East Midlands Trains Notts to Skegness

[knight2004]

I had the delight (or not so delight) on travelling on the slow and unreliable notts to skegness route this week. It was pretty awful.
1. My friends family set off last saturday- the busiest travel day what did they get? 2 carriages with everyone standing. a third was then added and the rest were shunted onto a bus- a bus? If i pay for rail i expect a train NOT a bus! Great start EMT to your so called extra train carriages policy for ther summer! Surely this is false advertising?They said there would be extra capacity for the summer! Later that day I was on that route from Grantham to Notts coming back from London. What turned up 2 carriages at Grantham, yet again people could not get on.What are they playing at?
I travelled later that week to Skegness. School holidays and what turns up? 2 carriages. Then we were delayed at Boston by 40 minutes due to lightening striking. The line is slow and the trains service well pretty awful IMHO.
What does anyone else think? I'm sympahetic that they have a shortage of carriages during the week but surely they should be doing more to force the government to give you more carriages? Quite frankly i'm not looking forward to travelling to Manchester tomorow on an other 2 carriage banger. Seems to me that EMT needs to start prioritising their local routes to encourage people to use their services. The return journey was ok but we came back at 14 15.The train was still slow due to thr lightening strike.
If ther government put money in this line could make a fortune in the summer stopping at more stations and having more express trains What does everyone else think? Skegness station hmm well not exactly the most welcoming of stations in fact probably the most run down one i've ever seen. Shamer really as its got as great coastline

 

[1D53]

They are doing at least two or three return trips with HST's. Can hardly blame them for the lightning strike and infrastructure issues.

 

[CallySleeperKid]

They are doing at least two or three return trips with HST's. Can hardly blame them for the lightning strike and infrastructure issues.

When are the HSTs running?

On a personal note, Langley Mill is my local station, and EMT deciding to not stop there anymore, excpet early morning and late evening service, has been the best thing to every happen on that route, The Northern service from Nottingham to Leeds is never packed to bursting like the EMT Norwich to Liverpoolk service, the staff seem to be more friendly and the trains cleaner, can't really grumble with their Nottingham to London service, but I do tend to book in advance and in first class when I have to use that route.

I will be making a day trip to Skegness but will be waiting to the end of the holiday season as it sounds like a very unenjoyable run! From what I have seen whilst passing through Nottingham, The Skegness service is almost always a single car 153, at a push a 156 and there are people crawling all over to get on it, its a journey I am dreading!

 

[MCR247]

I had the delight (or not so delight) on travelling on the slow and unreliable notts to skegness route this week. It was pretty awful.
1. My friends family set off last saturday- the busiest travel day what did they get? 2 carriages with everyone standing. a third was then added and the rest were shunted onto a bus- a bus? If i pay for rail i expect a train NOT a bus! Great start EMT to your so called extra train carriages policy for ther summer! Surely this is false advertising?They said there would be extra capacity for the summer! Later that day I was on that route from Grantham to Notts coming back from London. What turned up 2 carriages at Grantham, yet again people could not get on.What are they playing at?
I travelled later that week to Skegness. School holidays and what turns up? 2 carriages. Then we were delayed at Boston by 40 minutes due to lightening striking. The line is slow and the trains service well pretty awful IMHO.
What does anyone else think? I'm sympahetic that they have a shortage of carriages during the week but surely they should be doing more to force the government to give you more carriages? Quite frankly i'm not looking forward to travelling to Manchester tomorow on an other 2 carriage banger. Seems to me that EMT needs to start prioritising their local routes to encourage people to use their services. The return journey was ok but we came back at 14 15.The train was still slow due to thr lightening strike.
If ther government put money in this line could make a fortune in the summer stopping at more stations and having more express trains What does everyone else think? Skegness station hmm well not exactly the most welcoming of stations in fact probably the most run down one i've ever seen. Shamer really as its got as great coastline

So if you were EMT what would you do? Cancel every other train, so that you dont have to stand?

