Captain’s Column: Gainsborough Central Station has been voted the worst train station in Britain

And so what many of us have known for years is now official - Gainsborough Central has been voted the worst train station in Britain.
Gainsborough Central StationGainsborough Central Station
Gainsborough Central Station

A gentleman called Andrew Dowd, who has visited 2,548 stops and travelled along 21,000 miles of track across the UK, confirmed that Central was the worst he had experienced on the British rail network.

It’s a new low for a station that in the past has been compared to war-torn Beirut by a rail mazine.

Personally, I always felt that was way too harsh.

Gainsborough Central StationGainsborough Central Station
Gainsborough Central Station

Too harsh on Beirut. As one of the Davy Jones letters this week suggests, perhaps the town is missing out on a tourism opportunity to create a desert oasis on the banks of the Trent?

Anyway, I decided to have a wander up to Central Station the other day to see what all the fuss was about.

Obviously I wasn’t intending to catch a train. That would have been a little ambitious as a check of the dilapidated departure board revealed that the next train was due in exactly 107 hours, on Saturday morning.

Another Ice Age could well have arrived before the next service trundles in.

Though frankly it’s a miracle trains can get down the track at all given the amount of vegetation clogging up the rails.

David Bellamy would have a field day and probably discover a dozen new species of wildflower.

Meanwhile, the rickety old bridge between the platforms looks about as safe as the one across the river full of crocodiles in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

And the facilities for a passengers aren’t exactly on a par with Grand Central in New York either.

The shelter looks like one gust of wind would send it spinning off into the sky.

Yes it’s a scene of desolate neglect. And one that is totally unnecessary.

After all, Central station is in a perfect location, literally just a stone’s throw from the bright lights of Marshall’s Yard and a five minute walk from the town centre.

It should be able to support a train every hour, not three a week.

What a complete and utter waste of a facility we could all be using.

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