however this has services which do not run late at night nor on Sundays. In 2007, Central Trains, the then operator, announced that longer trains would be used on the line as overcrowding at weekends has become a severe problem. East Midlands Trains took over the operation of all routes in the East Midlands in November 2007 and have in the past expressed an interest in running London – trains on summer Saturdays. This has been delayed by Network Rail putting back the track repairs between Boston and Skegness to 2010. History The East Lincolnshire Railway from Boston to Louth opened in March 1848, and the section from Grantham to Boston was built by the Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway, opening in two stages in 1857 and 1859. In due course both concerns were leased and later absorbed by the GNR company. The section from Wainfleet to Skegness opened in August 1873 (by the Wainfleet and Firsby Railway Company, later owned by the GNR in the late 1890s). The GNR became part of the LNER in 1923. When other nearby lines were still open it became a less important route, except for its section from Boston to Firsby which was shared with the more important Peterborough to Grimsby line (via ) until October 1970 - this resulted in the line's unusually sharp curve in the track near Firsby where it joins the Skegness line (which was originally opened as a branch from Firsby). This also had a section from here to Woodhall Spa and on to Lincoln. There had never been a direct line built from Skegness to Mablethorpe; travellers to Mablethorpe would have to travel via either the branch line from Willoughby (from the south which opened in October 1886), or Louth (from the north which opened in September 1888). The Skegness part of the line inspired the famous poster, designed in 1908 for the GNR. Allington Chord When part of the line was shared with the East Coast Main Line, there was a common bottleneck on the three miles north of Grantham to the Barkston South junction, which held up valuable slots on a more important route. A solution was urgently needed to get the Skegness trains off this route. In October 2005, trains heading for Skegness were diverted back towards Nottingham as far as Allington junction, a new £11 million short section of track, which was