Nottingham Blockade Timetables

[edwin_m]

The provisional timetables for the July/August blockade have appeared here:

http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk...-route-maps/nottingham-disruption-timetables/

While it's good that full information is being given out, the situation for people who have to travel in this period is not so good in my opinion.

I'm disappointed that they haven't been able to retain some service into Nottingham from the west, for example keeping one of the four tracks open on weekday daytimes with points clipped and the fast London train going in and out under pilotman or similar with connections to other trains at Beeston. But I guess it's too late to do anything about that.

Unsurprisingly EMT are steering London passengers towards East Midlands Parkway. No mention of options via Grantham on the majority of days when the Skegness service still runs through.

The Norwich-Liverpool trains seem to be going via Derby, or at least they aren't serving Alfreton. I don't see why this is necessary as the Trent area shouldn't be affected.

 

[bb21]

I find it a bit strange that they are not running a train service on the Robin Hood Line at all. Can they not turn it around somewhere like Hucknall or Bulwell, considering that it is single track around there?

 

[edwin_m]

I read somewhere that the problem with the Robin Hood line is maintaining the trains. Certainly they couldn't get to Nottingham Eastcroft, though Derby via the Erewash is a possibility. That together with the Norwich-Liverpool not serving Alfreton and the Leeds trains not serving Langley Mill makes me wonder if something is being done on the Erewash at the same time - though I can't think what as it was fully remodelled back in 2008.

 

[Ebore]

I read somewhere that the problem with the Robin Hood line is maintaining the trains. Certainly they couldn't get to Nottingham Eastcroft, though Derby via the Erewash is a possibility.

If it is to do with maintenance could it more to do with lack of capacity at Derby rather than being able to get units there?

That together with the Norwich-Liverpool not serving Alfreton and the Leeds trains not serving Langley Mill makes me wonder if something is being done on the Erewash at the same time - though I can't think what as it was fully remodelled back in 2008.

OTT has Leeds services starting from Langley Mill (two from Beeston) so EMTs site could be wrong on that front.

As for not publicising Nottingham - Grantham - Kings Cross, I think this is probably a good decision. The Skegness services are busy enough in summer that I doubt they would cope with an extra HST load of passengers. Although someone more cynical than I may say that they would rather not lose revenue to East Coast...

 

[gordonthemoron]

you could ofcourse drive to Grantham if you had a car, fares from Grantham are cheaper than from Nottingham

 

[tbtc]

Train services will continue to run from Newark Castle to Lincoln throughout the resignalling work

I appreciate that they've got to keep things "as normal as possible" during the blockade, and that Castle is a more useful station for central Newark than North Gate, but if they'd run everything to North Gate instead then they'd avoid any crossing of the ECML on the flat crossing and would mean one Newark station for all Lincoln services.

Good point about Hucknall for the Worksop services - presumably the tram couldn't cope with all of the connecting passengers (on top of the Bulwell passengers).

 

[edwin_m]

I appreciate that they've got to keep things "as normal as possible" during the blockade, and that Castle is a more useful station for central Newark than North Gate, but if they'd run everything to North Gate instead then they'd avoid any crossing of the ECML on the flat crossing and would mean one Newark station for all Lincoln services.

Might also make it easier to get to Nottingham via Grantham - at least when the East Coast terminator isn't blocking P3 at Northgate.

 

[class222lover]

At least the Derby - Crewe and Peterborugh - Doncaster via Lincoln, are the two that WON'T be affected by the Nottingham improvments!

Alright for some, but I have to get to Leeds and Manchester when the works are being undertaken.

Kind Regards
Class222lover

 

[High Dyke]

Might also make it easier to get to Nottingham via Grantham - at least when the East Coast terminator isn't blocking P3 at Northgate.

There was a suggestion that EMT crews from Lincoln route learn Newark - Grantham - Peterborough, but that hasn't yet materialised.

It would be a boring shift at Castle if all passenger trains went to Northgate. Though the days services do run through to Nottingham may cause a problem if that happened.

 

[Qwerty133]

At least the Derby - Crewe and Peterborugh - Doncaster via Lincoln, are the two that WON'T be affected by the Nottingham improvments!

Alright for some, but I have to get to Leeds and Manchester when the works are being undertaken.

Kind Regards
Class222lover

AKA the services ran primarily by a single 153.

 

[edwin_m]

The Derby timetable on my OP link appears only to show the EMT trains. There is a mention of XC running a fast train from Beeston to Derby but no more details and nothing on XC website either.

My most frequent journey is Nottingham to Manchester. Going via EM Parkway extends this by over an hour, so I'd be interested to see whether bus to Derby and changing at Sheffield works any better. I quite often go that way anyway as I can plug the laptop in on the EMT London trains and TPE.

 

[Yew]

I'd imagine now would be a good time to do any maintainance thats required. maybe even a deep clean

 

[Ebore]

OTT is showing XC as running hourly Beeston - Long Eaton - Derby shuttles.

 

[RichmondCommu]

If it is to do with maintenance could it more to do with lack of capacity at Derby rather than being able to get units there?

