The new Nottingham

[CalderRail]

I had occasion to be going through this station for the first time since the long closure and reorganisation a couple of days ago.

The station layout is as follows:

North Island
Platform 1 (Through)
Platform 2 (Short Bay, Eastbound)
Platform 3 (Through)

Centre Island
Platform 4 (Through, but short platform. It's actually perched on the eastern end of the island)
Platform 5 (Long "Bay", Westbound. However, while it's a bay, it's very very long, and when you come down from the central set of steps it looks like a through platform. It's actually more an indent than a conventional bay)
Platform 6 (Through)

South Side (not an island yet)
Platform 7 (Through)
I'm told there also provision for a Platform 8 here, eventually, without as much disruption required because the planning has been done for it.


I can see two main problems;

1) Neither Platform Two nor Platform Four have a roof or shelter associated with them

2) Platform Four is NOT well signposted. Anyone coming down onto the centre island is going to assume that the platform on the north side is Platform Four - when in fact it's Platform Five, and Platform Four is out of sight right at the east end of the station (and behind whatever is in Platform Five).


This second point is only going to get worse once the main entrance reopens right at the west end of the station. I can also see people missing trains due to how far down the station Platform Four is. I hope I never have to run all that way.

 

[Mugby]

I can see two main problems

1) Neither Platform Two nor Platform Four have a roof or shelter associated with them

2) Platform Four is NOT well signposted. Anyone coming down onto the centre island is going to assume that the platform on the north side is Platform Four - when in fact it's Platform Five, and Platform Four is out of sight right at the east end of the station (and behind whatever is in Platform Five).


This second point is only going to get worse once the main entrance reopens right at the west end of the station. I can also see people missing trains due to how far down the station Platform Four is. I hope I never have to run all that way.

Absolutely! Whilst Platform 2 didn't have a roof before, I'm surprised the newly created Platform 4 hasn't been provided with some form of shelter.

I'm in complete agreement about the remoteness of these two platforms, they're not too bad if you have your ticket and access the station by the middle footbridge but if you have to buy a ticket at the booking office these platforms are an awful long way to walk if time is pressing!

 

[Wyvern]

Are there lifts to the bridges now? Is it still the same way out to the tram stop?

 

[CalderRail]

No, the lifts are still (currently) at the extreme western end of the station (right at the other end from Platforms Two and Four.

Mind you, the tramway bridge and platforms aren't done yet, so that could change when the entire complex is altered.

 

[Wyvern]

Thanks.

 

[HSTEd]

Was that enormous signal base where the now lifted through line really necessary?
Couldn't you have just slewed the new platform out further into the gap (since there is plenty of room) and then just put a short stub mast on the left hand side rather than that giant hooked over thing.

 

[HowardGWR]

They don't seem to have altered the station map either,

See http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/SME/html/NRE_NOT/plan.html?rtnloc=NOT

 

[Eagle]

Those maps aren't updated very quickly. Look at Reading; platforms 12 to 15 aren't shown even though they opened five months ago.

 

[brianthegiant]

the layout is changing so much at the moment with the various hoardings & temporary routes, that any station plan is a lost cause.

 

[edwin_m]

Quite a few of the signs are wrong, with others having had the paper and sellotape treatment. Incidentally there are still some BR corporate and Regional Railways signs there, so I guess all of them will be replaced at some stage.

I thought platform 6 was bad enough when the Liverpool train went from there. Now 6 has a full length canopy (and is now platform 7) but the Liverpool trains go from 4 which is even further away and only has a bus shelter!

 

[CallySleeper]

Was that enormous signal base where the now lifted through line was really necessary?
Couldn't you have just slewed the new platform out further into the gap (since there is plenty of room) and then just put a short stub mast on the left hand side rather than giant hooked over thing.

Agreed. I also wonder what effect it will cause when wires are installed.

I also agree with Edwin_m, platform 4 is quite remote. Especially for trains arriving from the west! I also don't see why EMT can't save a 158 set and utilise the same platform for LLS-Norwich services in both directions. I think I did say in another thread, I hope that in the next twelve months as the new layout beds in that allocated platforms are tweeked to make operations more streamlined.

Re: old BR signage, I hope these are kept for as long as possible! Trying to cling onto the old Nottingham as much as possible!!

 

[edwin_m]

Re: old BR signage, I hope these are kept for as long as possible! Trying to cling onto the old Nottingham as much as possible!!

I passed through this evening soon after my previous post and there were contractors there putting up new signs!

I think EMT are a little worried that if the Norwich is late the unit that comes off it wouldn't be available to go onto the next Liverpool. Also the Liverpool often comes in before the Norwich leaves, and would have to wait outside if it was to couple onto the unit that was just dropped. So the dropped unit waits an hour and a bit, and sometime during this period it shunts from 3 over to 4. I hope they leave the doors unlocked, so that people can join the train instead of waiting on the bare platform!

50mph over Mansfield Junction must save a few seconds, and other journey time savings in recent years have included faster running on Trowell Junction and elimination of most Langley Mill stops. Perhaps at some point they will be able to recast the timetable to make the Norwich train a bit earlier and the Liverpool a bit later and have a robust arrangement where the unit from one is used on the other about 15min later. Trouble is the time saved would have to be spent dawdling between Nottingham and Grantham, unless someone builds another platform there...

