Ely Station works

[MikeWM]

A new poster at Ely this evening notifies passengers of work to begin 'soon' that involves a larger waiting room (good, much needed), some changes to the booking hall (can't remember exactly what it said about that) and ticket gates being installed (oh dear

Does anyone know any more information about this, such as when this work is due to start (and finish), and/or some more details of what is proposed?

There's currently three entrances/exits off platform 1, one for the bike racks, one through the booking hall, and one for the car park nearest the closed level crossing. If they're going to put in ticket gates, will some of these useful exits be closed? (and how?!)

 

[bspahh]

A new poster at Ely this evening notifies passengers of work to begin 'soon' that involves a larger waiting room (good, much needed), some changes to the booking hall (can't remember exactly what it said about that) and ticket gates being installed (oh dear

Does anyone know any more information about this, such as when this work is due to start (and finish), and/or some more details of what is proposed?

There's currently three entrances/exits off platform 1, one for the bike racks, one through the booking hall, and one for the car park nearest the closed level crossing. If they're going to put in ticket gates, will some of these useful exits be closed? (and how?!)

Page 190 of the Greater Anglia Franchise Agreement from 2014 says

Re-use of Chelmsford gates
10.2 During the Franchise Period the Franchisee shall use some or all of the ticket gates being removed from Chelmsford Station to install, create and then operate a ticket gate line at Ely Station or at another suitable Station to be agreed with the Secretary of State.

I don't know if those gates will still be used

 

[jopsuk]

you can also enter/exit through "Ely Food Station"- it'll be a drag on their business if they're only able to be either inside or outside the station

 

[pdeaves]

you can also enter/exit through "Ely Food Station"- it'll be a drag on their business if they're only able to be either inside or outside the station

Some station catering outlets have, effectively, a barrier/counter across the middle so customers can still come from paid and unpaid side. I know the Food Station is only small so it could be awkward, but that might be a possible solution.

 

[MikeWM]

Page 190 of the Greater Anglia Franchise Agreement from 2014 says

I don't know if those gates will still be used

Yes, I remember reading there was a plan to gate Ely before I moved here about 5 years ago. I was hoping it had been quietly forgotten.

It isn't really surprising I suppose - other than the well-known exceptions (Sheffield, York) I struggle to think of many equivalent-sized or larger stations in England that haven't had barriers fitted. (Doncaster, Stafford, WiganNW and Preston are the only ones that immediately spring to mind, but I'm sure there are some others).

you can also enter/exit through "Ely Food Station"- it'll be a drag on their business if they're only able to be either inside or outside the station

Yes, that's true, so 4 entrances/exits...

 

[Sleepy]

Good ! There is a hard core of trouble making won't pay types that frequently travel to/from Ely so if this makes their lives harder I'm pleased to hear this.

 

[bspahh]

The documents for the planning application for the changes are at https://pa.eastcambs.gov.uk/online-...s.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=QXXBNSGG0CU00

It includes a PDF copy of the 1844 act, and a couple of old maps. One has the route for the line running around about where Broad Street is now.

Application_Form-1267031.pdf says:

Description of Proposal
The proposed works will seek to achieve the following objectives:
Works are to comprise the following:
Refurbishment and Reconfiguration of Station Building
• Removal of existing ticket office area to increase size of Booking Hall
• Installation of New Gateline
• Formation of new double entrance doors into Booking Hall and out from
Booking Hall to Platform
• Formation of new ticket office area in existing retail store space
• Reconfiguration of back of house facilities
• Formation of new Waiting Room and Accessible WC
• Existing waiting room converted to retail storage

Work within Car Park area
• Accessible bays made compliant and re-marked
• Existing island/kerbed area in front of station removed and crossing installed.
• New parking bays added to area adjacent to large tree to the north side of the
car park

This shows the changes to the front elevation, with a new door


This shows the floor plan of the existing and proposed booking hall and surrounding rooms


The ticket office will move to the Northern side of the booking hall. It looks like there will be only space for one counter instead of 2 at the moment. There are 4 small gates and one wide one.

