£3.7M for Gloucester station

[Pete_uk]

I'm on my tablet so excuse me if something goes wrong.

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co....-overhaul-gloucester-station-infamous-1245950

Long-sought after changes to Gloucester's station and underpass could finally come to fruition as £3.75m funding is approved for the plans.

Artist impressions released with the announcement show a white-tiled tunnel replacing the grisly underpass people have to use at the moment.
The station too is set for an overhaul with new grey cladding and windows to give the building a more modern look.

And it is believed there will even be a new junction on Metz Way for vehicles to drive into the station as well.

Improving Gloucester Railway Station has long been on the city council’s plans but hit a snag last year...

 

[SwindonBert]

There is an underpass there already, although this will get rid of the steps - what would be nice is an exit onto Great Western Way (i.e. from Platform 4)

 

[MarkyT]

There is an underpass there already, although this will get rid of the steps - what would be nice is an exit onto Great Western Way (i.e. from Platform 4)

Was there ever a passenger entrance on that side? The up platform was parcels only before 1984, since the 60s I believe. There is a road called Station Approach shown on old maps though, which suggests some form of public access, although in later years presumably only to a parcels office.
http://maps.nls.uk/view/109724697#zoom=5&lat=4142&lon=5748&layers=BT

 

[curly42]

When the additional car park in Great Western Road is opened (later this year) there will be access to platform 4.

This, I understand will be barriered, and a ticket machine provided. Toilets and buffet over the bridge I'm afraid.

 

[Essan]

I didnt realise there was an underpass at Gloucester! I have only ever used the footbridge ....

 

[jimm]

I didnt realise there was an underpass at Gloucester! I have only ever used the footbridge ....

It isn't for rail passengers - it runs under the station to allow people to walk between the city centre and Great Western Road and the Gloucestershire Royal hospital north of the station.

 

[nick.c]

When the additional car park in Great Western Road is opened (later this year) there will be access to platform 4.This,I understand will be barriered,and a ticket machine provided.Toilets and buffet over the bridge I'm afraid.

Welcome though all these improvements will be - I'd still much prefer to see a new station on the Mainline.

 

[deltic08]

Welcome though all these improvements will be - I'd still much prefer to see a new station on the Mainline.

It is on a mainline, the Great Western mainline from Paddington to Cardiff until 1879 and diversion route when Severn Tunnel is closed.

 

[50031]

It is on a mainline, the Great Western mainline from Paddington to Cardiff until 1879 and diversion route when Severn Tunnel is closed.

I'm sure Nick.C means a station on the triangle so Cross Country services may stop, although I did read somewhere that they looking at stopping the Manchester's at the current station

 

[MarkyT]

I'm sure Nick.C means a station on the triangle so Cross Country services may stop, although I did read somewhere that they looking at stopping the Manchester's at the current station

That's a good compromise. It would give Gloucester additional regular fast services to Birmingham and Bristol and perhaps beyond to Exeter if the Manchesters are extended as was proposed last year. Gloucester is a well sited station with respect to city centre walking distance and thus also plugs in well to the city's local public transport. Road access to the site is reasonable as well, and parking is being improved so I would consider it a backward step to dilute the hub nature of the existing site by providing an extra 'parkway' on the city's periphery. That could result in the existing station losing some of its longer distance calls which may not work commercially in the train operators' interests nor in the city's.

 

[nick.c]

I'm sure Nick.C means a station on the triangle so Cross Country services may stop, although I did read somewhere that they looking at stopping the Manchester's at the current station

Should have been more precise - yes I did mean a new Gloucester station on the Bristol to Birmingham mainline. Very interesting point about Gloucester being on the Paddington to Cardiff mainline though before the Severn Tunnel was built!

I don't claim to have the answer about how to improve Gloucester's rail service as its very complex. However Network Rail have suggested that in the future there could be sufficient demand for separate hourly London trains to both Gloucester and Cheltenham - the Cheltenham ones being speeded up by avoiding Gloucester. That's fine but if there was a new Gloucester station on the Bristol to Birmingham mainline, then London trains could serve both Cheltenham and Gloucester Mainline. True the trains wouldn't go into Gloucester City and they wouldn't be quite as fast to Cheltenham having to stop at Gloucester Mainline (but a lot quicker than having to pull in at Gloucester City as at present) but at least there could be one every 30 minutes.

