Exclusive: Cleethorpes to London train plans on hold

RAIL can reveal that a new direct train service linking Cleethorpes and Grimsby with London will not start as had been planned in December 2024.

RAIL has been told that LNER’s plan to reintroduce a through service from North East Lincolnshire is on hold because of timetabling, financial, operational and infrastructure issues. The last direct services were withdrawn in 1992.

The plan would see LNER extend one of its Lincoln to King’s Cross services to and from Cleethorpes, with a morning departure from Cleethorpes and an evening return from London, running via Barnetby and Market Rasen.

The proposal has the support of major businesses in northern Lincolnshire, such as Phillips 66, which runs the large Humber Refinery, the Grimsby and Immingham port operator ABP, and the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce.

On June 26, 2023, a test train travelled from Doncaster calling at Barnetby, Grimsby Town, Cleethorpes and Market Rasen to perform a series of platform and train validations at each station.  

On that day, David Horne, LNER’s Managing Director, said: “It is early stages yet and there is a lot more work to do to see whether these services can come back for the first time in decades, but today we have shown that with willpower and cross-industry collaboration, we might be able to see LNER services connect Cleethorpes to London once again.”

However, the service does not appear in online timetables for December 2024 and LNER has confirmed to RAIL that the plans are on hold, saying:

“The industry is working to address timetabling, financial, operational and infrastructure issues that need to be resolved before any service to Cleethorpes could be introduced.”

The MP who used to represents Cleethorpes but whose new constituency takes in Barnetby, Martin Vickers, has campaigned for years for a through service to be reinstated. RAIL spoke to Mr Vickers, who told us: “Prior to the election, Huw Merriman, then Rail Minister, told me that the Transport Secretary had approved the service and instructed LNER to work with Network Rail to bring it in from the forthcoming Winter Timetable (December 2024).

“There are issues surrounding stopping the train in Market Rasen due to it having no footbridge or subway and the short platform. This I’m sure could be overcome but if not, we could start the service and introduce stops at Market Rasen when safety features have been provided.

“I get the impression from LNER that unless the new minister instructs them similarly, it won’t happen.”

Martin Vickers MP says he’s been told repeatedly that the new service depends on capacity on the East Coast Main Line (ECML), but he disputes this: “..there is no additional pressure on the ECML since we are talking about extending the existing service between King’s Cross and Lincoln.”

Before the LNER plan, Hull Trains had been approached by a group, including Martin Vickers, to run a service between Cleethorpes and London but Vickers says that was vetoed by the regulator. However, he plans to approach open access operators again if LNER can’t deliver a direct service.

In a debate secured by the Grimsby and Cleethorpes MP Melanie Onn in Westminster on September 5, the Transport Minister Lilian Greenwood MP said: “The benefits of having direct links to the capital are clear: that is why we are working with industry to address the timetabling, financial, operational and infrastructure issues that need to be resolved before a service to Cleethorpes can be introduced—all of that once the East Coast Main Line timetable change has been implemented. Assessments made by LNER and Network Rail have confirmed that LNER services can call at Cleethorpes and Grimsby, but in order for LNER trains to serve Market Rasen station, significant changes to platform length and height are required, as well as a new foot crossing to allow safe access to platforms.

 “The previous Rail Minister talked of an ambition to introduce the service, but ….an ambition is not the same as a promise.”

RAIL contacted the Department for Transport (DfT) for comment but had not received a reply by the time this story was published.