 

[knight2004]

The infrastructure, yeah but surely someone should sort the overcrowding out i mean 2 HSTs is obviously not enough for the summer and im sure they are not all used at weekends the HSTs. Plus thee platform are quite short for many stations. Still poor advertisiing though saying extra carriages when they should state extra carfriages on xx xx service

 

[MCR247]

No, its not poor advertising, as they said 'there will be extra carridges', and there is. It didnt say 'extra carridges on EVERY train' did it?

 

[37401]

should sort the overcrowding out i mean 2 HSTs is obviously not enough

Yeah I agree lets cancel the mainline service and put a HST on for you...not, where do you think they will get these HST`s from, the sky? all there HST`s are in service and they do state when there HST`s are running you just dont read a very typical thing I see in many passengers then they moan and think the TOC is in the wrong.

also they dont really have a shortage of carrages the units are seen as they were ment to be

153= 1 Car
156= 2 Cars
158= 2 Cars

you should be greatfull they doubble them up, try being on a 2 car 170 at a peak time grrr

 

[MCR247]

BTW EMT only have two car 158s now, and there are a few spare HSTs sitting around probably having maintainence at Etches Park. But I still agree with you

 

[37401]

BTW EMT only have two car 158s now, and there are a few spare HSTs sitting around probably having maintainence at Etches Park. But I still agree with you

Ive corrected that now, made me laugh today as 2 "norms" were saying look its 2 carrages, someone cant count 2x 2 car 158`s = 4 cars, and on that note it was one beasty 158 ill get my coat

also Knight2004 you may want to set your browser off EN CHV to EN UK I dont know what you mean by "Banger" you may also find this usefull

 

[Waverley125]

EMT need to get their act together, though TBH i think bringing the local & intercity operations into one was a mistake, and that sticking with Central might have been a decent idea.

For me, there needs to be a half-hourly service on this line, one stopper and one fast. Of course, Skegness being so isolated railway-wise it doesn't exactly help, which is why reopening Skegness-Lincoln, Boston-Lincoln, Skegness-Grimsby & Boston-Spalding would be such good ideas.

 

[MCR247]

For once I do actually agree with you. I think that CTs routes sould have been given to one operater, instead of splitting them up

 

[tbtc]

EMT need to get their act together, though TBH i think bringing the local & intercity operations into one was a mistake, and that sticking with Central might have been a decent idea

At least EMT have "spare" HSTs in the East Midlands at weekends so they can use the aditional capacity on some (not all) Skeg trains. What would Central be able to do?

EMT are at least aware of the problems and trying to do something about them - it's not their fault that London Midland/ Cross Country got all of the modern DMUs (170s) from the splitting up of Central Trains (and that London Midland are getting 172s too, whilst DaFT are only allowing EMT a couple of additional 153s...

 

[Waverley125]

yeah, but EMT now have such a wide variety of routes it's difficult to pin them down. They have intercity on the MML, an XC service in Liverpool-Norwich, and local services in the east midlands. If you'd taken Liverpool-Norwich & Birmingham-Stansted off of Central, it would have been entirely local services in the west & east midlands.

Lincolnshire is the prime example of making cuts to allow further cuts. Most of the county's rail miles have been pulled up, which enforces car culture, which in turn means fewer people use the train on the journeys it does still serve. Lincolnshire has become what's known on the continent as a 'green desert'-a well off area with zero growth, an ageing population & poor infrastructure.

Key links such as

Skegness-Louth-Grimsby
Lincoln-Louth
Lincoln-Skegness
Lincoln-Boston
Boston-Spalding

have been removed, effectivley leaving lincoln (which was ideally positioned as a central hub for the region) cut off on a few insignificant lines. As the rail market into lincoln was low, this has since been used to play down the value of direct services to London.

 

[WillPS]

At least EMT have "spare" HSTs in the East Midlands at weekends so they can use the aditional capacity on some (not all) Skeg trains. What would Central be able to do?

EMT are at least aware of the problems and trying to do something about them - it's not their fault that London Midland/ Cross Country got all of the modern DMUs (170s) from the splitting up of Central Trains (and that London Midland are getting 172s too, whilst DaFT are only allowing EMT a couple of additional 153s...