 

[MikeWM]

The documents for the planning application for the changes are at https://pa.eastcambs.gov.uk/online-...s.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=QXXBNSGG0CU00

Thanks for this - I've taken a look at all the plans myself now. Thoughts:

- Adding an extra door into the booking hall and onto the platforms is very helpful and much-needed

- Probably only one ticket office counter is needed, I don't often see both open currently anyway

- The moved waiting room doesn't look like much of a capacity improvement over the current (highly inadequate) one. Something considerably larger is needed, for an interchange station widely noted as being rather chilly and exposed to crosswinds for much of the year. Particularly if people are going to be dissuaded from leaving the station while interchanging once ticket gates are put in.

- I'd much rather there weren't ticket gates, but the 5 shown will probably be sufficient most of the time if set sensibly (eg. the majority to 'out' when an evening commuter train arrives).

- There doesn't seem to be any indication on any of these plans of what they intend to do with the other 3 accesses currently available to platform 1. The access through the cafe appears unaltered in the maps, as do the accesses at either end of the station buildings. But leaving it 'as is' would be nonsense if they're installing ticket gates, so...

Good ! There is a hard core of trouble making won't pay types that frequently travel to/from Ely so if this makes their lives harder I'm pleased to hear this.

I can't say I've ever noticed a massive problem, Ely doesn't seem to be a hotbed of crime in general (or indeed an especially attractive destination for such people, there's not exactly a lot of things to do here), and I've never seen a revenue block. Who are these people, and where are they going to/from? GA and XC and EMR trains have guards checking tickets, and GN trains often have RPIs (though admittedly I've never seen one in the evenings). And most other major stations around are already gated anyway.

 

[py_megapixel]

Honestly as far as I'm concerned ticket gates are a lesser evil at this point. The railway is obviously being squeezed for cash and one of the simplest things they can do with the least impact on well-meaning passengers is to deter people from not paying .

 

[MikeWM]

The works at Ely have now begun.

Looks like they are working on the area of the old ticket office area first, so the booking hall is still open, but the ticket office has relocated to a cabin in the car park.

Slightly annoyingly, at this point, out of the three ticket machines in the booking hall, they've removed one. Which happens to be the only one that took cash.


Edit : in the interests of accuracy, I've now discovered that the ticket machine that takes cash has been moved, not removed - it is now outside (under shelter) near the bicycle racks and the entrance at the London end of the station.

 

[David Goddard]

Whilst a refurbishment of the station was welcomed, I was gutted when I first heard about a gateline going in last week. Personally hate to see our stations become guarded fortresses, and especially so when I hear of this for the station I started my railway hobby at nearly forty years ago. I sincerely hope that the people guarding the gates will be approachable to those of us who just want to go and watch the trains and have no issues with letting us onto the platforms, and possible more importantly, back out again.
As for stopping fare dodging, would still rather see more checks on the trains, which are more likely to pick up the doughnutters as well which the gates do not detect. Ely is not a hotbed of crime so should not have come as a priority. I read earlier that Bury St Edmunds has also had this treatment, where will be next?

 

[dk1]

Whilst a refurbishment of the station was welcomed, I was gutted when I first heard about a gateline going in last week. Personally hate to see our stations become guarded fortresses, and especially so when I hear of this for the station I started my railway hobby at nearly forty years ago. I sincerely hope that the people guarding the gates will be approachable to those of us who just want to go and watch the trains and have no issues with letting us onto the platforms, and possible more importantly, back out again.
As for stopping fare dodging, would still rather see more checks on the trains, which are more likely to pick up the doughnutters as well which the gates do not detect. Ely is not a hotbed of crime so should not have come as a priority. I read earlier that Bury St Edmunds has also had this treatment, where will be next?

I don’t think Bury has a gateline.

 

[Class 170101]

I don’t think Bury has a gateline.

Its having one installed right now

 

[dk1]

Its having one installed right now

Blimey, would never think it big enough. First I’d heard of that.

 

[86246]

Blimey, would never think it big enough. First I’d heard of that.

Was surprised to see that when I arrived at Bury this evening.

I wonder if it will be operational for very limited hours only. A number of students travel to the college there from Stowmarket. I travelled on an Peterborough - Ipswich service a couple of months back with two conductors onboard selling quite a number of single tickets to Stowmarket. Obviously they must have travelled there via a different means.

 

[dk1]

Was surprised to see that when I arrived at Bury this evening.

