70014IronDuke
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- 13 Jun 2015
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Taken from this thread
https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...l-ones-were-closed.189667/page-3#post-4174577
Is Ivybridge the most disappointing station reopening of the past 50 years? Is it the poor service, poor marketing in the early days, or was the traffic just not there?
It got 66,500 passengers in 2013-4, and just 56,900 in 2017-2018. I'm not sure - does anything but local trains stop there today? Modern GWR don't seem too keen on it.
Which others haven't worked out - and why?
Many cite East Midlands Parkway as a "white elephant" - but even those same posters admit the service is poor and not really conducive to luring M1 drivers out of their cars.
Going back a bit further (and a bit more modest) Wigston South (reopened 1986 according to Wiki - I thought it was much earlier) I thought it was in the seems to have shone for awhile and then faded, again, not helped I suspect by XC trains seemingly reluctant to stop there.
One good point compared to modern openings-reopenings, both Ivybrdge and South Wigston were 'cheap' - at £380k and £135k respectively - prices which wouldn't get you a fifth BCR review these days. (Prices on the stations' Wiki pages)
https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...l-ones-were-closed.189667/page-3#post-4174577
Ivybridge. The old station (1848-1959) was at the North edge of the town, but at least right in the centre on the East-West axis.
The new station (1994) is on the Eastern edge of the town, and quite inconveniently sited. The main reason it was built here is they were intending it to be used for park-and-ride and so wanted more straightforward access from the A38. This never took off, evidenced by the large and perpetually empty car park which today is mainly used by driving instructors and skateboarding teens.
Is Ivybridge the most disappointing station reopening of the past 50 years? Is it the poor service, poor marketing in the early days, or was the traffic just not there?
It got 66,500 passengers in 2013-4, and just 56,900 in 2017-2018. I'm not sure - does anything but local trains stop there today? Modern GWR don't seem too keen on it.
Which others haven't worked out - and why?
Many cite East Midlands Parkway as a "white elephant" - but even those same posters admit the service is poor and not really conducive to luring M1 drivers out of their cars.
Going back a bit further (and a bit more modest) Wigston South (reopened 1986 according to Wiki - I thought it was much earlier) I thought it was in the seems to have shone for awhile and then faded, again, not helped I suspect by XC trains seemingly reluctant to stop there.
One good point compared to modern openings-reopenings, both Ivybrdge and South Wigston were 'cheap' - at £380k and £135k respectively - prices which wouldn't get you a fifth BCR review these days. (Prices on the stations' Wiki pages)