As life returns to normal after the Christmas period, most of us will have made use of the transport network to get back to work or to see friends and family. Whichever way we travel, we can all appreciate the value of our trains, as they either get us around and help free up traffic on our roads. We are fortunate to have such fantastic rail links here in Grantham, with London and Leeds just over an hour away.
Since Britain’s first steam-powered passenger railway opened in 1830, the railways have played an important role in our national story, whether as a source of our industrial strength in the nineteenth-century or as a route to safety for millions of children escaping the Blitz in the twentieth.
More recently, we saw a record 1.8 billion journeys made by rail in 2018/19. However, we have not yet seen a return to these pre-pandemic levels, and it seems the role of rail travel is changing once again in our country. More people choose to work from home more often, and leisure now makes up a greater proportion of overall numbers.
After spending £17bn in 2020-21 to keep our railways running during the pandemic, attention has now turned to making services sustainable for the future with investment across the board. Major high-speed rail links will achieve shorter journeys and higher capacities, while new technologies in ticketing will improve passenger experiences. A new organisation, Great British Rail, will have oversight of the entire network to ensure it runs seamlessly.
This picture has been replicated locally. In 2021/22, Grantham Station was used almost 1.2 million times compared to 1.4 million in the year before the pandemic, but this represents an important recovery from 0.35 million over 2020.
The station has secured investment to improve access and our connection to our closest cities and London. As part of a £1.5 million package, LNER, who run Grantham Station, have created 115 additional parking spaces and enhanced the full length of Station Road to create a new gateway to our town and boost access to the station.
On a wider scale, the East Coast Digital Programme will see the East Coast Main Line be the first intercity mainline to be upgraded with state-of the art digital signalling to boost reliability, reduce carbon emissions and provide a more punctual service for customers, including those travelling south from Grantham.
As services become more reliable and access to our station is transformed, I am confident that the future of Grantham’s rail connections is bright.
Our railways are a symbol of how our nation built the modern world, they connect us to our family, friends, and colleagues, and Government investment is helping to ensure they play an important role in our future. Like many, I am disappointed to see trade unions like the RMT make unreasonable pay demands, refuse sensible reforms, and hold our transport systems hostage. The Government is clear that, alongside significant investment, they will take action to ensure that our railways remain on-track.
