Train Service in Burton Joyce
The Village Society has supported the Burton Joyce Train Action Group (BJTAG) since its formation two years ago. The village has been represented on the Nottingham Lincoln Stakeholder Board (NLSB) since we became aware of its existence in October 2021. The quarterly meetings of the NLSB are attended by senior representatives of East Midlands Railway (EMR), Network Rail, Midlands Connect and representatives of the various Councils and communities along the line.
The NLSB has apparently been in existence since around 2010. In 2018, when the rail franchise was due to be renewed, it produced a strategy document which assessed all the stations between Nottingham and Lincoln based on the historic passenger numbers using each station. Using somewhat arbitrary criteria, this concluded that Burton Joyce only qualified for a 2-hourly service and until recently, the Board has not deviated from this assessment.
In the EMR timetables, trains that stop in Burton Joyce run on the Newark to Crewe route. Trains on the Lincoln to Leicester route do not generally stop in BJ – this is intended to offer a fast service between Lincoln and Nottingham, although these trains do stop at intermediate stations between Lincoln and Newark and some stop at Carlton, Lowdham or Fiskerton.
The 2018 NLSB Strategy document acknowledged that Burton Joyce is the largest village community on the line, yet we have historically had a considerably worse train service than Lowdham, Fiskerton, Collingham and Swinderby, all smaller communities than ours.
After many years of trying to imptove the service the new December timetable now has hourly trains to/from both Nottingham and Newark. The service to Nottingham only takes anout 10 minutes as opposed to 30 minutes by bus and (by the time you’ve parked) the same by car
PLEASE CONSIDER USING THE TRAIN FOR YOUR NEXT JOURNEY
Chris Helmore,
Burton Joyce Train Action Group