Stations which need to be re-sited.

[Donny Dave]

Inspired by the topic about stations that had lost platforms, it got me thinking a bit how the railways could serve towns and cities better. One way of achieving this is by relocating some stations to make them more accessible to other amenities in the area.

For example my old home station of Scunthorpe. While it is fairly close to the town centre, it could be better. By building a new station about a quarter to half a mile eastwards, it makes it more convenient for the town centre and bus station, compared to the current location.

Obviously, the isn't going to be quick, cheap or easy, but fortunately, the one big advantage is that there is plenty of railway owned land in the vicinity, the old hump marshaling yard. Access to the station would need a new road bridge, to be built, and the demolition of a small business, and the current junction of Cole Street and Station Road to be remodelled, but once these are done a 2 or 3 platform station, plus a car park and taxi rank could be built in the spare land without disrupting current services along the route. The final part of the jigsaw would be a minor resignalling scheme to ensure that the platforms are bidirectional, and that access to all the yards and sidings in the area are unimpeded.

The attached screenshot shows exactly where I intend for the station to be relocated to.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Stranraer perhaps, although the previous plans, a few years ago, to re-site the station a little nearer to the town, seem to have permanently hit the buffer stops.

 

[30907]

Stranraer perhaps, although the previous plans, a few years ago, to re-site the station a little nearer to the town, seem to have permanently hit the buffer stops.

Don't think it got that far - the buffers are beyond the present station

Struggling to think of UK cases (Falmouth back in the 70s...) but Central Europe (CZ/SK, but also DE) has plenty of towns where the station is supplemented by a passenger "halt" nearer the centre - sometimes modern, sometimes almost as old as the original station.

 

[Gloster]

I have a feeling that there have been two proposals for Stranraer in recent years. One was to reopen the old Town station on the Portpatrick line, which is about equidistant from the town centre as the Harbour one. The more recent (I think) one was to build a ’transport interchange’ down by the Cairnryan Road bridge.

 

[dk1]

Stranraer perhaps, although the previous plans, a few years ago, to re-site the station a little nearer to the town, seem to have permanently hit the buffer stops.

Hasn’t it got a tiny population though? Somewhere around 10k.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Hasn’t it got a tiny population though? Somewhere around 10k.

Certainly not much more than that. Likely though that the good townsfolk of Stranraer would be better served by having the town's station somewhat nearer the town centre itself, rather than half way along a pier that's no longer actually being used for ferry services to anywhere.

 

[dk1]

Certainly not much more than that. Likely though that the good townsfolk of Stranraer would be better served by having the town's station somewhat nearer the town centre itself, rather than half way along a pier that's no longer actually being used for ferry services to anywhere.

Trouble is though it simply isn’t worth the effort let alone the cost.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Trouble is though it simply isn’t worth the effort let alone the cost.

Quite. But it would make Stranraer more accessible, which, I reckon is what @Donny Dave was asking about.

 

[Gloster]

Hasn’t it got a tiny population though? Somewhere around 10k.

According to MacWikipedia, it was 10,110 in 2022. However, there is a fair hinterland.

 

[duffield]

Loads of seaside stations need re-siting closer to the sea front, where many of them were before being brutally truncated to the back of town.
Morecambe for a start!

On a more serious note, I guess Derby could be better sited. If you moved it 1km north to just south of Eastgate (!) it would be about 600m from the city centre instead of 1200m; it would slightly increase the journey length for trains reversing there though, and it would probably be prohibitively expensive due to the extensive track remodelling required to the north of the existing station (plus Derby has only just been remodelled recently).

 

[dk1]

According to MacWikipedia, it was 10,110 in 2022. However, there is a fair hinterland.

Basically village status then. Not going to get much clout when it comes to something as costly as re-siting a railway station.

 

[Fragezeichnen]

Sooner or later either the metal/glass canopy or the wooden station building is going to either need renovation or be declared unsafe(a la Newhaven Marine). Perhaps that will change the economics.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Vanishingly unlikely, but the line in Looe, Cornwall could be continued past the police and petrol stations to a much more convenient site for a station adjacent to the river bridge and town.

In St. Ives, also in Cornwall, the station could revert back to its former (more convenient) location - with the possibility of a second platform - on this now very busy line.