 

[CalderRail]

As I understand it, putting the LLS trains onto platform 4 was done so as to simplify the running arrangements west of the station (and required works east of the station to make feasible).

I still find it a little bizarre that there's no non-platformed goods line any more.

 

[Tomnick]

From memory, it doesn't make any difference whether trains towards Radford Jn depart from p3 it p4 - there aren't any additional conflicts. Apart from that, there seems very little opportunity for parallel moves - which might prove a little too inflexible in times of disruption!

 

[Jay]

Are there lifts to the bridges now? Is it still the same way out to the tram stop?

and still no lift to platform 7.

 

[brianthegiant]

Anecdotally The Leicester-Nottm-Norwich seem to be running on time more since the reopening, where before they were frequently 10-15 mins late coming back from Leicester. I was told it was a pathing issue at Leicester that was the main problem with these slows. But perhaps now trains aren't waiting to enter Nottm, it's added a bit of padding into the working timetable.

 

[Eagle]

Leicester-Nottm-Norwich

Um...

Do you mean Leicester–Nottingham–Lincoln, or Liverpool–Nottingham–Norwich?

 

[edwin_m]

Quite disconcerting to bomb in from Radford at close to the new permitted speed of 50mph this evening! And this morning a Meridian to London was departing from platform 6 with an HST arriving simultaneously at platform 7, so one of them must have run "bang road" and crossed over at Mansfield Jn. Before the remodelling the HST was nearly always held on the approaches until the Meridian had crossed in front of it.

There are still some old signs around. I think they may just have been changing those that were actually wrong, and all the rest will probably be done later when there is less risk of damage from construction work.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

and still no lift to platform 7.

There was always a lift to platform 6 which is now platform 7, just on the other side of the lift/stair lobby from the other two lifts. Is this not currently in use? It's shown as available on EMT's latest station map.

 

[HSTEd]

They have a Stannah Stair Lift on Platform 7 (old 6)

I saw them testing it one day.

 

[High Dyke]

I passed through this evening soon after my previous post and there were contractors there putting up new signs!

Hopefully they took note of my complaint on Monday about the signage on P5 near the bottom of the Western staircase...directing you straight on to the lift when you need to turn left; and i also noted that it says the lift takes you to P6...obviously nobody told the signwriters they had renumbered the platforms. :roll:

I hope they leave the doors unlocked, so that people can join the train instead of waiting on the bare platform

Well there was a shelter on P4 on Monday morning.

Similarly there is a shelter that serves P2, though it is on the P3 side - even though the side nearest P1 is classed as the operating face.

and still no lift to platform 7.

I was going to ask if they had removed the lift...but i see someone has posted the lift is still there, but currently OOU.

Whilst the canopy on P7 is an improvement as usual it's passengers from the Grantham line that suffer. With the Skeg service terminating in P2 (usually) and the Norwich - Liverpool running off P4 they are the furthest from the station entrances/exits, facilities etc. I suppose someone had to be the 'sacrificial lamb' for the sake of the other passengers!

 

[edwin_m]

Hopefully they took note of my complaint on Monday about the signage on P5 near the bottom of the Western staircase...directing you straight on to the lift when you need to turn left; and i also noted that it says the lift takes you to P6...obviously nobody told the signwriters they had renumbered the platforms. :roll:

The signs I saw being changed were similar to that in the photo but located at the eastern steps to the centre footbridge on P1/3. Based on a quick glance the difference was that the other platforms were correctly identified on the new signs.

Well there was a shelter on P4 on Monday morning.

Unless it's changed since I last looked, it's a very small bus shelter over toward the P6 side. There is also the possibility of people clustering under the end of the P5 canopy near the P4 buffer stops - and then hurrying down as the train arrives and colliding with all the people who have just got off it. The facilities on P4 now are definitely worse than they were on P6 before.

Unless anyone reports back in the meantime I'll investigate the P7 lift next time I pass through, but that probably won't be until Wednesday.

 

[Ebore]

When I passed through last week the lift was definitely still there but appeared to be under heavy maintenance of some kind. Is there a chance it is being relocated because of the new concourse?

 

[SprinterMan]

Those maps aren't updated very quickly. Look at Reading; platforms 12 to 15 aren't shown even though they opened five months ago.

You are right there, the bay platforms at Moor Street are still shown as disused :P

Adam

 

[ashworth]

Quite disconcerting to bomb in from Radford at close to the new permitted speed of 50mph this evening!

I did a return trip from Hucknall to Nottingham this morning on the Robin Hood Line and was amazed how quick the journey now is at little more than 10 minutes on a service that did not call at Bulwell. The journey was now really quick and smooth in comparison to how the trains used to trundle along when the line first re-opened! The return journey took much longer because after the much quicker departure from Nottingham and faster first part of the journey there was then a long wait just outside Bulwell, at the beginning of the single line section, for the train coming in the other direction. Will the timetable be revised in the future to allow for the faster line speeds otherwise this will always be the case?

There's certainly a lot of work been done on the Robin Hood Line between Hucknall and Nottingham. There were piles of old track that had been removed all over the place. It will be quite a big task to remove it all. Has much work been done north of Hucknall? If it has surely a Nottingham to Worksop timing of under 1 hour now ought to be achievable.