Whitby - service improvements from December

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Whitby Gazette

Whitby welcomes more trains - this will make a day trip to London and back possible for the first time

More Esk Valley Line trains will be coming to Whitby from December.

Following a long campaign by the Esk Valley Community Rail Partnership, Northern Rail is planning more trains year round in both the early morning and later in the evening.

“This will transform the rail service on the Esk Valley line” says Partnership Chairman Alan Williams, “providing for the first time services for both commuters and the growing evening economy in Whitby”.

The Partnership has proposed a new early morning departure from Whitby to arrive in Middlesbrough before 8.30am.

Together with later evening services, this will enable commuting or other day trips by rail to Darlington, York and Leeds, or even further afield to Manchester and Newcastle, and provide much better access to the new station at James Cook Hospital throughout the day.

When the new direct LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) Azuma^▸ (Brand name for Class 80x trains on LNER) service from Middlesbrough starts soon, a day trip to London and back by rail will be possible for the first time.

The new train service is the first stage of the Community Rail Partnership’s plan, part funded by Sirius Minerals, to bring a two hourly train service to the line once Network Rail has completed necessary infrastructure and other improvement works.

London may be the headline ... the service improvement is very real for more local journeys as the line moves in character from a service for only suitable for certain flows (as it has been) to a service suitable for the general flows of the district.  Hearing Alan Williams talk at the RailFuture conference in Darlington last month, I learn about the way the current flows to Whitby for leisure and for education operate ... but how they are less than ideal (!) for trips in to the James Cook hospital from the Whitby direction or for residents returning into the evening.

[macbrains]

Great place for a holiday, and the Esk Valley line has really picturesque stations.  We visited the interesting Battersby Junction, where the trains reverse, and the lovely little station at Lealholm, which complements the beautiful village.  Also a trip from Whitby to Grosmont - and I bought a book of walks between the stations on the NYMR^▸ (North Yorkshire Moors Railway - heritage line), for a future holiday.

The service improvements mean that we'll be able to travel to Middlesborough, and visit the Transporter Bridge as well.