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Worcestershire Parkway station progress

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Unixman

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Seems that the long-hoped for station might actually be on the cards again ...

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news...rt_of___53m_cash_injection_for_county/?ref=mr

"THE long-awaited dream of a new Worcestershire railway station is finally going to happen - as part of a £53 million Government and European cash injection to kick-start the economy.

Your Worcester News can reveal how yesterday's announcement - which will create 3,000 jobs - includes £7.5 million of Government funds to build Worcestershire Parkway on land at Norton near Worcester.

Worcestershire County Council's leadership says the award "will now make parkway happen", and has revealed officers are well underway with work on a planning application for the station which will be submitted in the first half of next year."
 
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Unixman

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Is the proposed station on an existing double track section of the Cotswold line ?

Not 100% clear

"As well as the Government's funding commitment the Department for Transport has agreed to support talks with train operators to ensure they use the two platforms at Norton.

They will serve current Cotswold Line services, heading to Oxford and London, of which talks are already advanced with the train industry, and cross-country services linking to destinations like Bristol and Cardiff."

I guess it will be on the single line section as well as the north/south line
 

PhilipW

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Not 100% clear

"As well as the Government's funding commitment the Department for Transport has agreed to support talks with train operators to ensure they use the two platforms at Norton.

They will serve current Cotswold Line services, heading to Oxford and London, of which talks are already advanced with the train industry, and cross-country services linking to destinations like Bristol and Cardiff."

I guess it will be on the single line section as well as the north/south line

So sounds like a bit more redoubling will probably be in the pipeline as well.
 

Minilad

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I was under the impression the station would be built where the Cotswold line goes over the Birmingham - Cheltenham line just north of Abbotswood Junction. Then both lines will be served
 

Unixman

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I was under the impression the station would be built where the Cotswold line goes over the Birmingham - Cheltenham line just north of Abbotswood Junction. Then both lines will be served

It would make a lot of sense to serve both lines. Parking at Foregate Street is non-existant; SH poor
 

The Planner

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It is on the bridge just north of Abbotswood, no double tracking is planned. Same sort of arrangement as Tamworth.
 
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It is on the bridge just north of Abbotswood, no double tracking is planned. Same sort of arrangement as Tamworth.

I hope provision is made for double tracking in the future, seems very short sighted not to allow for double tracking/an additional platform at some future date.
 

PhilipW

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It is on the bridge just north of Abbotswood, no double tracking is planned. Same sort of arrangement as Tamworth.

Building a new station on a single track section of line will by its very nature reduce the overall capacity of the line. Seems rather counter productive.
 
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The Planner

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Remember this is third party funded so unless they stump up for that then it won't get built. As far as I know it isn't a NR Plan to redouble that section any time soon. It might end up being sorted around 2020 as part of the (pencilled in anyway) wider Worcester resignalling. The Bromsgrove to Abbotswood resignalling next year allows for the station from what I have heard.
 

D6975

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Hopefully this will lead to connections from the Bristol direction onto the cotswold line.
At the moment the train from Bristol arrives at Shrub Hill a few minutes after the cotswold line train has left, meaning a wait of nearly 2 hours for the next one!
 

Old Hill Bank

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Hopefully this will lead to connections from the Bristol direction onto the cotswold line.
At the moment the train from Bristol arrives at Shrub Hill a few minutes after the cotswold line train has left, meaning a wait of nearly 2 hours for the next one!

We would like to see Snow Hill Line services connect with the XC stuff as well. That will depend on the signalling allowing a turnback facility.
 

The Planner

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If they expect extensions of the Snow Hills then you are in the realms of double tracking at least to the station or providing a bay platform. As I have mentioned in other threads, all XC will stop are the Cardiff Nottinghams, don't expect the long distance stuff to.
 

David Goddard

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Sounds like a great idea. Best location by far would be where the two lines cross, and definitely need two platform on the (high level) Cotswold line. Its been shown before that a budget built job only needs a rebuild in another ten years so it should be done properly now. Yes an extension of Snow Hills would be ideal as well, connecting Kidderminster and Stourbridge to the Cheltenham line.
 

Old Hill Bank

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If they expect extensions of the Snow Hills then you are in the realms of double tracking at least to the station or providing a bay platform. As I have mentioned in other threads, all XC will stop are the Cardiff Nottinghams, don't expect the long distance stuff to.

It's only 600 metres from Norton Junction, not the biggest of infrastructure projects. As for the XC stuff, I see no reason why the DfT could not amend the contract to include stops on the Bristols.
 

David Goddard

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To stop the Cardiff-Nottinghams and Bristol-Manchesters would be fine. No need for the Plymouth-Edinburghs as well though.
 

Old Hill Bank

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To stop the Cardiff-Nottinghams and Bristol-Manchesters would be fine. No need for the Plymouth-Edinburghs as well though.

One of the reasons for building the place is to provide better Inter City connections in and out of Worcestershire. Better to stop the Plymouth services or you lose some of the benefit of the investment.
 