Hire them off their then sister company Midland Mainline? Didn't happen but I can't see why it couldn't!!

yeah, but EMT now have such a wide variety of routes it's difficult to pin them down. They have intercity on the MML, an XC service in Liverpool-Norwich, and local services in the east midlands. If you'd taken Liverpool-Norwich & Birmingham-Stansted off of Central, it would have been entirely local services in the west & east midlands.

This is the pinnacle of the problem - they have no speciality, thus meaning all their services are nothing better than okay! I think each division of the company has seen a degradation in service, not because East Midlands Trains are crap, just because of the way the company is.

 

[tbtc]

Hire them off their then sister company Midland Mainline? Didn't happen but I can't see why it couldn't!!

EMT are at least aware of the problem and trying to tackle it. They can't run HSTs on every Skeg trip, but at least they are making the effort for summer weekends.

The trouble with modern life is that you often get criticised a lot more for trying than for doing nothing whatsoever

This is the pinnacle of the problem - they have no speciality, thus meaning all their services are nothing better than okay! I think each division of the company has seen a degradation in service, not because East Midlands Trains are crap, just because of the way the company is.

You could argue that plenty other franchises manage to do completely different services - ScotRail manage the Mallaig line as well as the "intercity" Aberdeen - Edinburgh/ Glasgow and the intense Glasgow commuter services. FGW manage Cornish branches, London commuters and the "intercity" routes inbetween. EMT's problem is inheriting a culture of cutbacks with no encouragement for growth and no political clout behind them

 

[bangbang]

must admit I have to agreee with Knight2004 with regards to the EMT service to skeggy. They promise extra trains at weekends which they do, but you'd think the saturday 'PEAK' they would add a few more carridges, maybe take a train or two off the Notts to mansfield as they no one ever on it. I travel south every week and use EMT to kings cross and 9 out of 10 times had a good service, though there customer service could do with improving. Cross country rules the rails, and tbh I can see EMT being 'First East Midlands' very soon. nice site, and nice to see ppl talking rails and trains
Aaron

 

[37401]

I travel south every week and use EMT to kings cross

Really?

tbh I can see EMT being 'First East Midlands' very soon.

I doubt it, just because they dont put on a extra train they don`t have does not mean they will have their franchise taken away, also if it did happen I doubt First would be any better lets not forget "Worst Late Western" and all the other names and meetings they had I must say they have had a turn around now.

 

[ivanhoe]

I'll defend EMT here. They are victims of an over prescriptive franchise that leaves
Very little room for improvements on the scale that many of us would like to see.

I would argue that the real villains here are the DfT

 

[Dai.]

I agree with ivanhoe, the real crooks here are the dft.

EMT should have realised the extra carriage problem though and appealed to dft for a more trains, EMT are owned by the Stagecoach Group, who own South West Trains, so they aren't exactly short of money.

 

[sheff'd victoria]

Correct me if im wrong, but I was once told that EMT wanted to put extra trains running to Skeggy but because the track in knackered between Sleaford & Skeggy network rail would not let them do it ???

 

[WillPS]

I agree with ivanhoe, the real crooks here are the dft.

EMT should have realised the extra carriage problem though and appealed to dft for a more trains, EMT are owned by the Stagecoach Group, who own South West Trains, so they aren't exactly short of money.

... or Sprinters to spare.

Cash has nothing to do with it really. They could afford new stock, but wouldn't be able to make a return on it due to the franchise length. Therefore stock has to be ordered and paid for by the DfT (and the ROSCO, in theory).

 

[The Planner]

Correct me if im wrong, but I was once told that EMT wanted to put extra trains running to Skeggy but because the track in knackered between Sleaford & Skeggy network rail would not let them do it ???

Its fine for light stuff like DMUs, but isnt very happy when you stick HSTs over it. Im fairly sure that there are some track works due up there.

 

[sheff'd victoria]

Its fine for light stuff like DMUs, but isnt very happy when you stick HSTs over it. Im fairly sure that there are some track works due up there.

Some ?

