Worcestershire Parkway station progress

[Birmz]

So, let me get this straight.

The building of Parkway doesn't include any consideration for extra platforms to accommodate potential development - ie: CrossCity line extension and electrification to Worcester Parkway or a bay platform on the Cotswold Line for shuttle services between the Worcester stations. The Cotswold Line is still single track and expected to be for a long time (I mean they still have semaphore signalling in the Worcester area so investment looks bleak...), meaning no improvements to the Cotswold Line service for the people of Worcestershire - not even a few fast Parkway-Paddington services. The XCML, which is the holy grail of train services needed for Worcester apparently, provides a minimalistic amount of calls at Parkway to begin with. XC are providing 1tp2h to Birmingham and you still have to change at Cheltenham to go further south...the Turbostars are still the main form of unit used and they're already horrendously rammed between Cheltenham and Birmingham anyway. No additional services like Malvern-Evesham, Kidderminster-Evesham, Gloucester-Birmingham to provide better connectivity to Parkway. The frequency of services provides no real great connection between services already established at the station...what's even the point? You may as well drive to Bromsgrove for better connectivity to Birmingham, as the only really good positive is more services to Cheltenham...which could of been performed with the occasional XC Turbostar that already practically stops at most stations along the way to call at Shrub Hill. If people from Warndon, Pershore, Bromyard, Stourport, Kempsey etc are able to drive to Parkway they might as well go elsewhere in the area...because believe me when I say the buses aren't going to help you get to Parkway easily bar the hourly X50 from Worcester to Evesham via the road the station will be on or the 32 bus to Norton and then walk a fairly long distance to the station.

I like the idea of the station and I'm sure in the next 10 years it'll be a success, but the expectation for it to provide Worcestershire with instant results - like Bromsgrove electrification and remodelling did - is a ridiculous lapse of judgement by all involved. Oh, and, if they do introduce some sort of shuttle bus between Worcester town and Parkway up the London Road...good luck making your train at rush hour. 8/10 for potential, 2/10 execution by the council.

 

[2T57]

Although work is progressing at a fair rate of knots, I'd be surprised if it is ready to open for the May timetable change as there remains much to do. I expect there will be the usual problems getting through the red tape in time, even if the station buildings, platforms and other infrastructure are completed by then. My money would be on an opening sometime between then and the December timetable.

You're right. There will be a delay to the opening of Worcestershire Parkway according to this...
https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/new...way-hit-by-delay-but-heres-when-it-will-open/

 

[Class 170101]

Latest update

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/new...way-hit-by-delay-but-heres-when-it-will-open/

VIDEO: Worcestershire Parkway hit by delay - but here's when it will open

By Christian Barnett @cbarnettWN Reporter

TRAINS should be departing from Worcestershire Parkway station by December, the county council has revealed.

The finish line for the new multi-million pound railway station on the edge of the city has been the subject of speculation for months and a definitive answer on when it would open had not been given until now.

Councillors originally said the station would be built by early 2019 but it is now not expected to be completed until summer.

Nathan Campsall, director at the council’s rail consultant SLC Rail, blamed the delay on unexpected work to an embankment which the Cotswold line runs along.

Councillor Ken Pollock, cabinet member for economy and infrastructure, vowed that builders would be off the site and the station would be up-and-running by the end of the year, when he spoke at a press briefing yesterday (Wednesday).

Cllr Pollock said: “Every time I visit the site I am amazed at the progress being made.

“With the main station building now being fitted-out and the opening date expected late this year, the goal of trains stopping at the station is now in sight.”

In the last six months, a pedestrian bridge providing access to the platforms has been put in place, a new roundabout has been installed at the entrance to the station and work continues to build the station’s 500-space car park.

Work also continues on lifting the station’s three 265-metre platforms into place.

 

[II]

All three platforms are now in place with platform furniture to add. The station building, and footbridges etc. are pretty much complete externally, but lots of fitting out still to do, and the car park and forecourt area are also steadily coming on but still with much work to do. December looks very achievable, but I doubt it'll be much before then.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

National Rail website is saying it is scheduled to open on the 22 June 2019.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/WOP/details.html

NEW STATION - NOT OPEN YET

This new station is currently scheduled to open 22 June 2019. More details will be added to this page when it becomes available.

 

[pdeaves]

Network Rail is saying it is scheduled to open on the 22 June 2019.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/WOP/details.html

Strictly, Network Rail hasn't said that. "National Rail" has.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Strictly, Network Rail hasn't said that. "National Rail" has.

Thanks

 

[Old Hill Bank]

National Rail website is saying it is scheduled to open on the 22 June 2019.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/WOP/details.html

Do not expect it to open until at least late this year.
http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/ne...come_first_trains_towards_the_end_of_the_year

 

[option]

The CrossCity is never going to extend to Worcestershire Parkway. It won't even extend to Worcester.
It's a high frequency urban service. Any extensions past Bromsgrove would require more rolling stock, electrification & at least a third track after Bromsgrove, all in place at the same time.
(Bromsgrove fits in by using the previous idle time at Longbridge)

Any regional services on the main line will already be going via Shrub Hill, so will bypass Parkway. Cotswold Line services are going to Shrub Hill.