The Planner

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The DfT would have to force XC to stop the long distance stuff as they have no interest in it. They are journey time orientated on the long distance flows and it also has the potential to really cause problems north of Bromsgrove and at New St if you suddenly add 2½-3 minutes into all of them.
 

edwin_m

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This seems to be a 2013 application for funding, not sure if this is exactly what has been agreed:

http://www.business-central.co.uk/cms/pdf/2. Parkway WLTB Bid.pdf

The mention of access from the B4084, footbridge to the Birmingham platform and diversion of two public rights of way suggests that the station will be to the north-east of the bridge where the two lines cross. South-east is also possible but less likely, because north-east would adjoin an existing industrial-type building west of the railway and so reduce impact on green spaces. As the Cotswold single line is on the north side of the formation, the platform for a north-east option wouldprobably not block any future doubling. There is also a second span on the bridge to the east of the Birmingham-Gloucester line (provision for an unlikely four-tracking?) which may mean a second footbridge is not needed if the Cotswold line is ever re-doubled.
 
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Old Hill Bank

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The DfT would have to force XC to stop the long distance stuff as they have no interest in it. They are journey time orientated on the long distance flows and it also has the potential to really cause problems north of Bromsgrove and at New St if you suddenly add 2½-3 minutes into all of them.

So they force XC to do it, fine. As for journey time try putting Kidderminster or Stourbridge to Exeter into a journey planner and most of the time you will be sent north into Birmingham with two changes or one change and dragging your luggage across the city.

It's time the industry moved to running services for the people and not for operational convenience.

There is a plan to up line speeds from Blackwell to Bristol so it would be near journey time neutral anyway.
 

Unixman

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So they force XC to do it, fine. As for journey time try putting Kidderminster or Stourbridge to Exeter into a journey planner and most of the time you will be sent north into Birmingham with two changes or one change and dragging your luggage across the city.

It's time the industry moved to running services for the people and not for operational convenience.

There is a plan to up line speeds from Blackwell to Bristol so it would be near journey time neutral anyway.

Totally agree. The "let's not stop anywhere in case it disrupts the timetable" is just daft. No, I don't expect every train to stop at every piddling little station but the idea behind Worcestershire Parkway is that it is to be a major hub for the whole of the county south of Bromsgrove.
 

davetheguard

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The DfT would have to force XC to stop the long distance stuff as they have no interest in it. They are journey time orientated on the long distance flows and it also has the potential to really cause problems north of Bromsgrove and at New St if you suddenly add 2½-3 minutes into all of them.

Wouldn't it just be a better idea for XC to serve Shrub Hill and then half the need for this new parkway station disappears?

I can't really understand why XC don't stop at a large city like Worcester; and that's before you consider connections to places like Malvern; Hereford; Evesham; & Oxford.

And as another poster has pointed out, because of the very small number of FGW Bristol - Worcester trains, most passengers on this axis are forced to travel on to Birmingham and all the way back out again.

But if XC won't stop commercially, then surely this is the sort of strategic network decision that the DfT should be making,,,,
 

Old Hill Bank

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Would it be such a bad idea if NR were told to sort out the Worcester Triangle crap as part of the project and provide much needed operational flexibility instead of them "Sweating to asset" until it falls to bits and they say "Oh dear we have an issue here"
 

deltic08

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To stop the Cardiff-Nottinghams and Bristol-Manchesters would be fine. No need for the Plymouth-Edinburghs as well though.

Fine for whom? Certainly not for passengers south-west of Cheltenham or north of Birmingham. Cardiff-Birmingham is long enough as it is.
 

Old Hill Bank

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Fine for whom? Certainly not for passengers south-west of Cheltenham or north of Birmingham. Cardiff-Birmingham is long enough as it is.

Not sure what you are saying Deltic08 as someone from Ripon can those of us in the West Midlands have something on here please.
 

The Planner

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There is a plan to up line speeds from Blackwell to Bristol so it would be near journey time neutral anyway.

That's pretty much finished and delivers nowhere near enough time to make a stop neutral.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Would it be such a bad idea if NR were told to sort out the Worcester Triangle crap as part of the project and provide much needed operational flexibility instead of them "Sweating to asset" until it falls to bits and they say "Oh dear we have an issue here"

Like I have said already, this is NOT a NR funded scheme, it is driven by the third party. Worcester is down for 2020 for re-signalling and even that isn't concrete.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Phase 1 (high level) is just for Cotswold line services (2016/17 if they are still on track) - £10.35m.
Phase 2 (low level) is for Cardiff-Nottingham to call - 2018/19 - £5.69m.
Phase 3 is other XC services to call (no schedule).
Platforms are to be 256m, so can cope with HSTs and 10-car Voyagers/IEPs.
Passenger facilities look to be basic, except for a big car park.
The report linked above has an illustration with two platforms on the upper level but that seems unlikely to start with.
Hourly services on both lines probably mean long waits for connections, as there is no coordination between the two (maybe three with LM?) franchises.
 

Old Hill Bank

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That's pretty much finished and delivers nowhere near enough time to make a stop neutral.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

So be it, live with it and cope.


Like I have said already, this is NOT a NR funded scheme, it is driven by the third party. Worcester is down for 2020 for re-signalling and even that isn't concrete.

But it should be, NR need to get more passenger focused instead of hiding behind regulatory crap. Are we going back to Railtrack days.
 
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