Two new stations: Bermuda Park and Coventry (previously Ricoh) Arena

[swt_passenger]

...Still needs a double 153 ideally, and with this week's rumour of FGW sending their 14 153's back to the leasing company, I wonder if we will get a couple to strengthen.

Why is that considered to be a rumour? Or is the rumour that it's happening earlier?

The GW direct award franchise agreement has the date the 14 153s are off-lease as May 2017.

 

[HLE]

Why is that considered to be a rumour? Or is the rumour that it's happening earlier?

The GW direct award franchise agreement has the date the 14 153s are off-lease as May 2017.

A better word would have been gossip. Apparently they are sending them off lease - probably in line with that agreement then. Will be very interesting to see who ends up with the 153's, we may get the 2 back we lost a few years ago.

Can see a few heading to Anglia personally. Not so sure about northern

 

[The Ham]

According to http://www.railfuture.org.uk/article1657-That-Riviera-Touch

Recently London Midland have started using twin class 153 units on the normal service, but at weekends only when passenger numbers on the line are usually fewer.

Assuming that is true it would imply that even without the hired in Locos and coaches that LM are able to provide some extra capacity on match days in the form of the doubled up 153's.

Full story from the link above:

The Nuckle saga continues to roll on but this time in a much more positive mode.
To recap, Coventry Arena station was opened in January with the original plans including provision of ‘shuttle services’ for major events. So far the station has been closed for one hour before and one hour after events, to prevent possibly hundreds of passengers trying to board the single, car class 153 which is the usual weekday formation on an hourly service.

The cavalry, in the form of Riviera Trains, finally arrived on Sunday 28th February in time to provide an enhanced service for Wasps RFC match against Harlequins. London Midland were able to hire from Riviera a 6 x mark 2 carriage set, topped and tailed by two class 67 locos. This was easily slotted into the normal timetable providing three extra return services before the match from Coventry to Nuneaton calling at Coventry Arena only. Similar services were provided after the match. A London Midland spokesperson said the services were ‘well patronised’, but only form the first part of a trial, the second being for Wasps next home match, the local derby against Leicester Tigers on Saturday 12th March when evaluation will take place.

Two other interesting notes. Recently London Midland have started using twin class 153 units on the normal service, but at weekends only when passenger numbers on the line are usually fewer. Secondly, the advertising material for the ‘Rugby Specials’ quoted a return fare Coventry – Arena of £4.80. Log on to any train ticket site and you will get an off peak return for £2.40 !!

 

[HLE]

According to http://www.railfuture.org.uk/article1657-That-Riviera-Touch



Assuming that is true it would imply that even without the hired in Locos and coaches that LM are able to provide some extra capacity on match days in the form of the doubled up 153's.

Full story from the link above:

That £4 (ish) ticket included the travel + pint offer - this was under 'ticket type' on the rail ticket and could be redeemed against a pint at the Quins match.

A double 153 could hold about 200-230 crush loaded. It's more to do with the fact that if there were more than that trying to use it after the match - which there probably would be, then you'd have people queuing for an hour to be picked up on the next trip.

Understandably, the daily commuters aren't happy about the double at the weekends!

 

[Requeststop]

On the first of February, I passed through Coventry Arena and noticed this very interesting notice on the information boards. In case you cannot see it clearly it says: "Remember, this station is closed one hour after major events. You are advised to travel to and from the stadium by car".

Made me wonder why they built the station at the arena in the first place if the railway companies don't want the business.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

You've not been following this thread much, have you?

 

[HilversumNS]

Today's Coventry Evening Telegraph:

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/ricoh-arena-matchday-trains-doubt-11043422#rlabs=2%20rt$sitewide%20p$5

Ricoh Arena matchday trains in doubt after trial runs lose an estimated £30,000
Wasps and London Midland lose £30,000 on trial Ricoh Arena train services, which could put an end to matchday rail travel until late 2017

Plans to offer matchday train services to and from the Ricoh Arena for Coventry City FC and Wasps supporters may have been derailed after two trial runs flopped financially.

It is understood London Midland and Wasps suffered losses of around £30,000 after jointly spending a total of about £40,000 on special charter train services for the matches with Harlequins and Leicester Tigers.

The train for the Harlequins game in February is estimated to have lost about £18,000 as just 650 people paid £2.40 for return tickets on the six carriage charter train.

The matchday special for Wasps’ victory over Leicester on Saturday (match analysis here) was better used with an estimated 2,000 people taking advantage of the service. But that was still nowhere near enough to cover the running costs - leaving the rugby club and the train operators roughly £15,000 in the red on that day.

Having suffered significant losses from the two trial services, the prospect of further matchday or event day charter trains being run appears bleak.

That means supporters will once again be left unable to use the £3.4million Ricoh Arena railway station to travel to and from matches as the station will close for an hour after every major event due to safety concerns.