 

[satisnek]

On a more serious note, I guess Derby could be better sited. If you moved it 1km north to just south of Eastgate (!) it would be about 600m from the city centre instead of 1200m; it would slightly increase the journey length for trains reversing there though, and it would probably be prohibitively expensive due to the extensive track remodelling required to the north of the existing station (plus Derby has only just been remodelled recently).

There was a Derby Nottingham Road station many years ago.

 

[duffield]

There was a Derby Nottingham Road station many years ago.

Interesting, I see it served a long-gone racecourse. If this was just a local line rather than the midland mainline I'd suggest a small local station in the area without closing the existing junction station, despite them being close together.

 

[Halifaxlad]

The proposed Elland station would be better sited on the site of the last station.

As for other examples New Pudsey wouldnt feel as isolated if it was adjacent to ASDA. The station needs completely rebuilding anyway as the platforms are life expired.

I have also long thought that Saltaire is in the wrong place which no-doubt was chosen when the station was rebuilt simply because it was the site of the orignal station. Personally I think it would be much better slightly closer to Shipley, behind back Saltaire road. If money was no object I would clear the buildings between it and the A657 to make a car park and so that the station is visible from the road. Have a proper drop off/pick up point and somewhere for coaches too. It would also make the route to Saltaire Mill much more attractive as then you could approach it from the front rather than what feels like the tradesman entrance.

 

[30907]

I have also long thought that Saltaire is in the wrong place which no-doubt was chosen when the station was rebuilt simply because it was the site of the orignal station. Personally I think it would be much better slightly closer to Shipley, behind back Saltaire road.

Slightly? That's a good 1/4 mile away, further from all of Saltaire (even the "tradesman entrance" to Salt's Mill). In fact not in Saltaire!
Good for the Aagrah I suppose, and all the new(ish) apartments in Victoria Mill - oh, and Wycliffe Primary School. But worse for Roberts' Park, the Glen, the College, the church, the shops, the Village...
Hands off - it's well sited for visitors and locals

 

[AlastairFraser]

Basically village status then. Not going to get much clout when it comes to something as costly as re-siting a railway station.

Perhaps in the future, if low-carbon travel is a bigger industry and autonomous vehicles are a bigger thing, you could build a interchange station at Castle Kennedy and a 7 mile spur from there to a station at Cairnryan for the ferries.

Close the section of railway between the new interchange station and Cairnryan, and convert it to a unguided single track road busway with passing places for the autonomous bus to shuttle up and down.

I know it's pie in the sky, but it could work.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Both Batley and Morley aren't particularly well-sited for their eponymous towns (though in the case of the former some might argue that's a good thing- I live there so I'm allowed to make that joke!) but the Victorian railway planners wisely made sure that the station was next to the railway!

 

[Farigiraf]

Basically village status then. Not going to get much clout when it comes to something as costly as re-siting a railway station.

Then how come Waterbeach, Cambs, with a population of about 6000, was found feasible to resite? AFAIK it was due to new housing schemes in the other end of the town, but then would it be possible to build some new homes in the coastal/town centre part of Stranraer? More than an hour to the nearest form of civilisation (Ayr 1h 30 away, Glasgow almost 3h) is highly deterring though.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Loads of seaside stations need re-siting closer to the sea front, where many of them were before being brutally truncated to the back of town.
Morecambe for a start!

Morecambe's present station is to be fair more convenient for the centre than the old one was. However with Eden Project and the theme park set to potentially reopen, I think there'd be a strong case for returning it to the old site and making it more attractive than the present very basic station. There's enough space there now only taking from car parking, and you'd just have to slightly rejig the road system and remove a couple of fast food sheds to do it.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Oct 2024 ==

Trouble is though it simply isn’t worth the effort let alone the cost.

It'd cost next to nothing to provide a basic single platform further back along the line. Doesn't have to be fancy, and it might mean the line isn't quite as basket-case.

Alternatively close the line, of course. But doing nothing just seems to be a waste.

Anyway aside from that, there's an argument to relocate Burscough Bridge to a new station where the lines cross, providing a Tamworth like interchange. Junction is a fair way south so would probably remain. Could be funded by way of housing development around the new site - it's presently fields. The station is mostly an origin rather than a destination so being a little further out of town probably doesn't matter.

Another one would be not building White Elephant, sorry, White Rose. It's less convenient to almost all the existing users of Cottingley and will likely result in a lot of additional car journeys.

