on the line as part of the new Northern franchise with services on the line being doubled, although these have since been reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: 1 tph to via 1 tph to The station is also served by a single morning and evening peak hour service to and from . On Sundays, the station is served by an hourly service between Lincoln and Sheffield, with some services continuing to . A small number of trains from Sheffield start/terminate here, including two that use the surviving connection via Whisker Hill Junction to reach platform 2 at High Level (a practice that was much more common in the 1970s when the Lincoln route had fewer through trains). In 2021, work was undertaken to make the low-level platforms fully accessible, funded by the UK Government's Access for All programme. Previously, only the Retford to Lincoln platform (platform 4) was accessible; the Retford to Sheffield platform (platform 3) had steps to the platform and a barrow crossing. It was originally intended that the improvement programme would be completed by July 2021, but the project was set back by flooding and finally concluded on 15 December. The programme included the addition of a covered walkway between the mainline platforms and the low-level platforms. History Retford station was Grade II listed by Historic England in July 2020. The current buildings date from 1891-2 and the reason for listing was given as "the very rare survival of the original finishes in the dining room and refreshment room" which are said to be ornate and featuring "fine craftsmanship"; the "remarkably long and well-balanced composition in the Italianate style" of the station buildings and the "impressive" canopy over the platform; and the well-preserved platform which make it "one of the most intact medium-sized GNR stations". The Retford Times (1913) presents a memoir of William Briggs (b 1839) who recalled the arrival of the first locomotive: "The speculation and guesses as to what a steam train would be like, when it began to be talked about, was general. The first locomotive came on a heavy lorry. It arrived on a Saturday, and going down Dixon's Bridge, the weight sunk the wheels on one side to the axle, and it had to remain till Monday. On Sunday hundreds visited the spot." He also recalled a train going to Cleethorpes