Why do they need charter trains?
The regular service can only carry 75 people an hour so that's not allowed to stop at the station after matches and concerts as too many people might try to use it, causing obvious safety problems which you can read more about here.

Train operator London Midland can't find enough diesel rolling stock to increase the service, hence the need to hire trains in. London Midland did warn they wouldn't have enough trains for a matchday service five years ago .


What happens next?
Wasps and London Midland have shared the £40,000 bill for matchday specials for the games against Harlequins and Leicester. They were never going to recover that from passenger fares (the story on how much tickets would need to cost to break even is here) but after losing an estimated £30,000 over the two days, they now have a decision to make about whether they want to do it again.


What do Wasps say?
Andy Gibb, MD of the Ricoh Arena, said: “We were very pleased with the Rugby Special train service which was trialled at Wasps’ games against Harlequins and Leicester Tigers.

“These initial services were a great success operationally and have been very well received by Wasps’ fans. We’re very grateful to London Midland for the tremendous work they put in to make this happen.

“We will meet with London Midland again shortly to discuss plans for future events at the Ricoh Arena, and will announce the outcome of these discussions to supporters and ticket holders in the normal way.”


What do London Midland say?
Francis Thomas, spokesman for London Midland, said: “The reality is that we have been prepared to look at every possibility. We need to review how they worked operationally and financially.

“The big challenge for us is that hiring a locomotive and six carriages is very expensive. The example I would use is that if you used your own car to go to the shops then you only have to consider petrol, if you hired a car to go to the shops there would be much more cost attached.

“We’ll have to look hard at this and see what the future holds. We said we would give it everything we had and we have.”

He added that about 50 of the people on board the Harlequins service were train spotters, and couldn’t be counted as regular customers.

Mr Thomas also suggested it might take time for people to consider using Arena Park Station as people have been getting to the Ricoh Arena by alternative means for over a decade.

He said: “We’re committed to running the timetable we have in place. There are no diesel trains to run an increased service. The only way we’ll get more rolling stock is if electrification projects are completed, and that won’t happen any time soon.”


Is the Arena station a waste of time and money?
In the short term it doesn't look great but in the long term it could still prove useful. Electrification elsewhere on the rail network should free up more diesel trains to allow London Midland to run a proper matchday service for Wasps and Coventry City fans without the need to hire in trains at great expense - but that won't happen until the end of 2017.

There are also plans to extend the platform at Coventry Station which will allow longer trains to shuttle between the two stations. The station has been defended by Coventry city councillor Kevin Maton here.


Who paid for the Arena station?
Taxpayers like you. The station was built as part of the NUCKLE line upgrade which was funded by Centro with £5m, £4.75m from the Department for Transport and £3.85m from the European Regional Development Fund.

 

[LesF]

Thanks HilversumNS for posting the Coventry Telegraph article but you could have pointed out their errors.
First, there is not a plat extension planned for Cov station. A new plat will be built west of Warwick Road bridge where there is already an electrified siding. Because there is only a narrow passage under Warwick Road to get to the station entrance, and the fear that hoards of passengers coming from the Arena would block it, the original plan was for a flight of steps up to Warwick Road. Passengers would then have to go down the existing steps into the station. They've ditched that idea and this month work will start on building a new pedestrian tunnel under Warwick Road.
Second, there are 75 seats on a single 153 but the service is often run with two cars and you can have standing passengers for the short journey, perhaps as many as seated. In that case the train capacity would be 300.
Thirdly, (not an error), is it right to call a two-car 153 "two dog boxes". The origin of the term dog-box is that the trains were made as 2-car units and when they were split into single cars, a cab had to be squeezed in at the end that didn't have one. The cab is small, hence the term dog-box. But when the cars are joined to make a two-car unit there's no need to use the cramped cabs.
Fourthly, would the 6-car rugby specials be more viable if they ran all the way to Marylebone on Sundays? Wasps supporters are largely in London and Bucks, so the service should call at High Wycombe where Wasps were before they moved. The train hire cost would presumably be the same but the fare could reasonably be several times what is charged for the short run Cov-Nuneaton.

 

[Ianno87]

Thirdly, (not an error), is it right to call a two-car 153 "two dog boxes". The origin of the term dog-box is that the trains were made as 2-car units and when they were split into single cars, a cab had to be squeezed in at the end that didn't have one. The cab is small, hence the term dog-box. But when the cars are joined to make a two-car unit there's no need to use the cramped cabs.

Only if the cramped cabs are coupled to each other at the centre of the formation. One or both sets could be the "wrong" way around.

 

[Class 170101]

LM seem to be trying not to spend any money on this and by all accounts failing. It's time for LM to train their crews on 170s to increase capacity.

 

[HLE]

It seems that the arena station may not shut for one hour after tomorrow's Wasps game.

Nothing confirmed but it comes from a reliable-ish source.

Edit: Yep, they did indeed keep the station open and the dogbox did stop.

This may now be the norm for Wasps' home games.