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Worcestershire Parkway station progress

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ABB125

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There was a description of the exact problem areas quoted yesterday in post #805...
“Lighting: Functional illuminance levels for the main car park, disabled car park, the lift lobby on platform 1 and emergency lighting have not been demonstrated.”
Surely that would simply involve turning the lights on and off a few times?
 
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swt_passenger

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Are there minimum standards for illuminance? Surely the lighting would have been designed to meet the requirements (or exceed them)?
Of course, but I expect (unlike in the home), someone will have to go round the car park and rigorously measure, record and certify that the design has worked as designed...
 

jimm

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As I read that they still have to address the lighting?
;
Cross Country trains are shown calling in RTT on 9th February, but not GWR.

Until an official announcement from Worcestershire Country Council giving the opening date appears on this website page and is released to the media, it matters not one bit what may or may not be showing anywhere else.

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/news/article/1688/worcestershire_parkway_rail_station

Of course, but I expect (unlike in the home), someone will have to go round the car park and rigorously measure, record and certify that the design has worked as designed...

They certainly do. I was passing through Kingham station one evening after new platform lights were installed a couple of years ago and there were people clad in orange on the platform measuring away under the lamp-posts and in between them.
 

DannyMich2018

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Health and safety gone mad! I'm sure we didnt have this, at least not so bad in the early 2000s!! Stations opened nearer to on time then and not months or even years late...
 

R G NOW.

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Health and safety gone mad! I'm sure we didnt have this, at least not so bad in the early 2000s!! Stations opened nearer to on time then and not months or even years late...
I am sure they have to. If the lighting is not bright enough somebody could fall and say they could not see properly because it was too dark.
 

takno

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Health and safety gone mad! I'm sure we didnt have this, at least not so bad in the early 2000s!! Stations opened nearer to on time then and not months or even years late...
It's possible that the project management was better there, and the checks were done when they should have been rather than holding the whole thing up
 

DelW

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Of course, but I expect (unlike in the home), someone will have to go round the car park and rigorously measure, record and certify that the design has worked as designed...
... and that the builders have actually installed what was shown in the design!
 

jimm

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Health and safety gone mad! I'm sure we didnt have this, at least not so bad in the early 2000s!! Stations opened nearer to on time then and not months or even years late...

It's possible that the project management was better there, and the checks were done when they should have been rather than holding the whole thing up

Or maybe in the good old days, things were not half as good as some of you seem to imagine.

All the way back to the Victorian times, lines and stations opened later than planned/wanted by over-optimistic company directors, often because Board of Trade inspectors - usually former Royal Engineers officers who were not going to be fooled by assurances all was just fine - turned up and found all manner of corner-cutting going on, such as just a single track being complete on lines that were supposed to be double track, or level crossings being used to try to save a few quid where the plans for the railway included in the Acts of Parliament showed overbridges would be provided - net result was the lines were not allowed to open until these things were sorted out. Health and safety gone mad? Or just someone trying to ensure things were actually safe and built to the right standards?

In the case of this station, the construction took far longer than programmed, with precious little time then left to get the checks done before 'the end of the year' to quote the county council's line on opening in 2019 - and any faults discovered to be rectified, such as whatever the ORR's opaque wording means was wrong with the Cotswold Line platform.

I doubt we will ever get to the bottom of what went on, as the odds are the ruling Tory group on the council is not going to be in a hurry to investigate events on their watch. Though this time they cannot blame even worse ground contamination than expected and unmapped culverts, which caused much of the delay in opening the new Bromsgrove station, which was 14 months late.
 

jimm

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It is now official - the station will open on Sunday, February 23rd - though someone at Worcestershire County council seems to be a bit confused about the date of next Sunday.

Wednesday, 12th February 2020
Worcestershire’s first new railway station in over 100 years is opening next weekend.

Passengers can travel to and from Parkway from Sunday 23rd February.

Worcestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economy and Infrastructure, Councillor Ken Pollock, said: ”I am delighted to announce the opening of Worcestershire Parkway on behalf of the County Council. The station is set to transform rail travel to and from the county and not only that, it looks great as well.

