Loughborough railway station

This article is about the National Rail station in Loughborough, Leicestershire. For the station in South London, see Loughborough Junction railway station. For the Heritage station on the Great Central Railway, see Loughborough Central railway station.

Loughborough
Platform 1
Location
Place	Loughborough
Local authority	Charnwood
Operations
Station code	LBO
Managed by	East Midlands Trains
Number of platforms	3
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	1.152 million
2005/06 *	1.147 million
2006/07 *	1.277 million
2007/08 *	1.363 million
2008/09 *	1.424 million
2009/10 *	1.335 million
History
Opened 1872 (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 estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Loughborough from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

Loughborough railway station 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.

More than 1.3 million people entered and left the station in the twelve months to March 2010, an increase of nearly two hundred thousand in five years. This makes it the 322nd most-used Network Rail station. In addition, it was estimated that more than 7,397 people used the station to change trains.

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

It became known as "Loughborough Midland" when Loughborough had three stations; Loughborough Derby Road (opened 1883 on the Charnwood Forest Railway, owned by London and North Western Railway from 1923 and closed to passengers in 1931) and Loughborough Central (Great Central Railway now used by the Great Central Railway (preserved)).

In future, there is to be a Loughborough Midland High-Level in which passengers could interchange with both network rail and the heritage GCSR as the line is currently undergoing a heritage regeneration project.

Facilities

The station is a staffed station based on a side platform layout. A third, short platform was created on the down slow line for the commencement of Ivanhoe Line passenger services in 1993.

In 2000 passenger information systems were updated and now use dot matrix display screens. Loughborough no longer retains a manual Tannoy system which was replaced by an automated voice on 13 July 2011.^{[citation needed]} In 2006 automatic ticket gates were installed on all approaches to the station in order to cut down on fare evasion, these were complemented with ticket vending machines and additional FastTicket machines. Other facilities include bicycle racks, paid car parking, a shop and snack bar, public telephones and toilets. Taxis and buses are available outside; however, the bus to East Midlands Airport was withdrawn in 2010.

Current access

Disabled passengers and those with prams, bulky luggage, etc travelling south or on the Ivanhoe services may need staff assistance to reach platforms 2 and 3 using the barrow crossing. A new footbridge was put in place late in 2011 and in 2012 will provide disabled access via lifts. At that point the old barrow crossing will be removed.

The usable length of the station platforms was shorter than most express trains, as the platform areas south of the A60 road bridge were taking out of use during the early 1990s due to restricted clearances under the bridge. Passengers arriving from London, Derby or Sheffield may need to move down the train before arrival in order to get off, usually to the front four carriages. In late 2011 new platform extensions were built to the north to allow full length trains to stop from 2012.

Future access

Although plans to improve access for all at the listed station have been talked about for many years, very little has changed or improved. Loughborough Eastern Gateway aims to improve the area around the station as well as the station itself. Work started on the scheme in March 2010.

It is planned that all platforms will be extended by up to 177 metres by no later than 2012.

As of 8 October 2011, the pre-assembled lift support shafts have been installed on both the left and central platforms; these have not yet been completed and no lift cars are visible within. It has become apparent that the existing footbridge will be removed to a heritage railway, and a new footbridge installed in its place.^{[citation needed]}

Despite no indication that such a facility exists on the station map produced by National Rail/ATOC, a disabled toilet is provided on platform one of the station, accessible via the waiting room on this platform. The entrance doors to both this area and the toilet itself however, are large and cumbersome and lack any assistive devices, such as powered door mechanisms.^{[citation needed]}

Refurbishment

A £7 million package of improvements was started at the station in June 2010. Platforms are to be extended to accommodate the longest trains which serve the station, lifts to provide access to all platforms, and refurbishment of the existing ticket office, waiting rooms and glass platform canopies.

Service patterns

Rail routes run north-south through Loughborough along the route known as the Midland Main Line, going south to Leicester, Kettering, Bedford, Luton and London; and north to Derby, Nottingham, Chesterfield and Sheffield.

East Midlands Trains (EMT) operate the station as well as all services.

The usual Monday - Saturday service pattern is as follows:

• Platform one -
  • Hourly East Midlands Trains service to Sheffield via Derby and Chesterfield
  • Hourly East Midlands Trains service to Nottingham via Beeston

• Platform two -
  • Hourly fast East Midlands Trains service to London St Pancras International via Leicester
  • Hourly semi-fast East Midlands Trains service to London St Pancras International via Kettering, Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway

• Platform three -
  • Hourly local East Midlands Trains service to Lincoln via East Midlands Parkway, Nottingham and Newark with peak hour trains to Sleaford
  • Hourly local East Midlands Trains service to Leicester via Syston

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Leicester		East Midlands Trains Midland Main Line		Beeston
				East Midlands Parkway
Barrow-upon-Soar		East Midlands Trains Leicester-Lincoln		East Midlands Parkway
Melton Mowbray		East Midlands Trains Nottingham-Norwich Limited service		East Midlands Parkway

External links

• Train times and station information for Loughborough railway station from National Rail
• Skylink bus timetable