Loughborough railway station

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Coordinates: 52°46′44.67″N, 1°11′45.77″W

Loughborough
Platform 1
Location
Place Loughborough
Local authority Charnwood
Operations
Station code LBO
Managed by East Midlands Trains
Platforms in use 3
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Rail Passenger Usage
2004/05 * 1.152 million
2005/06 * 1.147 million
History
Key dates Opened 1872
National Rail - UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z  
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Loughborough from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
Portal:Loughborough railway station
 UK Railways Portal

Loughborough serves the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire, England. Situated on the Midland Main Line, 20 km (12½ miles) north of Leicester, the station lies to the north-east of the town centre.

The usable length of the station platforms are shorter than the express trains which stop here, so passengers arriving from London, Derby or Sheffield will usually have to get off from the front four carriages (or rear four if travelling into Loughborough from the north on the old style 9-carriage "high speed trains"). Elderly passengers or those with pushchairs, heavy luggage or bicycles wishing to alight at Loughborough should take particular care to board the correct portion of the train. Cycles may have to be stored in vestibules away from the cycle lockers depending on the orientation of the train

Contents

[edit] History

The original station (opened in 1840 by the Midland Counties Railway, which was shortly to join the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway to form the Midland Railway) was sited a little further south.

The present station was built in 1872 when the track was quadrupled and has retained much of its characteristically Midland Railway architecture, apart from the fact that its canopies have been cut back. The station is grade II listed [1]

It became known as "Loughborough Midland" when Loughborough had three stations; Loughborough Derby Road (London and North Western Railway - station now closed) and Loughborough Central (Great Central Railway now used by the Great Central Railway (preserved)).

[edit] Service patterns

East Midlands Trains operate the station as well as all services (bar one per day).

  • East Midlands Trains Connect Ivanhoe Line operates hourly to Leicester southbound calling at:
Barrow-upon-Soar, Sileby, Syston, and Leicester
  • Ivanhoe services operate hourly northbound to Lincoln calling at:
Nottingham, Carlton, Burton Joyce, Bleasby, Fiskerton, Rolleston, Newark Castle, Collingham, Swinderby, Hykeham, and Lincoln Central
  • East Midlands Trains Mainline operate two trains per hour to London calling at:
Leicester, Market Harborough, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton or Luton Airport Parkway, and London St Pancras International
  • Northbound one train operates to Nottingham calling at
Beeston and Nottingham
  • The other to Derby calling at:
Long Eaton and Derby
  • In the evening peak hours additional trains stop and run to Burton on Trent, Sheffield, Barnsley and Leeds calling at
additional locations such as Burton on Trent, Langley Mill, Alfretton, Barnsley, Doncaster, Wakefiled and Leeds
  • East Midlands Connect provide one train per day in the early morning to Norwich calling at:
Melton Mowbray, Oakham, Stamford, Peterborough and stations to Norwich
  • 1 early train on Saturday and Sunday mornings operates to York or Scarborough
calling at Sheffield, Meadowhall, Doncaster, York and Scarborough
  • CrossCountry operate one train a day (06:30 Leicester - Derby) which calls at the station. Departing at 06:45, the train terminates at Derby calling at Long Eaton and Spondon.

East Midlands trains proposed timetable for December 2008 will see through services from London to Lincoln and Skegness, and the end of services to Burton on Trent and Barnsley

Travellers have expressed concern in the local press that when the new East Midlands Parkway station opens near East Midlands Airport, the number of trains stopping at Loughborough will be reduced, as half of all London-Derby Trains will stop at the Parkway station instead. Concerns were expressed that this would be the beginning of a downgrading of Loughborough Station.

[edit] Facilities

The station has been attributed 'access for all' funding by Network Rail as currently the station is far from DDA compliance. This money should be spent on the station in the next two years. Though platform 1 is easily accessible for the disabled, access to platforms 2 and 3 is across a footbridge with steps, therefore those unable to use the footbridge must be escorted across a barrow crossing, crossing the main lines at the north end of the platforms by a member of staff. East Midlands Trains claimed that work to install a new footbridge and lifts would commence in January 2008, but no work on the platforms was evident by the beginning of June 2008.

Recently automatic ticket barriers have been installed at the station entrance, which requires a valid ticket to enter or exit. This is claimed to reduce ticketless travel and anti-social behaviour, but has been criticised for causing excessive hassle for regular travellers who will often have endured long qeues at the under-sized ticket office. Travellers now have tickets checked 3 times during a short 20 minute journey to Nottingham or Leicester

[edit] References

  • Higginson, M, (1989) The Midland Counties Railway: A Pictorial Survey, Derby: Midland Railway Trust.

[edit] External links

  Preceding station     National Rail     Following station  
Barrow-upon-Soar   East Midlands Trains
Leicester - Lincoln		   Beeston
Nottingham   East Midlands Trains
Nottingham-Norwich		   Melton Mowbray
Leicester   East Midlands Trains
London – Nottingham		   Beeston
  East Midlands Trains
London - Derby		   Long Eaton