• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Stations which should close

Status
Not open for further replies.

6Gman

Established Member
Joined
1 May 2012
Messages
8,382
A thread for suggestions of stations which should be closed, with reasons:

1. ARDWICK
Serves nowhere in particular, and trains calling there simply create potential delay for other services.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Bellwater

Member
Joined
10 Jan 2010
Messages
522
Location
on a 158
A thread for suggestions of stations which should be closed, with reasons:

1. ARDWICK
Serves nowhere in particular, and trains calling there simply create potential delay for other services.


Widnes, Causes me too much Grief.
 

Pumbaa

Established Member
Joined
19 Feb 2008
Messages
4,982
Widnes, Causes me too much Grief.

Ha! Spat my tea out then!

I would support the closure of Ardwick. And propose the closure of Norton Bridge etc. Basically everywhere is sustained by a parliamentary service.

I would also build two extra platforms, well, a graded separated island on the west side of Wigan North Western and close Wallgate. Increased interchange and journey opportunities.

Related - I would close Warrington Bank Quay and Warrington Central... And open a new Warrington Interchange built with the high-level Liverpool - Manchester platforms in the same location as the low-level mainline platforms. Again, increased journey and interchange opportunities.
 

Ivo

Established Member
Joined
8 Jan 2010
Messages
7,307
Location
Bath (or Southend)
Dilton Marsh. The village is pretty small and its only other catchment is the western part of Westbury - which by frequency is far better served by, er, Westbury.
 

Eagle

Established Member
Joined
20 Feb 2011
Messages
7,106
Location
Leamingrad / Blanfrancisco
Dilton Marsh. The village is pretty small and its only other catchment is the western part of Westbury - which by frequency is far better served by, er, Westbury.

Although Dilton Marsh (station) is actually more central to Westbury than Westbury station.

Not that Westbury is a particularly big town anyway. (Its growth is stunted by Trowbridge and Warminster on either side of it.)



I've never seen the point in Holton Heath myself. It serves a caravan park, basically.
 

Ivo

Established Member
Joined
8 Jan 2010
Messages
7,307
Location
Bath (or Southend)
Having consulted my Wiltshire map I would suggest that Westbury is roughly 500m closer to the town centre. Either way though, one is a prominent junction and the other is a pair of platforms that are barely long enough to stage a triple jump competition (and a fairly long walk from the road).
 

stuartmoss

Member
Joined
2 Feb 2010
Messages
981
Location
Leeds
Do they have to be closed? Can they not be made request stops? I wish that the network in general made more use of these.
 

6Gman

Established Member
Joined
1 May 2012
Messages
8,382
Do they have to be closed? Can they not be made request stops? I wish that the network in general made more use of these.

A request stop can be as disruptive as a mandatory stop. And requires maintenance, administration etc.
 

MidnightFlyer

Veteran Member
Joined
16 May 2010
Messages
12,857
I wouldn't say I support it, but I think generally things would be easier if Ardwick was closed, and the Stoke-Stafford stations either were closed or had an improved service.

Related - I would close Warrington Bank Quay and Warrington Central... And open a new Warrington Interchange built with the high-level Liverpool - Manchester platforms in the same location as the low-level mainline platforms. Again, increased journey and interchange opportunities.

I agree, however I think it would require a bit of trackwork on the WCML, specifically to fit in two side platforms and an island or two islands. That said it would also remove a station from near enough what is central Warrington.
 

Ivo

Established Member
Joined
8 Jan 2010
Messages
7,307
Location
Bath (or Southend)
Another one I would suggest is Coombe Junction. Why can't they straight-line that stretch? It wouldn't exactly cost a fortune, and it would save money on maintaining the token system in place.

There are no stations which should be closed.

A very "rose-tinted" perspective. Explain to me why something like the suggestions Pumbaa made - which would necessitate station closures - shouldn't work.

Otherwise, some stations are so poorly used and inconveniently located that the costs involved in ensuring they stay open surely exceed the benefits that would exist should they be closed.
 
Last edited:

bluenoxid

Established Member
Joined
9 Feb 2008
Messages
2,459
There are no stations which should be closed.

So no stations that should be opened then. Pacers FOREVER.

A better alternative might be to mothball stations.