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/ne...station_in_over_100_years_to_open_next_sunday
 

Upton

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Slightly confused about the opening date. Although the article says Sunday 23rd February, it also says “next Sunday” and “next weekend” which is 15th/16th February. Both Cross Country and The Trainline are selling tickets as from Sunday 16th February.
 
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Baxenden Bank

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It is now official - the station will open on Sunday, February 23rd - though someone at Worcestershire County council seems to be a bit confused about the date of next Sunday.



http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/ne...station_in_over_100_years_to_open_next_sunday
This Sunday is the 16th. Next Sunday is indeed the 23rd. It's like dinner/lunch and tea/dinner, depends on where you come from and where you are in life.

At least the press article clarifies with a date, even if tickets are available from a day a week prior to that.

Regardless of the date, at least it is opening!
 

R G NOW.

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Made me happy, so much so I have celebrated with some of those strawberry cakes from Asda. Not many more days to be able to see what it's like. Is there going to be an opening ceremony by Worcestershire county council, perhaps with champagne. I was born in Worcester in the 1960's.
 

jimm

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Slightly confused about the opening date. Although the article says Sunday 23rd February, it also says “next Sunday” and “next weekend” which is 15th/16th February. Both Cross Country and The Trainline are selling tickets as from Sunday 16th February.

I assume the Worcester News rang the council to check, as their report says the 23rd.

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/18230449.opening-date-worcestershire-parkway-finally-revealed/

I suspect there was an oven-ready county council press release that had the 16th given as the date, but the opening then got pushed back by another week and whoever put it on the council website and sent it out to the media today omitted to remove the line about 'next Sunday'.

Many attempts to remove the station from the ticketing systems until the date was confirmed never seem to have succeeded completely - but supposed availability from WOP for travel on any dates prior to the 23rd should just be ignored.
 

flitwickbeds

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I suspect there was an oven-ready county council press release that had the 16th given as the date, but the opening then got pushed back by another week and whoever put it on the council website and sent it out to the media today omitted to remove the line about 'next Sunday'.
The 23rd is *next* Sunday.
The 16th is *this* Sunday.

While ambiguous, it is not incorrect.
 

Kite159

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Made me happy, so much so I have celebrated with some of those strawberry cakes from Asda. Not many more days to be able to see what it's like. Is there going to be an opening ceremony by Worcestershire county council, perhaps with champagne. I was born in Worcester in the 1960's.

The delay was down to the councillor in charge trying to decide which suit to wear :lol::lol:.

On a more serious note, good news that this delayed station will finally open
 

jimm

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The 23rd is *next* Sunday.
The 16th is *this* Sunday.

While ambiguous, it is not incorrect.

Well we could go play the 'is Sunday or Monday the first day of the week?' game. Because if it is, then next Sunday isn't this Sunday...

That the county council somehow still manages to cause confusion when they finally have good news to announce pretty much sums up the whole sorry saga of this station's painful journey to opening. Confusion that could have easily been avoided.
 

flitwickbeds

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Well we could go play the 'is Sunday or Monday the first day of the week?' game. Because if it is, then next Sunday isn't this Sunday...
What does it matter what day is the first of the week?

If I said to you at 23.39 on Wednesday night (ie right now) "see you next Friday" would we be meeting in 2 or 9 days' time?
 

jimm

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What does it matter what day is the first of the week?

If I said to you at 23.39 on Wednesday night (ie right now) "see you next Friday" would we be meeting in 2 or 9 days' time?

The bottom line is that questions were raised - quite understandably - both here and on the GWW Passengers' Forum, because of the sloppy wording of the council statement - end of story.
 

HowardGWR

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What does it matter what day is the first of the week?