 

[dk1]

It'd cost next to nothing to provide a basic single platform further back along the line. Doesn't have to be fancy, and it might mean the line isn't quite as basket-case.

Absolutely no projects involving our rail network will cost next to nothing believe me.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Another one would be not building White Elephant, sorry, White Rose.

Like what you've done there! Wonder if, and when, it (White Rose / White Elephant) will ever get completed?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Absolutely no projects involving our rail network will cost next to nothing believe me.

Proportionally to the cost of anything on the railway, a single platform unstaffed halt (which is all it would be) is relatively cheap.

Like what you've done there! Wonder if, and when, it (White Rose / White Elephant) will ever get completed?

I hope never - the locals don't want it and it will result in far more car journeys (probably all the way into Bradford, not P&R) than it will remove. It was a bad idea. Even the shopping park it was for was a bad idea - we need to stop building out of town business and shopping centres and concentrate things in town centres, which works much better for public transport.

 

[dk1]

Proportionally to the cost of anything on the railway, a single platform unstaffed halt (which is all it would be) is relatively cheap.

I know it’s been future proofed and provided with a footbridge for a public right of way but Soham was built as a single platform (4-car) back in 2021 at a cost of £18.6m.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Oct 2024 ==

Then how come Waterbeach, Cambs, with a population of about 6000, was found feasible to resite? AFAIK it was due to new housing schemes in the other end of the town, but then would it be possible to build some new homes in the coastal/town centre part of Stranraer? More than an hour to the nearest form of civilisation (Ayr 1h 30 away, Glasgow almost 3h) is highly deterring though.

Isn’t Waterbeach getting a fair sprinkling of that money from developers though? Over 8000 new holmes are planned nearby along with other projects in the new town. Waterbeach also had over 300k journeys and climbing last year compared to Stranraer which had fallen to 40k with all the bad luck the route has had.

 

[TheGrew]

I'm generally of the opinion that Warrington Central would be better moved east of its current position closer to the roundabout where the four track sections are. Then, it could be rebuilt with four platforms to allow passing or frequent termination from each direction, splitting the stopping services in half.
It would be marginally less convenient for the town center but not greatly.

 

[AlastairFraser]

I'm generally of the opinion that Warrington Central would be better moved east of its current position closer to the roundabout where the four track sections are. Then, it could be rebuilt with four platforms to allow passing or frequent termination from each direction, splitting the stopping services in half.
It would be marginally less convenient for the town center but not greatly.

Issues are:
1) Current station is close to the bus interchange. You'd lose connectivity that way.
2). You'd have to build a footbridge over Midland Way into the town centre, and other access routes into a very narrow space.

If you did want to improve connectivity and capacity in Warrington, a better shout would be a 8 platform station immediately west of the CLC bridge over the WCML and close Bank Quay/Central (the former is in a prime redevelopment site). That would actually make a fair few journeys easier and increase capacity. The disadvantages are that you'd lose the bus interchange proximity to Central, and that it's a fair walk from a lot of Warrington town centre.

 

[A S Leib]

If money's absolutely no object, moving Apsley, Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes Central and Bristol Temple Meads by ~½ mile each would make them more convenient for the city / town centres.

In two of those cases there isn't currently a railway closer to the city centre that can be used (and I'm not counting the Bristol Harbour railway). A station where the WCML passes under Two Waters Road in Hemel Hempstead now would only be around five minutes closer to the town centre by foot than the existing Boxmoor station, and would probably be too close to either Boxmoor or Apsley (¾ of a mile from each) to keep all three.

I'm less familiar with Portsmouth; would resiting Fratton be of any use? Moving it half a mile north to St. Mary's Road would put it closer to St. Mary's Community Health Campus and not much further away from Eastney, as well as moving it closer to the part of Portsmouth which doesn't look particularly well-served by Fratton or Hilsea.

 

[Bevan Price]

Widnes station is about a mile from the town centre. It is a pity that the old Widnes Central loop was closed - it was much more convenient for the town centre, but had poor passenger services. Now impossible to restore - most of the old formation has gone.

Blackpool South - too far from the town centre. Restoration to a new simpler station just short of the old Blackpool Central would be sensible, but not cheap. Not much in the way apart from a car park and a couple of missing bridges.

 

[The exile]

An expensive one - but combine the two Wigan stations on the NW site - and leave the Wallgate bridge to subside in peace!