waiting to join, and the flow leaving was too great for me to be able to count accurately.  Lots of people being picked up, a couple of taxis, many walking, and the odd cyclist.    The combined population of Brigg and Kirton in Lindsey is only about a half of that of Melksham Town alone, but one has to wonder what the effect would be of a service increased in line with potential passenger flows - and I know that the rail-savvy community of the region has done a lot of work on this.

[froome]

As it happens, earlier this year I was up in Lincolnshire and intending to use this service. I hadn't seen this thread then, so knew nothing about the history of the service, but was shocked at the paucity of service, considering it is linking two of the county's larger towns. In fact I didn't ever manage to use the service, as it never worked out conveniently for me, despite passing through Gainsborough Lea Road on three occasions travelling between Lincoln and places further north. In fact, I've still not managed to visit Gainsborough itself, which is a shame as I had hoped to do so.

At one point I did end up in Scunthorpe, assuming (naively, having not checked the railway map) that there would be a direct service from there to Gainsborough and Lincoln, but finding there isn't, and I had to travel back to Retford to get to Lincoln.

Incidentally, on one of the journeys that stopped at Lea Road, I saw one passenger get out with their very large and heavy suitcase, and then look around, assuming they were in the centre of Gainsborough. The train manager actually went to explain to them that it was rather a long walk away. I don't know if there were any taxis around, but it didn't look like it from where I was sat (I don't think there was even a lift down to ground level, or if there was I didn't see it - we were stopped at the station for a few minutes so I did try to look up the platform).

[grahame]

From the Grimsby Telegraph

The ghost railway stations of northern Lincolnshire

One train station in North Lincolnshire saw fewer than two passengers a week, on average


[snip]

But in northern Lincolnshire, only one station features in the top 1,000 most used and one, Kirton Lindsey, is in the five least-used UK^▸ (United Kingdom) railway stations. Just 94 people used Kirton Lindsey railway station the entire year. In October, Network Rail received planning permission to install tactile paving at the station to help those with impaired vision, a relatively new national requirement.

Brigg was not much better, with 288 passengers. It fell 50 places in the most used rankings to 2,557th. Both stations, however, have extremely limited services. Kirton only has trains on a Saturday.

Brigg was the same for three decades, but switched in June to a Monday to Friday service. However, rail users and residents were heavily critical of the change, as passengers face only a little over two hour same day turnaround to leave Brigg, or have to seek alternative transport arrangements.

[snip]

New Clee 1,596 (200), Rank: 2,478.
Althorpe 1,408 (-3,080), Rank: 2,488.
Thornton Abbey 1,134 (380), Rank: 2,503.
Barrow Haven 478 (-312), Rank: 2,541.
Brigg 288 (-344), Rank: 2,557.
Kirton Lindsey 94 (26), Rank: 2,572.

Huh?  I thought Kirton Lindsey has also changed to  train each way, Monday to Friday

[infoman]

just re-posting my similar trip

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=28011.msg339459#msg339459

[grahame]

From Grimsby Live

Controversial Brigg rail timetable under review

A government minister has said it is looking at a timetable alteration in the future

Brigg's controversial rail timetable is under review by the government.

Brigg Train Station had a Saturday-only service since 1993. It was changed last summer to a Monday to Friday service.

But rail users and residents called the change "absolutely dreadful", because the new timetable leaves barely three hours to spend in the town before having to leave. A government minister confirmed before Christmas the review of the new timetable.