If I said to you at 23.39 on Wednesday night (ie right now) "see you next Friday" would we be meeting in 2 or 9 days' time?
I would assume 9, although I would check. :) It's common English usage to say 'this' when you mean 'next' when referring to appointments. 'Next week' commonly means after Sunday, IMO.
 

takno

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I would assume 9, although I would check. :) It's common English usage to say 'this' when you mean 'next' when referring to appointments. 'Next week' commonly means after Sunday, IMO.
I used to run a website where we let users create questions and wager play money on the outcome. What I found out is that there is no common agreement on the word next for weekdays, or a whole host of other words. Even the word "by" when accompanied by a date had half the users claiming it meant by 00:00 on that day, and the other claiming it meant 23:59 on that day. It didn't even vary by country or region - people were just all over the place. It's a miracle we ever manage to communicate anything at all given how shoddy the rules are. Mostly I just say "on Tuesday" or "a week on Tuesday". Either that or just say a specific date and then keep rolling it back by a week as the approvals process grinds on
 

flitwickbeds

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At the risk of taking this off-topic, here are my rules - regardless of which day it is or which day we consider the week to start.

"It happened this Wednesday" (or "it happened on Wednesday") - clearly past-tense, so the most recently-passed Wednesday.
"It happened last Wednesday" - clearly past-tense, so the last-but-one Wednesday (including when saying this on the Tuesday 6 days later).
"It's happening this Wednesday" (or "it's happening on Wednesday") - clearly future-tense, so the first Wednesday to happen from now.
"It's happening next Wednesday" - clearly future-tense, so the next-but-one Wednesday.

So, on Wednesday 12th February, saying "it's opening next Sunday" and "it's opening on Sunday 23rd" are both correct and both saying the same thing.
 

jimm

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At the risk of taking this off-topic, here are my rules - regardless of which day it is or which day we consider the week to start.

"It happened this Wednesday" (or "it happened on Wednesday") - clearly past-tense, so the most recently-passed Wednesday.
"It happened last Wednesday" - clearly past-tense, so the last-but-one Wednesday (including when saying this on the Tuesday 6 days later).
"It's happening this Wednesday" (or "it's happening on Wednesday") - clearly future-tense, so the first Wednesday to happen from now.
"It's happening next Wednesday" - clearly future-tense, so the next-but-one Wednesday.

So, on Wednesday 12th February, saying "it's opening next Sunday" and "it's opening on Sunday 23rd" are both correct and both saying the same thing.

On that basis, anyone turning up at Worcestershire Parkway tomorrow morning - which is the next Sunday to happen after the announcement was made, whether or not you like it/agree with this interpretation of English - will be able to park their car, walk through the doors, buy a ticket and get on a train. Except they won't, as the barriers will still be firmly in place at the entrance to the access road.

BBC Worcester, as noted above, did a reverse ferret after just saying 'next Sunday' from Wednesday afternoon well into Thursday online and added the date to their article. I wonder why they did that, if it was so obvious that the station was opening on the 23rd?
 

jednick

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I just had a look on the National Rail Enquiries website regarding trains from Worcester stations to Birmingham, forcing a change at Worcestershire Parkway.

It seems that the price is the same from Worcester Shrub Hill to Birmingham New Street if I change at Worcestershire Parkway, as opposed to going direct. Is this just a glitch on the website, or can we fully expect Worcester to Birmingham (and further afield) tickets to be the same price and totally valid if the traveller wants to go via Parkway station?
 

squizzler

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I just had a look on the National Rail Enquiries website regarding trains from Worcester stations to Birmingham, forcing a change at Worcestershire Parkway.

It seems that the price is the same from Worcester Shrub Hill to Birmingham New Street if I change at Worcestershire Parkway, as opposed to going direct. Is this just a glitch on the website, or can we fully expect Worcester to Birmingham (and further afield) tickets to be the same price and totally valid if the traveller wants to go via Parkway station?
No doubt those with better knowledge of fares will clarify, but I understand that unless you are booking a specific train the conditions of carriage allow you to take 'any reasonable route' to your destination. Clearly the routing guide thinks it reasonable to go via parkway, even though it means setting off in the wrong direction and changing trains.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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On that basis, anyone turning up at Worcestershire Parkway tomorrow morning - which is the next Sunday to happen after the announcement was made, whether or not you like it/agree with this interpretation of English - will be able to park their car, walk through the doors, buy a ticket and get on a train. Except they won't, as the barriers will still be firmly in place at the entrance to the access road.

What exactly happened at this station (if anything) on Sunday, 16th February 2020?
 
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