Get Boston Moving

[Boston Poacher]

Back in July 2025, Richard Tice (MP of Boston and Skegness) announced his plans to 'Get Boston Moving' which involves a new link between Boston and Spalding, and the re-alignment of the Poacher Line to the East - creating 2 new stations (Boston North and South), in turn removing 7 level crossings and creating Park and Ride + Bus Shuttles to the town centre. What are people's thoughts on this?

"Network Rail PACE compliant study stages to consider Improved Rail connectivity in and around Boston. To consider new stations, south and North of Boston both with park and ride and bus shuttle services to town and the hospital. Port link improvements to switch freight trains easier and quicker This alignment would be transformational for Boston but would still enable the 617 passengers that use Boston Station and the 981 passengers that use Skegness as a departure or destination point to stop or pass through Boston station each day. ROAD / RAIL CROSSINGS CLOSURES 1 - Pilleys Lane 2 - Willoughby Road 3 - Horncastle Road 4 - Red Cap Lane 5 - Tattershall Road 6 - Sluice Bridge 7 - West Street Rail alignment to the East of Boston would enable the closure of some crossings. Reducing congestion, saving 12.25 hours per day of delays to pedestrians and drivers across the seven crossings. Reports of other areas with less railway crossings have placed the economic cost at millions per annum."

"Boston has not been connected to Spalding by rail since the line closure in 1970. The original Boston to Spalding line predominantly followed the route of the current A16 Boston to Algakirk, so an alternative needs to be found. Connecting the line to Spalding opens up whole new range of education, employment, retail and leisure opportunities for the people of Boston. Spalding Link Bicker / Little Hale Fen Connecting the line to Spalding also creates new freight opportunities both for the port and for the agricultural and food industries to use rail as an alternative. Political changes and ownership changes to the rail network, train operating and freight operating company licences makes now the time to complete a self funded study to prove the economic importance of this link. RAILWAY IMPROVEMENTS COST AND TIME ESTIMATES Boston Rail Alignment / Stations / Line to Port Estimated length 4.5kms Complexity high with virgin line plus two stations ES1-3 Cost: £1.5m ES4-5 Cost: £1.5m Line Construction + ES 6-7 Cost: £22.5m North and South Station Costs: £7m 30% Optimism Bias Cost: £9.75m Total Costs: £42.25m Total Time Estimate: 4 years Spalding Link Bicker / Little Hale Fen Estimated length: 6km Complexity low no new stations ES1-3 Cost: £0.5m ES4-5 Cost: £0.5m Line Construction + ES 6-7 Cost: £17m 30% optimism Bias Cost: £5.4m Total Cost: £23.4m Total Time estimate: 3 years"

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

How many millions for the benefit of 1652 passengers? Would imagine there are several (hundred?) projects which have a better cost benefit ratio

And some people want this party to be the next in power.......

 

[Kite159]

Those estimated costs seem a tad on the low side, especially as it will be a new alignment due to the previous route now being underneath tarmac

 

[Russel]

About as likely to happen as the Derby Trams project.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

Those estimated costs seem a tad on the low side, especially as it will be a new alignment due to the previous route now being underneath tarmac

Those low cost estimations make these ideas more interesting than those estimated to cost hundreds of millions of pounds. I never did understand why as late as 1970 it was considered sensible to cut Boston off from Spalding. A relatively low cost amendment deserves serious analysis.

 

[Palmerston]

Cancel HS2 but reopen the line from Boston to Spalding?

 

[stuu]

"Richard Tice"

The prosecution rests, m'lud

 

[MatthewHutton]

The cost of reopening the Borders railway amounted to probably £10m/km in today’s money adjusted for construction inflation. So if you matched that here that would come to a total of £100m. Maybe that includes the stations as there was one on the borders railway every 6km but probably you have to add a bit I think.

I am not sure that includes 1 road bridge every 1.5km either.

 

[dk1]

No offence but I thought this was a wind up.

 

[30907]

How many millions for the benefit of 1652 passengers? Would imagine there are several (hundred?) projects which have a better cost benefit ratio.

The primary beneficiaries of the first scheme are road users. Presumably he retains Boston's existing station as a stump (!) so requiring to duplicate services.

Makes Bradford St James seem world-class by comparison

 

[William3000]

Insane idea - he’s proposing to remove Boston’s railway station and replace it with two parkway stations and shuttle buses

 

[Magdalia]

The cost of reopening the Borders railway amounted to probably £10m/km in today’s money adjusted for construction inflation.

The old Spalding-Boston line, most of which is now the A16, was 14 miles 28 chains, about 23 km.

I am not sure that includes 1 road bridge every 1.5km either.

