I had a meeting with Laura Etheridge, Stakeholder Manager, and Craig Leaper, Head of Train Planning and Access, at East Midlands Railway to discuss timetabling issues.
While I welcome that there are now regular hourly trains in and out of Sleaford, with later options now available, I am aware that some local schools, including Carre's Grammar School and Kesteven and Sleaford High School, have had problems with the revised timetable. In particular, the Doncaster to Peterborough train that stops at Metheringham and Ruskington now gets into Sleaford for 8:52am, which is too late for a 8:45am school start time. Since the train before that arrives at 7:38am, the gap is just too wide.
I'm pleased that, following our discussion, EMR have committed to look into whether an adjustment to timings can be made for this train service in particular, which requires investigation against the other usages of the line in that time slot. I will continue to pursue this with EMR and will keep constituents who have got in touch on this issue updated with progress as made.