On a similar note, Network Rail also suggests that there could be future demand for additional cross-country services from the south-west to Birmingham and beyond. However the time penalty and lack of capacity at Gloucester City station and approaches would see these avoiding Gloucester. Not ideal.

 

[HowardGWR]

I'm on my tablet so excuse me if something goes wrong.

https://www.gloucestershirelive.co....-overhaul-gloucester-station-infamous-1245950

Good to see the artist using 'Railway Station' on the frontage.

 

[keredsonej]

Being slightly wobbly on my pins these days and having to use a walking stick, I welcome not having to negotiate those horrid steps which can be quite slippery when wet. I do however, have worries that pedestrians will now suffer from unthoughtful cyclists who will probably shoot through the subway as a convenient short-cut. Indeed, there will be nothing to prevent even scooters or motor cycles going through there unless some form of barrier is provided to prevent this from happening..

 

[NickBucks]

As an ex-resident of Gloucester I can advise that some years ago there was a proposal to build a new park and ride station on the main line at Elmbridge approx. two miles north of the City. This came to nothing due to the cost involved and the need to retain the existing station for the south wales trains. ( Would have been ridiculous to run these services through the centre of Gloucester to a new station two miles out and expect foot passengers to get a bus / taxi back.
Building on what exists of the triangle would I believe be problematic. The north end of the site was sold for commercial development some years ago and is now occupied by a big Morrisons supermarket and other commercial premises. A station at the south end , although there is space would require new access roads and I doubt Gloucester City Council would be happy to see the existing station, which has the benefit of being situated close to the city being replaced by a new one some distance from the centre. £3.7M is a lot of money for a tarting up exercise however.

 

[Merthyr Imp]

If only they hadn't closed Eastgate...

(Before anyone says, I know there were lots of reasons at the time why they did).

 

[keredsonej]

As the old saying goes: "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear". They can throw as much money as they like into it and it will still be an utter dump!

 

[jimm]

As an ex-resident of Gloucester I can advise that some years ago there was a proposal to build a new park and ride station on the main line at Elmbridge approx. two miles north of the City. This came to nothing due to the cost involved and the need to retain the existing station for the south wales trains. ( Would have been ridiculous to run these services through the centre of Gloucester to a new station two miles out and expect foot passengers to get a bus / taxi back.
Building on what exists of the triangle would I believe be problematic. The north end of the site was sold for commercial development some years ago and is now occupied by a big Morrisons supermarket and other commercial premises. A station at the south end , although there is space would require new access roads and I doubt Gloucester City Council would be happy to see the existing station, which has the benefit of being situated close to the city being replaced by a new one some distance from the centre. £3.7M is a lot of money for a tarting up exercise however.

The Elmbridge proposal in 2006 was for a Gloucestershire Parkway - not a Gloucester Parkway, to partly address the issue of the time penalty of the reversal at Gloucester for FGW's London and Worcester trains and XC Bristol-Birmingham line services but also the problems of providing much extra car parking at Gloucester or Cheltenham Spa due to the limitations of both locations.

Indications that XC Bristol-Birmingham route trains would stop calling at Cheltenham if a Parkway station opened did not endear the idea to the residents of Cheltenham and the strength of opposition from that quarter was a big factor in the DfT turning down a bid for funding.

Far more cost-effective ways to improve Gloucester's services would simply be to provide a semi-fast GWR Bristol-Gloucester-Cheltenham-Worcester service, on top of the existing stoppers (I believe MetroWest phase 2 includes a proposal for a half-hourly frequency on the Bristol-Gloucester route), and put better, longer trains on XC's Birmingham-Cardiff axis, something that should have already been dealt with anyway, with construction work on Worcestershire Parkway under way. How on earth the XC Cardiff trains are meant to handle a big slice of the Worcester-Birmingham traffic is one of life's great mysteries, considering how busy they already are.

The county council is not interested in a new main line station in or outside the city of Gloucester now and is focusing on improving Ashchurch and potential new stations at Hunt's Grove at the south end of Gloucester, on the Bristol route at Stonehouse and at Charfield, between Yate and Cam & Dursley in connection with the MetroWest proposal.