The whole lot needs doing.

How would you find out when planned works are going to be done on this line ?

 

[TheBigD]

Its fine for light stuff like DMUs, but isnt very happy when you stick HSTs over it. Im fairly sure that there are some track works due up there.

I believe it's closed for 4 weeks east of Boston during October, and then most weekends between Grantham and Sleaford during Nocember, with Berty the bus in use instead!

 

[Mojo]

How would you find out when planned works are going to be done on this line ?

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse documents/Rules Of The Route/Roprhome.pdf

Select timetable

Rules of the route

Register of possessions

Select region

 

[sheff'd victoria]

I believe it's closed for 4 weeks east of Boston during October, and then most weekends between Grantham and Sleaford during Nocember, with Berty the bus in use instead!

Track replacement I hope

 

[David Pemberton]

The problem with being a passenger is that one only gets glimpses of the whole picture based on the trains one is on.

I take the 1745 Grantham-Nottingham most days, its ex Skegness and all through the summer it has had three cars rather than the usual two. Full of happy holidaymakers and, because they've put on an extra car, us commuters are happy too.

The only downside has been that it pulls into Platform 3, the bay-end platform at Grantham, but as it is three cars it has to open its doors on the Platform 2 side - thus confusing the waiting passengers and prompting a quick dash to the other side of the train. (It's scheduled for Platform 4 on the Departures Board, and every day there is a last minute change announced to Platform 3, then when they see it is 3-car, another to say "but board from Platform 2"...)

 

[Active_Lad]

I have to admit the EMT line between Skegness and Nottingham isn't great, although I was suprised to be stopped at a Level Crossing recently by one of the saturday HST workings. I thought it was on a diversion!

I travel regularly to London and live less than 2 miles from Heckington. It would make sense, therefore to get an EMT to Grantham to connect with the ECML, but the connections are awful (either too long or not at all) and there's no opportunity to connect with the early morning peak services into London or the late departures north. So rather than drive 2 miles to Heckington and park for free (or even cycle!) I have to drive 18 miles to Grantham and pay £10 to park there.

The EMT Norwich to Liverpool Service is also poor. Again, it would make sense to get a through ticket from Heckington via Grantham but actually it's quicker (by about 40 minutes) and more comfortable to drive to Grantham, get an ECML service to Doncaster and then pick up the excellent Trans Pennine Express through to Manchester.

I really want to use my local station more, but the poor service makes it a very unattractive option.

 

[tbtc]

I travel regularly to London and live less than 2 miles from Heckington. It would make sense, therefore to get an EMT to Grantham to connect with the ECML, but the connections are awful (either too long or not at all) and there's no opportunity to connect with the early morning peak services into London or the late departures north. So rather than drive 2 miles to Heckington and park for free (or even cycle!) I have to drive 18 miles to Grantham and pay £10 to park there.

The EMT Norwich to Liverpool Service is also poor. Again, it would make sense to get a through ticket from Heckington via Grantham but actually it's quicker (by about 40 minutes) and more comfortable to drive to Grantham, get an ECML service to Doncaster and then pick up the excellent Trans Pennine Express through to Manchester.

I really want to use my local station more, but the poor service makes it a very unattractive option.

Personally, I'd give the Lincolnshire services to NXEC to improve those kind of connections - it'd give much more inventive to "meet" the London trains at Newark/ Grantham/ Peterborough

 

[David Pemberton]

Personally, I'd give the Lincolnshire services to NXEC to improve those kind of connections - it'd give much more inventive to "meet" the London trains at Newark/ Grantham/ Peterborough

Yes, if anything EMT has a disincentive to make good connections because the couple of existing connections that do work show up their NOT/STP service on the MML to be slower than ECML NOT/KGX via GRA.

I offer you the 1630 from KGX which via GRA gets you to Nottingham at 1822, or you could take the 1630 from STP and arrive Nottingahm eight minutes later at 1830. (I take the 1630 via GRA most days and enjoy the smoother quieter ride and free WiFi).

If EMT's connections worked at GRA what would be the point in using their NOT/STP service?