Rail body bid to improve speeds between Nottingham and Lincoln

Transport body Midlands Connect is calling on central government to approve a plan to upgrade the Castle Line between Nottingham and Lincoln

Politicians and business leaders have met to discuss a multi-million pound bid to improve railway services between Nottingham and Lincoln.

Transport body Midlands Connect has submitted a plan to ministers calling for £18m to improve journey times.

If approved, train speeds will increase from 50mph (80km/h) to over 75mph (120km/h) along the Castle Line.

Figures show currently 10% of journeys between the cities are taken by rail.

Midlands Connect wants the work to start in April 2026 for a completion date during the summer of 2028.

They said that for every pound spent, it would return double in economic and environmental benefits.

The plan is backed by a number of councils, rail operators and business leaders

Midlands Connect say this is the first phase in improving the line with an ambition to double the amount of services after HS2 is built.

They added the bid is being considered by the Department for Transport (DfT) and if successful, it would be added to the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline.

Maria Machancoses, CEO of Midlands Connect, said: "This is an important connection between two major urban areas, and our plans for investment represent the first step in encouraging more passengers to use the trains.

"We recognise the need to make train travel more attractive and help people transition to sustainable transport."

Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood, said the plans would encourage more people to use trains between the cities.

"If we invest in our rail network, more people will choose to leave their cars at home to use more efficient, more environmentally-friendly modes of travel," she said.

"It just needs to happen."

Analysis

By Tony Roe, BBC East Midlands Today political editor

Travelling across country has always been harder especially on public transport. Driving between Nottingham and Lincoln is much faster than going by train especially now it's largely dual carriageway apart from a bottleneck around Newark where short term decisions in the early nineties left us with a single carriageway bypass on the A46.

Midlands Connect are calling now for some long term decisions to be made to upgrade the rail track between Nottingham and Lincoln to speed things up and make people think again about using the train.

By increasing train speeds to over 70mph, they believe this will drive more cars off the road. But pricing is a factor too, an average car journey between the two cities still works out cheaper.

There's cross party support for the plan which will help. Less money per head is spent on improving transport infrastructure in the East Midlands than anywhere else in the country so those behind the proposal are hoping that will count for something.