Nottingham–Grantham line | |
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A class 158 nearing Radcliffe station
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Overview | |
Type | Heavy rail |
System | National Rail |
Status | Operational |
Locale |
Lincolnshire Nottinghamshire East Midlands |
Termini | Nottingham 52°56′50″N 1°08′48″W / 52.9471°N 1.1467°W Grantham 52°54′24″N 0°38′35″W / 52.9067°N 0.6430°W |
Stations | 8 |
Operation | |
Opened | 1850 |
Owner | Network Rail |
Operator(s) | East Midlands Trains |
Rolling stock |
Class 153 Super Sprinter Class 156 Super Sprinter Class 158 Express Sprinter |
Technical | |
Number of tracks | Two |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Nottingham–Grantham line is a branch line between the towns of Nottingham and Grantham in the East Midlands of England. It follows the A52.
The following places are served by the line.
At Grantham, the line meets the East Coast Main Line and also the Grantham–Skegness line. Not all Skegness-bound trains stop at Grantham, and the express service (limited stop) has its first stop at Sleaford, splitting from the Grantham line near Allington onto the Grantham Avoiding Line at Allington junction. The journey on this route to Skegness takes 1 hour 50 minutes, compared to 2 hours 20 minutes via Grantham.
The line was initially operated by the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway from 15 July 1850, taken over by the GNR in 1852. At Bottesford, the line was crossed by a north-south LNWR line from Melton Mowbray to Newark on Trent (this northern section was owned by GNR). A western spur of this railway (through Barnstone) joined at Saxondale junction.
Services were disrupted in July 2012 when an embankment collapsed near Allington. The line was also due to close for up to six weeks in summer 2013 as part of a large-scale improvement to Nottinghamshire's rail network.Skegness councillors were critical of the decision to close the line during the height of the tourist season, but Network Rail, the rail infrastructure company, stated that the summer was the quietest time on the line.