I was pleased to welcome Rail Minister Andrew Jones to Immingham this week to make the case for direct trains between Northern Lincolnshire and London. The Minister met with local business leaders including the Chamber of Commerce, Philips 66, ABP and DFDS who all made the case for direct services.
The expansion of direct lines to Lincoln, running six times per day, could be the gateway for direct trains running all the way to Cleethorpes.
Having campaigned on this issue for many years, I am more hopeful than I've been for many years. We've got a Minister who is very sympathetic and has listened to the business community talk about the importance of the line, and the extension of trains to Lincoln makes the idea much more viable.
We had a very positive response from the Minister. The meeting was about showing the demand from the business community, including the City of Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce. Phillips 66 alone makes 700 journeys between here and London every year, which would be vastly easier with a direct train line.
Adam Fowler of the City of Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce spelt out how it would work:
"We envision Barnetby and Habrough stations being major interchanges. The line would carry on from Lincoln to Market Rasen and end in Cleethorpes.
