Neglected stations beyond the fringe…

Gainsborough Central’s lattice steel footbridge dates from the last quarter of the 19th century. It is in need of restoration, but is due to be replaced soon. 

The plans currently proposed are for a like-for-like bridge replacement with no wheeled access ramps. The barrow crossing is to be closed, meaning that there will be no wheel-accessible route between platforms. But as the station is used (on Saturdays only) by many young families and elderly people for a seaside trip, FoBLL is currently opposing the plans. It reasonably believes that no wheeled access will choke off the 40% improvement in use that its hand-written signs and homespun activism has prompted over the past 18 months.

Operator Northern claims that Network Rail is in the process of improving the route: “Network Rail is undertaking a multi million-pound investment in the route at present. We have seen customer improvements at stations on this route as part of this investment, particularly in access changes at Metheringham, Ruskington and Saxilby.”

Nearby Saxilby (between Gainsborough Lea Road and Lincoln and managed by East Midlands Trains) has a new footbridge with ramps. A nearby barrow crossing was also replaced - essentially removing a facility such as that at Gainsborough Central, but still ensuring step-free access. The provision of uniform footbridges at Brigg and Gainsborough Central, or even the retention of the current footbridge and barrow crossing combinations, would greatly improve the situation at these stations. The railway needs to listen to FoBLL - it cares and talks a lot of sense. 

The rest of the route has had improvements - the trouble is that these improvements are still unjustifiably below standard.

Compare Gainsborough Central station with the facilities at even the smallest station on London Underground (Roding Valley, which has indoor waiting facilities, a covered iron lattice footbridge, platform shelters and a ticket machine). 

There is no step-free platform interchange at Roding, but there is access 520 metres away. At Gainsborough Central, the shortest route after the bridge replacement will be almost three quarters of a mile in length. Perhaps the restoration of a rare heritage asset (the existing bridge) and the retention of a crossing would be preferable to a damaging step backwards in accessibility and equality?

In 2008, the Brigg line was upgraded to enable an increase in freight traffic. This is mostly empties and coal traffic to and from Immingham Docks, essentially using the route as an avoiding line to bypass Scunthorpe. 

Therein lies the rub. Because passenger trains only run along the entire length of the line on Saturdays, the signal boxes on the line are only staffed at weekends, making weekday working of the freight service between Immingham and West Burton power station impossible. 

As a result, the trains are forced to divert south at Barnetby. In a mind-bogglingly daft piece of train planning, they then go through Lincoln, across the two notorious level crossings that divide the city, causing chaos. (On one of those crossings, there were two fatalities last year). This beggars belief, when they could so easily go via Brigg and ease the congestion at Lincoln.

Gainsborough Central station itself has very low passenger numbers - just 1,220 people in 2013-14, according to the Office of Rail and Road’s station usage estimates. It has three trains every Saturday to both Cleethorpes and Sheffield, but no weekday services. The campaign by FoBLL for increased services is ongoing, and is finally being boosted by local politicians.

The issue of a lack of services was even raised in Parliament, but Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin chose instead to reiterate his determination to get rid of Pacers across the north of England, rather than make any assurances regarding service improvement. As the improvements sought by the FoBLL are not part of the next ITT on the route, it seems once again to be down to a local friends group to drive for any real improvements delivered. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the privatised railway has abandoned Gainsborough and remains indifferent to its shabby facilities and poor services.

A few miles to the north east, Brigg once enjoyed a similarly grand railway station to Gainsborough Central. However, it is now so little used (fewer than a thousand passengers in 2013-14) that it is unlikely to ever be staffed again. Incidentally, there are no ticket purchasing information or any other manned facilities at either Gainsborough Central or Brigg.

The station has undergone some minor improvements, with timetable boards and new signage installed by Northern over the past year. MD Alex Hynes even visited the station in March, after the FoBLL’s campaigns began to gain more publicity and momentum. 

But in January, he had told BBC Radio Lincolnshire that there were no plans to improve the service on the line to Cleethorpes, because Northern’s focus is on busier peak commuter services. 

There are plans lodged with North Lincolnshire Council for a footbridge at Brigg to replace the current one. The replacement has no ramps, and currently the barrow crossing is (like that at Gainsborough Central) the only disabled access to each platform.

Between Brigg and Gainsborough, the station at Kirton Lindsey is a rare survivor. The 1849 station building survives, but the track is singled. 

There is no immediate plan for serious investment in the line’s stations, according to Hynes. He claims that such investment is “a bit chicken and egg”, and that the stations do not merit the sort of investment that Northern would earmark for larger stations such as those in Grimsby or Manchester. 

His claim is reasonable from one point of view. Gainsborough Central, Brigg and Kirton Lindsey are not busy stations, nor are they likely to approach the passenger numbers of even the Conwy Valley or the Peterborough to Birmingham lines. 

Nevertheless the stations are poorly maintained, particularly those at Gainsborough, which is jarring when neighbouring East Midlands Trains has acknowledged that its stations here are below standard and in need of improvement. (The pictures tell the story in embarrassing clarity.)