Spalding-Boston is fenland, where bridge construction is very expensive. For example the Ralph Butcher bridge at Kings Dyke cost more than £30 million see here.

Whittlesey to Peterborough bridge lane closure continues

Cracks were seen on the bridge connecting Whittlesey to Peterborough last summer.

www.bbc.co.uk

Residents face another five months of disruption after a council said work to repair a cracked bridge would continue.

The £32m King's Dyke bridge, which connects Peterborough and Whittlesey over the Peterborough-Ely railway line, was opened in 2022 to ease traffic caused by a level crossing.

However it was partially closed last June, two years after it opened, after cracks were spotted in the westbound carriageway.

Those low cost estimations make these ideas more interesting than those estimated to cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

Hundreds of millions is what a new railway Spalding-Boston would cost.

 

[High Dyke]

I can't seem to find the proposed route of the new alignment "east of Boston". Am I missing something? And where exactly would this go, bearing in mind the Haven flows out into The Wash to the East of Boston.

It sounds like another pie-in-the-sky soundbite from a politician that knows very little and understands even less.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

How many millions for the benefit of 1652 passengers? Would imagine there are several (hundred?) projects which have a better cost benefit ratio

And some people want this party to be the next in power.......

"Richard Tice"

The prosecution rests, m'lud

Just to play devil's advocate, does this not at least dampen the fears some have about what a Reform government would mean for the railway?

Not saying it's a sensible proposal (and the quoted cost estimates seem far too low), but a bit of balance wouldn't go amiss. The freight arguments are no worse than those made by those who advocate reopening of Colne to Skipton (not that that's a high bar).

 

[deltic08]

Cancel HS2 but reopen the line from Boston to Spalding?

Reinstate to Grimsby?

 

[William3000]

Just to play devil's advocate, does this not at least dampen the fears some have about what a Reform government would mean for the railway?

Not saying it's a sensible proposal (and the quoted cost estimates seem far too low), but a bit of balance wouldn't go amiss. The freight arguments are no worse than those made by those who advocate reopening of Colne to Skipton (not that that's a high bar).

Quite the contrary - it’s a catastrophic idea. It’s proposing a large regional town loses its direct rail connection and is bypassed with distant parkway stations served by a shuttle bus.

 

[class26]

The traffic is Boston is horrendous (in the summer especially all Skegness traffic HAS to go through thye town centre) and i have long advocated using Hubberts Bridge together with a new station near Sibsey east of Boston as park and rides for shoppers but this idea is nuts (costing 10 times the estimates I guess) ) and is just political postering.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Quite the contrary - it’s a catastrophic idea. It’s proposing a large regional town loses its direct rail connection and is bypassed with distant parkway stations served by a shuttle bus.

It's not an area of the country I'm familiar with, but on the face of it a route towards Sleaford (and thence Peterborough and London) would have some merit.
I just felt that the posts I quoted above were "playing the man, not the ball" if you catch my drift.

 

[Boston Poacher]

It's not an area of the country I'm familiar with, but on the face of it a route towards Sleaford (and thence Peterborough and London) would have some merit.
I just felt that the posts I quoted above were "playing the man, not the ball" if you catch my drift.

I think a service should be created that goes Boston - Sleaford - Peterborough. It is very much in demand by the residents, and there is space at Boston to stable the unit overnight. People want to be able to get to Lincoln directly, too. To do this though, I feel the poacher line needs to be re-dualled for the sections where it for some reason isn't - it always used to be dualled and still is capable of being dualled again - but for some reason they aren't re-dualling it. If a train brakes down on a single track section, the whole of the line is screwed.

 

[Farigiraf]

I think a service should be created that goes Boston - Sleaford - Peterborough. It is very much in demand by the residents, and there is space at Boston to stable the unit overnight. People want to be able to get to Lincoln directly, too. To do this though, I feel the poacher line needs to be re-dualled for the sections where it for some reason isn't - it always used to be dualled and still is capable of being dualled again - but for some reason they aren't re-dualling it. If a train brakes down on a single track section, the whole of the line is screwed.

The December 2025 timetable change improved connections at Sleaford from Skegness-Nottingham services to Lincoln services. This shows that the planners at EMR saw that there's more demand to Lincoln than from Peterborough - though I'm not doubting there's a decent amount of passengers travelling to both.

The train doesn't take the most direct route (a direct Boston-Sleaford-Peterborough would need a reversal anyway) and that whole area is one of high car usage - given the town's size, Boston station gets relatively low usage: 267,000 entries/exits last year (to compare: Denham (Bucks) had 212K, Hindley (GM) had 260K, March (Cambs) had 374K). A low-cost way of testing the waters would be to run an express bus from Boston to Peterborough station via Spalding and see how many people use it, taking into consideration that rail services are typically used more than bus services.