I have a few suggestions for the north

Pontefract Baghill with service diverted via Barnsley.
Teesside Airport

Personally, I think that an airport railway station should be a privilege, not a right and the current set just shows an airport that does not care about its railway customers. Pontefract would still see services to York but trains would now serve Barnsley and Wakefield too if Baghill was closed
 
Last edited:

tsr

Established Member
Joined
15 Nov 2011
Messages
7,400
Location
Between the parallel lines
Unfortunately, by the sort of logic we are at risk of developing, we'd reduce the Far North Line to about 3 stations, whereas this would be foolish as these stations can (or could) provide links that are invaluable to the community. Likewise the Exeter St Davids - Barnstaple line (which we discussed earlier this year, I believe).
 

WatcherZero

Established Member
Joined
25 Feb 2010
Messages
10,272
A request stop can be as disruptive as a mandatory stop. And requires maintenance, administration etc.

It also I believe massivley suppresses potential demand. People dont like using deserted stations or an hourly service that might not stop.
 

SprinterMan

Established Member
Joined
20 Sep 2010
Messages
2,341
Location
Hertford
Bodorgan & Ty Croes on the North Wales Coast line should be closed, as they are very near Rhosneigr and if they are closed, it would allow Conwy, Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan, Llanfairpwll, Rhosneigr and Valley to be served hourly.

Buckenham in East Anglia is near enough completely pointless, and very close to Brundall anyway.

Doleham exists for apparently no reason also, as it serves only a farm (and is named after it); there is no settlement called Doleham.
 

tbtc

Veteran Member
Joined
16 Dec 2008
Messages
17,882
Location
Reston City Centre
Ha! Spat my tea out then!

I would support the closure of Ardwick. And propose the closure of Norton Bridge etc. Basically everywhere is sustained by a parliamentary service.

I would also build two extra platforms, well, a graded separated island on the west side of Wigan North Western and close Wallgate. Increased interchange and journey opportunities.

Related - I would close Warrington Bank Quay and Warrington Central... And open a new Warrington Interchange built with the high-level Liverpool - Manchester platforms in the same location as the low-level mainline platforms. Again, increased journey and interchange opportunities.

I totally agree.

There are a lot of places that just don't justify their existence (would you lose sleep if Breich closed?). And a few stations that should be merged (like the Warrington/ Wigan examples that you give). The railway is a multi billion pound industry that carries millions of people each year, but that doesn't mean we should preserve all of it - demands change, so should stations.

If a station cannot justify any service off-peak, can we really justify its costs? In some cases yes (because there is such demand at rush hour - I've heard that decent numbers use the handful of Northern services at Manors in Newcastle for example), but some stations are only kept alive on a life support machine because nobody dares pull the plug.

Maybe we should have a "one for one" policy, where you can close a Breich/ Chathill if you are going to open a new station elsewhere in the UK?
 

SprinterMan

Established Member
Joined
20 Sep 2010
Messages
2,341
Location
Hertford
How d'you figure that?

Bit of an assumption I know, but if the ATW train that calls at all the stations on Anglesey has to do 2 less stations, it could stop at the 3 (much better used) stations on the mainland instead in roughly the same time. :P
 

tbtc

Veteran Member
Joined
16 Dec 2008
Messages
17,882
Location
Reston City Centre
Unfortunately, by the sort of logic we are at risk of developing, we'd reduce the Far North Line to about 3 stations, whereas this would be foolish as these stations can (or could) provide links that are invaluable to the community

These stations have been around for long enough to provide a link, but still insufficient people seem to use some of them.

We are in danger of the tail wagging the dog
 

Ivo

Established Member
Joined
8 Jan 2010
Messages
7,307
Location
Bath (or Southend)
There's a difference between the Far North scenario and those down south such as Holton Heath and Dilton Marsh. The Far North stations have little alternative for accessing the rest of the country; the road network is just as poor as the rail network (and in some cases almost possible to access). The southern examples don't have this problem. Was this not the reason why the Gunnislake route survived Beeching (and why it would not be an ideal candidate for this thread)?
 

Lampshade

Established Member
Joined
3 Sep 2009
Messages
3,713
Location
South London
Do we really need St Margarets (London)? It's so close to Twickenham they may as well just extend TWI's platforms.
 

yorksrob

Veteran Member
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Messages
38,815
Location
Yorks
Hmm. Part of me would prefer that they parylised with fear at the prospect of closing stations. Stops us going down a slippery slope <D

Actually - They have closed some stations fairly recently such as Dover Marine and Holborn Viaduct. Perhaps there just aren't enough savings to be gained from closing Doleham, for example.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top