Services on the line were operated by Northern Trains and its predecessors until May 2021 when East Midlands Railway took over.[1] As at July 2023, services operate every two hours in each direction on weekdays. Sunday trains only run during the summer months (May to early September).[2]
On Monday to Saturday, the first service of the day from Cleethorpes to Barton-on-Humber, the 06:00 departure, and the 06:58 return was operated by a First TransPennine ExpressClass 185 (for operational reasons), although this service did not call at Great Coates and Thornton Abbey due to the low platforms. This practice ceased at the December 2013 timetable change and the first train from Cleethorpes now serves all intermediate stations other than New Clee, which is currently served by trains on request during daylight hours only.[citation needed]
Freight services previously served the chemical works at Barton-upon-Humber and the sidings at New Holland Pier. Since the closure of the chemical plant no scheduled freight services operate on the route, though occasional trainloads have operated from the bulk grain terminal at New Holland (which now occupies the former pier it remained rail-connected for a period, but the tracks are now in disrepair and unusable).
Infrastructure
The line is mostly double track, except for the sections at each end and the connecting curve between Habrough and Ulceby. The eastern portion of the route as far as Habrough is shared with the South Humberside Main Line to Doncaster and Lincoln, whilst the short section either side of Ulceby also forms part of the busy freight artery between Brocklesby and the Port of Immingham. West of Ulceby the line is double as far as Oxmarsh Crossing (near New Holland), reverting to single for the final 3+1⁄4 miles (5.2 km) to the terminus at Barton. This section has several manual signal boxes with semaphore signalling and staffed & gated level crossings in operation.[6]Network Rail planned to re-signal the line in 2015–16, with control passing to the York Rail Operating Centre – the level crossings on the line were automated and the existing signal box at Ulceby Junction abolished (those at Goxhill, Barrow Road and Oxmarsh Crossing remain).
Prior to the opening of the Humber Bridge in June 1981, passenger services ran via New Holland Pier where they connected with the Humber Ferry service across the Humber to Corporation Pier in Hull but after the bridge was commissioned the ferry service was withdrawn and a new chord line and replacement station provided at New Holland to allow trains to run directly to and from Barton. Since then, the connection to and from Hull has been provided by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire bus over the bridge and now operates out of Hull Paragon Interchange.
The service ran hourly until the spring of 1990, but was cut to the current two-hourly pattern at that year's timetable change by British Rail due to unreliability and a shortage of rolling stock. The winter Sunday service also suffered the same fate in 1999 following the abolition of Humberside County Council and subsequent withdrawal of funding by the replacement unitary authorities.[8]
Signalling
The south end of the line is signalled under Track Circuit Block by the York Rail Operating Centre. To the north, several signal boxes control the line under Absolute Block with semaphores. The single section is signalled under One Train Working with staff, with the signaller at Oxmarsh Crossing signal box giving the staff and collecting it.
References
^"May Milestone for MML Timetable". Modern Railways. No. 872. May 2021. p. 23.