 

[class26]

The December 2025 timetable change improved connections at Sleaford from Skegness-Nottingham services to Lincoln services. This shows that the planners at EMR saw that there's more demand to Lincoln than from Peterborough - though I'm not doubting there's a decent amount of passengers travelling to both.

The train doesn't take the most direct route (a direct Boston-Sleaford-Peterborough would need a reversal anyway) and that whole area is one of high car usage - given the town's size, Boston station gets relatively low usage: 267,000 entries/exits last year (to compare: Denham (Bucks) had 212K, Hindley (GM) had 260K, March (Cambs) had 374K). A low-cost way of testing the waters would be to run an express bus from Boston to Peterborough station via Spalding and see how many people use it, taking into consideration that rail services are typically used more than bus services.

I would question the figure of 267,000 for Boston. I live on the line and guard (certainly until revcently) rarely walked through the train to take local fares so I would say it is higher.

Connections at Sleaford for Lincoln until the recent timetable change were hopeless but now are much better. Lets see what happens to the useage going forward

 

[Boston Poacher]

Thanks for all of your replies to this. With an increase in population planned with more housing developments, Boston is seriously in need of better rail connectivity - and I think as a bare minimum, the poacher line should be re-dualled in the places it was singled to improve journey times by significantly reducing delays. Better connections at Grantham and Sleaford would help too.

 

[MarkyT]

The Boston Rail bypass is a really bad idea. The town crossings are not all equal. Some are main roads and may cause a little congestion occasionally, but others look low-use residential. With the rail frequency around there, I doubt the town ever gets anywhere near grinding to a halt, except occasionally for slow freight movements for the aggregates siding or port which look like they may block multiple crossings for a while during shunting but are very infrequent. An improvement to the port access could take place without the bypass. It may just block a different set of crossings but if these aren't the main town centre ones, that may be an improvement.

A fundamental problem around here is the flatness. A new bypass railway would need many earthworks and bridges to pass over all the roads it crosses en route.

Perhaps better to concentrate on grade separating a handful of the most troublesome, likely beginning with Sleaford Road in the town centre near the station, and rerouting the port branch so freight can run straight to and from Sleaford and the long trains don't have to go into the station area before shunting back, likely a cause of level crossing delay.

I've thought about the other Spalding Link idea several times myself. One concept was to build such a new link and create a triangular junction on the Boston line, so in addition to the new direct service, trains from Spalding to Lincoln could also use it to Sleaford, allowing the Joint Line to close along this section. A problem with that is there's no direct connection onto the Joint Line heading north from the Boston line at Sleaford so all the freight traffic on that axis would need to go through the station and take the existing tight single-track connecting line, unless a new chord was built, adding further expense. Doing it the other way, with a triangle on the Spalding line and closing a section of the Boston line can't work, as Heckington station would lose service. Skeggy and Boston trains mostly go into Grantham now, which likely gives the best Peterborough and London connections.

 

[Kite159]

Thanks for all of your replies to this. With an increase in population planned with more housing developments, Boston is seriously in need of better rail connectivity - and I think as a bare minimum, the poacher line should be re-dualled in the places it was singled to improve journey times by significantly reducing delays. Better connections at Grantham and Sleaford would help too.

Sleaford is one of those awkward stations when it comes to connections, either they are reasonable (Lincoln to Skegness & Skegness to Lincoln) or rubbish (Nottingham to Spalding)

 

[class26]

Sleaford is one of those awkward stations when it comes to connections, either they are reasonable (Lincoln to Skegness & Skegness to Lincoln) or rubbish (Nottingham to Spalding)

Connections at Sleaford for the Joint line are MUCH better since the new timetable, especially going from Boston to Lincoln although I appreciate your comment was regarding Nottingham - Spalding

 

[Boston Poacher]

Look at the latest Network Rail plans for the redevelopment of the poacher line.

 

[Failed Unit]

What would use the curve between Heckington and Spalding? Even if a direct service between Skegness and Peterborough was proposed, surely missing Sleaford (to reverse) would cost a lot of possible passengers (From connecting services)

 

[Bald Rick]

Look at the latest Network Rail plans for the redevelopment of the poacher line.

That isn’t a plan, I’m afraid.

 

[nw1]

Back in July 2025, Richard Tice (MP of Boston and Skegness) announced his plans to 'Get Boston Moving' which involves a new link between Boston and Spalding, and the re-alignment of the Poacher Line to the East - creating 2 new stations (Boston North and South), in turn removing 7 level crossings and creating Park and Ride + Bus Shuttles to the town centre. What are people's thoughts on this?

Boston North and South... I wonder where he got that idea from?

 

[Boston Poacher]

That isn’t a plan, I’m afraid.

It's from this: