User:Hammersfan/Railway Adjustment and Intervention Bureau/Robin Hood Line

The Robin Hood Line is a railway line running from Nottingham to Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The stations between Shirebrook and Whitwell (inclusive) are in Derbyshire.

The towns and villages served by the route are listed below:
 * Nottingham
 * Bulwell
 * Hucknall
 * Newstead
 * Kirkby-in-Ashfield
 * Sutton-in-Ashfield
 * Mansfield
 * Mansfield Woodhouse
 * Shirebrook
 * Langwith, Nether Langwith and Whaley Thorns
 * Creswell
 * Whitwell
 * Worksop

Passenger services are operated by Nottingham Express Transit. The line re-opened to passengers in stages between 1993 and 1998. Following the Beeching cuts of the 1960s, the line had been freight-only. The cuts had left Mansfield as one of the largest towns in Britain without a railway station.

History
The current Robin Hood Line never previously existed as it does now: it was formed from two formerly separate railways. The bulk of the line re-uses the former Midland Railway route from Nottingham London Road to Worksop. However, to keep the costs of the re-opening initiative as low as possible, as much still extant line as possible was to be re-used.

From Nottingham, the line remained intact as far as Newstead, where it had served the now closed Newstead Colliery.

From Worksop, the line followed the old Midland route as far as Sutton-in-Ashfield. Between Sutton-in-Ashfield and Kirkby-in-Ashfield, the line had been diverted to join the former Great Northern Railway (GNR) route through the area. This had allowed British Rail to sell land right in the centre of Kirkby-in-Ashfield whilst keeping a route through the town. After crossing the town on the GNR route, the line re-joined the old MR route, where it remained as a freight line to Pye Bridge, near Ironville.

When plans for the Robin Hood Line were drawn up, it was decided to stay with the GNR route through Kirkby-in-Ashfield (to avoid having to buy back land), then swing southeast via Kirkby South Junction onto the former Great Central Railway main line from Manchester to London.

After briefly following the GCR, the line would then climb to re-join the Midland route to Nottingham to allow reconnection at Newstead.

This plan had a major obstacle: the Robin Hood Hills at Annesley. Both the Great Central Railway and the Midland Railway had driven tunnels through these picturesque landmarks, but since both lines closed, both tunnels had been filled in. The Great Central Railway's tunnel had been at a lower level than the Midland's and so was much longer. It was therefore much cheaper to re-excavate the Midland's tunnel.

The new line from Nottingham to Newstead opened in 1993 although Bulwell station opened only in 1994. It was extended to Mansfield Woodhouse in 1995, with Kirkby-in-Ashfield station opening in 1996. The through passenger route from Nottingham to Worksop opened in 1998.

Since then the section between Bulwell and Hucknall has been converted from double track to single track to allow space for the new Nottingham Express Transit tramway, which follows the route as far north as Hucknall and opened in March 2004. The success of the NET service led to proposals to extend the tram route along the rest of the Robin Hood Line. However, the distances involved proved to be unworkable for a standard tramway. So, a proposal was made to convert the line from Hucknall onwards to a tram-train route, which would then be directly connected to the NET route to allow through running. Although the service level remained the same, trains could now run directly into the centre of Nottingham rather than to the railway station. The conversion work was completed in 2007, in time for the franchise change when Midland Mainline handed over its operations to East Midlands Trains; operation of the Robin Hood Line route was removed from the East Midlands franchise and incorporated into NET's operations.

To accomodate the new service, the Station Street terminus was more fully integrated into Nottingham railway station by having its platforms numbered in line with the railway station's existing platforms - Station Street has a total of three platform faces on two tracks (one is a double length). The single length platform thus became Platform 7, while the double length platform became Platform 8, divided into A and B.

Service level
Currently, the Robin Hood Line operates a Monday to Saturday service between 05:30am and 10:30pm. During the day, trains run at half hourly intervals between Nottingham and Mansfield Woodhouse, with one service an hour continuing to Worksop.

This runs as part of the standard NET service as far as Highbury Vale. However, just before Bulwell, the NET and Network Rail routes split; standard NET services continue onwards using Bulwell's tram platforms and call at all intermediate tram stops, while Robin Hood line trains use the Network Rail route and run fast between Bulwell and Hucknall.

A Sunday service began on 7 December 2008, with ten trains running between Nottingham and Mansfield Woodhouse between 09:15am and 10:30pm. Four of those will continue to Worksop.

Rolling Stock
To operate the new tram-train service, a new type of rail vehicle was required. After careful study, the Stadler GTW light rail vehicle was chosen - this combines the on road requirements of a tram vehicle with the long distance needs of a heavy rail train. To reduce the cost of converting the line, it remains unelectrified, and so a diesel powered version of the GTW was purchased. A total of 15 Class 138 railcars were purchased; while resembling ordinary trams, these are fully equipped commuter trains capable of undertaking the route between Nottingham and Worksop. Most of the day these units operate singly; however, during peak times they are equipped with a coupling that allows them to work in multiple. Due to the length of the platforms at most of the stops on the NET network, passengers are forced to leave the train using the doors in the centre of a coupled pair of units. These trains can also only operate from Platform 8 at Nottingham Station Street.