Grantham railway station is a stop on the East Coast Main Line, serving the market town of Grantham, in Lincolnshire, England. It lies down the line from ; on the main line, it is situated between to the south and to the north. Two secondary lines diverge from the main line north of Grantham: the Poacher Line to and a branch line to .
The original station at Grantham, Old Wharf, was opened when the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway opened its line from Nottingham on 15 July 1850. This line was taken over by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) in 1854. This was replaced by the present station which opened on 1 August 1852; the Old Wharf station closed the following day.
The new station was on the GNR's direct line between Peterborough and (the Towns Line), which was completed in 1852. The alternative route via and (the Fens Loop Line) had already opened in 1850. The Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway opened their line from Barkston Junction, north of Grantham, to in 1857 and on to Boston in 1859. This railway was taken over by the GNR in 1864. The Grantham to Lincoln line, which branched off the Sleaford line at , was opened in 1867. Finally, the Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway was opened in 1879. This ran from and in the south, through Melton Mowbray to Nottingham and Newark in the north, crossing the Grantham to Nottingham line near . The GNR operated a Grantham to Leicester service via this route.
In 1937, the LNER announced that they planned to lengthen the down platform. At long, it was too short to accommodate the increasing length of the main line express trains and the work would extend it to . At the same time, the whole platform length was to be raised to a standard height of and a new awning over the platform opposite the station buildings would be added.
Two train crashes have occurred at Grantham:
The early life of the station was marred by some unfortunate accidents to individuals:
Junctions near the town also connect to branches to Nottingham, and to Sleaford and Skegness. The station was built close to the factory of Richard Hornsby & Sons.
The station has four platforms:
Platform 2, 3 and 4 are formed from a large island platform structure. Only platform 1 has amenities, including toilets and a buffet.
Prior to the reopening of the Allington Chord in 2006, trains between Nottingham and Skegness entered the station on the ECML, reversed and then crossed the ECML via a flat junction, adding to congestion on the main line. Since the opening of the chord, they reverse and travel whence they came using the chord, crossing under the ECML using existing tracks.
The station is served by three train operating companies, which provide the following services in trains per hour (tph):
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