Direct rail trains to NE Lincs “of paramount importance”

Train operators submitting bids to run services on the East Coast Main Line should be required to include direct routes between North East Lincolnshire and London, a local MP has said.

Martin Vickers, who represents Cleethorpes, told MPs in the Commons that the franchise, which will soon go out for tender, is “an issue of paramount importance” and direct services to the capital could provide an economic “boost” to the area.

He said the “most likely route” would see trains running from Cleethorpes and Grimsby to Market Rasen and onto Lincoln. Services could then join the main line at Newark.

Tom Brake MP, the Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, said his views had been “effectively put on the record”.

The last direct trains running from Cleethorpes to London were axed in 1990