Perhaps but how many units are involved? It's hard to imagine that Etches Park hasn't got some spare capacity.

 

[edwin_m]

The 158s working Liverpool-Norwich are based at Eastcroft but I guess will be moving to Etches Park for the duration of the blockade.

 

[dvboy]

I appreciate that they've got to keep things "as normal as possible" during the blockade, and that Castle is a more useful station for central Newark than North Gate, but if they'd run everything to North Gate instead then they'd avoid any crossing of the ECML on the flat crossing and would mean one Newark station for all Lincoln services.

Good point about Hucknall for the Worksop services - presumably the tram couldn't cope with all of the connecting passengers (on top of the Bulwell passengers).

Last time Castle - Nottingham was closed, the replacement buses I did think it strange that they didn't just run the replacement buses from Northgate but perhaps it's easier for EMT/Stagecoach to co-ordinate things from Castle.

 

[ex-railwayman]

Unsure if this is in the correct area, so, please feel free moderators to move it if desirable.

Just a thought for anyone travelling to/from Nottingham Midland Station in July/August this year, you're going to be delayed severely due to the actual closure of the station to facilitate the new Tram Network construction, signalling restructuring and plans to include refurbishing and modernising the train station, building a new concourse, and linking the new Queen’s Road Multi-Storey Car Park and tram stop. Best look at the east midlands trains website, or, other specific 3rd party travel sites for more details.

http://www.eastmidlandstrains.co.uk/train-times/nottingham-disruption/

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[edwin_m]

Trent Barton have announced that rail ticket holders can have travel free on their buses between Bingham-Nottingham and Loughborough-Nottingham during the blockade period.

https://www.trentbarton.co.uk/news-and-media/our-news/article/transportcompaniesjoinforces

We have joined forces with East Midlands Trains to help provide alternative travel options for passengers during this summer’s major resignalling work at Nottingham station.

East Midlands Trains passengers holding a valid train ticket (including season tickets) will be able to use their ticket to travel on trentbarton’s xprss service between Bingham and Nottingham, and Kinchbus 9 services between Nottingham and Loughborough.

Alex Hornby, Commercial Director for trentbarton, said: “In times of potential disruption, it makes so much sense for travel providers to go the extra mile in looking after customers and their overall end-to-end journeys.

"We all work so hard to make buses and trains attractive, and it would be such a shame to see people move back to the car. We’re really pleased to offer rail users the opportunity to use our services and to be proactively working together with East Midlands Trains on this ground-breaking initiative to support the overall public transport offer.”

Neil Micklethwaite, Customer Service & Commercial Director for East Midlands Trains, said: “A huge amount of work has been taking place to make sure we have comprehensive plans in place for our passengers to keep on travelling during the major improvement works taking place over the summer.
“We’re really pleased to be teaming up with trentbarton to offer our passengers an alternative travel choice for their journeys to and from Nottingham during the summer. This is a clear demonstration of our commitment to putting our customers first and doing the right thing for them during these works.”

The resignalling work will take place between Saturday 20 July and Sunday 25 August and will result in significant changes to East Midlands Trains services on routes to and from Nottingham.

Good bit of joined up thinking in my view - I was already thinking that for travel to London from West Bridgford a bus to Loughborough might be easier than going into Nottingham only to get a bus back out.

 

[gordonthemoron]

forget that

 

[High Dyke]

Last time Castle - Nottingham was closed, the replacement buses I did think it strange that they didn't just run the replacement buses from Northgate but perhaps it's easier for EMT/Stagecoach to co-ordinate things from Castle.

That is part of the thinking. At Newark Castle the buses will drop off / pick up outside platform 1 (the platform trains from Lincoln will arrive at, and most likely depart back to Lincoln from), thus means everyone will be at the same point. If ALL services terminated at Newark Northgate then any onward passengers towards Nottingham would have to make their way from platform 3 via the footbridge/lift to exit the station. Use of the barrow crossing to move the public wouldn't be feasible. Likewise passengers travelling onto Lincoln etc would have to make their way right over to platform 3.

Don't forget that some days during the blockade a limited service will run through to/from Nottingham. So it makes sense not to confuse the travelling public more than usual.

 

[ex-railwayman]

@ edwin m

Thank you for that bus information, since the demise of Premiere Travel at the end of last year I wondered if anyone would run their service from Notts to Loughborough, good to see Kinch have taken it over, a bit of competition for Nottingham City Transport, it might keep the fares down.

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

 

[MCR247]

There is no competition between the Gotham route and the direct route IMO. Actually I doubt there is a lot, if any, competition between any of the three Nottingham - Loughborough routes since they all serve different purposes

 

[edwin_m]

Premiere were in competition with Kinch on the Nottingham-Bunny-Loughborough route (various numbers over the years but all featuring at least one 9) but since Premiere disappeared I think Kinch have added more buses including some in the evenings.

 

[MCR247]

Kinch gave up on the route leaving it solely to Premiere, but once they went bust Kinch stepped in to give the route a service