I wonder if it will be operational for very limited hours only. A number of students travel to the college there from Stowmarket. I travelled on an Peterborough - Ipswich service a couple of months back with two conductors onboard selling quite a number of single tickets to Stowmarket. Obviously they must have travelled there via a different means.

I would imagine it’ll be peak travel periods only & even then will end up becoming an afterthought over time.

 

[mawallace]

I think I am right that the gatelines can only be open when the station is staffed

 

[dk1]

I think I am right that the gatelines can only be open when the station is staffed

Most definitely.

 

[Mollman]

I think I am right that the gatelines can only be open when the station is staffed

Yes, as there needs to be someone to let people through if their ticket doesn't work / isn't compatible with the gate readers (which is quite a regular occurrence)

 

[JonathanH]

I think I am right that the gatelines can only be open when the station is staffed

Yes, but the ticket office doesn't need to be open for the gateline to be staffed. Southern / GTR (and indeed London Overground) have shown very well that stations can be staffed first to last train for gateline purposes even if the ticket office isn't, extending the period of having a staff presence at a relatively low cost.

 

[MikeWM]

Does anyone know the estimated completion date for these works? That is conspicuously absent from the public information available. There doesn't appear to be much progress so far, though I suppose such things are hard to evaluate for the layman.

It is also unsatisfactory that neither of the two 'temporary' ticket machines have taken cash for over a month now. There is often nowadays a big queue for the temporary ticket office, probably that is one of the reasons why.

 

[dk1]

It is also unsatisfactory that neither of the two 'temporary' ticket machines have taken cash for over a month now. There is often nowadays a big queue for the temporary ticket office, probably that is one of the reasons why.

Amazes me that so many still pay by cash. For things like rail tickets especially.

 

[MikeWM]

Amazes me that so many still pay by cash. For things like rail tickets especially.

Yes, but this is Ely, not inner London In my experience a reasonable % of people still use cash here.

Certainly I prefer to pay for rail tickets in cash, up to about £30 or so. Over that I'll probably use a card.

 

[dk1]

Yes, but this is Ely, not inner London In my experience a reasonable % of people still use cash here.

Certainly I prefer to pay for rail tickets in cash, up to about £30 or so. Over that I'll probably use a card.

I'm Norwich & cash seems very rare these days on our trains and stations from what I witness.

 

[MikeWM]

I'm Norwich & cash seems very rare these days on our trains and stations from what I witness.

Well, we have just had over two years of fairly persistent (though inaccurate) messaging that we're effectively endangering life and limb by using cash - but directly discussing that isn't for this part of the forum

But in my experience cash is still more common in Ely than in most places around the southeast. And I'm doing my part in that!

 

[bspahh]

But in my experience cash is still more common in Ely than in most places around the southeast. And I'm doing my part in that!

I first came to Ely in 1998, and the local paper had an article about Ely's "parking crisis". It was from people complaining about not being able to park for hours for free in the High Street, outside the shop that they wanted to go to. They now had to use a car park, for free, 200m away.

 

[dk1]

Ely has always been a little different but then that's why we all love the city.

Back on topic though I'm back to work next week so will look and enquire as to progress with the station upgrade work.

 

[JOnTrack]

Ely has always been a little different but then that's why we all love the city.

Back on topic though I'm back to work next week so will look and enquire as to progress with the station upgrade work.

Hi there, have you had an update on the station upgrade progress? Had a look for posters today and couldn't see any dates so assuming it isn't any time soon. Cheers

 

[dk1]

Hi there, have you had an update on the station upgrade progress? Had a look for posters today and couldn't see any dates so assuming it isn't any time soon. Cheers

No will be a while yet. Lots of early stage building work & noise going on last Friday.

 

[MikeWM]

They seem to have knocked through space for the 'extra' door on both sides of the booking hall now, though very difficult to judge how much work has been done and how much is left to do, and I continue to think it is unacceptable they haven't communicated anything about how long they expect the works to take.

Also, the temporary ticket office was closed this morning, which meant that - as the ticket machines still are not taking cash for whatever reason - there was no way to buy a ticket with cash at all.

I feel a complaint to GA is in order about this at this point, given neither ticket machine has been accepting cash for two months now. Is there any better way to get in touch other than via their rather annoying-looking webform at

Customer Relations | Greater Anglia

www.greateranglia.co.uk

?