Services on the main line are only going to stop if there's enough passengers getting on & off.
That means a much greater service frequency from other services. Cotswold Line is not going to go to every 15 minutes, nor are any current Shrub Hill terminating services. There simply isn't the demand, & there won't be, to the south east of Worcester.


Considerably less money could have built a station & parking at Rushwick, with a bi-di third track in the middle.
The stoppers from/to Malvern would stop there, without blocking lines to Foregate St.

 

[deltic08]

The CrossCity is never going to extend to Worcestershire Parkway. It won't even extend to Worcester.
It's a high frequency urban service. Any extensions past Bromsgrove would require more rolling stock, electrification & at least a third track after Bromsgrove, all in place at the same time.
(Bromsgrove fits in by using the previous idle time at Longbridge)

Any regional services on the main line will already be going via Shrub Hill, so will bypass Parkway. Cotswold Line services are going to Shrub Hill.

Services on the main line are only going to stop if there's enough passengers getting on & off.
That means a much greater service frequency from other services. Cotswold Line is not going to go to every 15 minutes, nor are any current Shrub Hill terminating services. There simply isn't the demand, & there won't be, to the south east of Worcester.


Considerably less money could have built a station & parking at Rushwick, with a bi-di third track in the middle.
The stoppers from/to Malvern would stop there, without blocking lines to Foregate St.

Where is your evidence for this statement? I know little of the workings and passenger flows of the Cotswold line, but have been a regular on the York/Leeds/Carlisle-Gloucester route since 1948. Diverting any Gloucester-Brum train via Worcester Shrub Hill or stopping any train at the foot of the Lickey Incline and setting off again is a pain in the ass. It would be an advantage to be able to stop regional and Intercity trains at Parkway to interchange with Cotswold trains for Worcester and stations to Hereford or Stourbridge, Parkway and stations to Oxford and an extended Crosscity and stations to Brum.

Yes, electrification would need extending and a turnback platform added at Parkway but just think of the connections that could be made that can't at the moment. Why would a third line be needed south of Bromsgrove for such a short distance of around a dozen miles and one or two additional trains per hour with 90/100mph electric stock?

 

[The Planner]

It wouldn't, three tracks are of no use to you as they are inefficient to plan regardless of not being required. Wires won't get to Parkway for a long time yet. XC will be stopping the Cardiff Nottingham trains there and they are already in the timetable.

 

[option]

Where is your evidence for this statement? I know little of the workings and passenger flows of the Cotswold line, but have been a regular on the York/Leeds/Carlisle-Gloucester route since 1948. Diverting any Gloucester-Brum train via Worcester Shrub Hill or stopping any train at the foot of the Lickey Incline and setting off again is a pain in the ass. It would be an advantage to be able to stop regional and Intercity trains at Parkway to interchange with Cotswold trains for Worcester and stations to Hereford or Stourbridge, Parkway and stations to Oxford and an extended Crosscity and stations to Brum.

Yes, electrification would need extending and a turnback platform added at Parkway but just think of the connections that could be made that can't at the moment. Why would a third line be needed south of Bromsgrove for such a short distance of around a dozen miles and one or two additional trains per hour with 90/100mph electric stock?

Interchange with which trains though?
The Cotswold line services are hourly, & are unlikely to be increased any more than that. A more frequent service to/from Evesham I could understand, but that itself could be hourly, to give Evesham an every 30mins service to Worcester.

So, lets have 4 services using the Parkway;
A is the Cardiff>Nottingham service
B is the Nottingham>Cardiff service
C is anything going towards Evesham
D is anything going towards Worcester
Assume a 5min transfer time between services
(I'm going to use the times from Cheltenham Spa & Norton Jnc as examples)

A is due at Parkway at 09:00.
B is due at 09:10
There is currently a D due to pass at 09:11, from London to Great Malvern, so that service is fine for picking up at Parkway, but it's too late for transfers to A or B.
A C service is due at 08:43, so fine for transfer to A or B, but no good for transfer from.

In order to allow all interchanges, C & D need to be at Parkway by 8:55. But, in order to change from A, those services either need to be still at the station at 09:05, or there needs to be C & D due somewhere between 09:05 & 09:15.
Now that is doable if there is an every 30min service to/from Evesham, say at 8:45 & 09:15. But it won't work for anyone east of Evesham.

There is a Leamington > Foregate St service that goes via Shrub Hill, but the 08:25 at Shrub Hill becomes the 08:38 Foregate St > Whitlocks End service.
Shrub Hill to Evesham is 16minutes, & you need to add another 1&1/2 minutes each way for Parkway stop, plus turn around time at Evesham, so 3minutes. So to extend services from Shrub Hill to Evesham & return, you need to re-timetable all the current local Shrub Hill services by 38minutes. That means re-timetabling a big chunk of the Moor St line services.
Also, you still aren't serving Parkway with any services to/from Malvern.


As for extending the CrossCity.
XC take 8minutes to pass Bromsgrove from Parkway, thats with faster trains & no stops. CrossCity have a 5min turn-around at Bromsgrove.
So, extending CrossCity to Parkway would need 30mins to get back to Bromsgrove.

It would need to be at least half hourly, that's the frequency at Lichfield TV. Lichfield City is closer to every 20mins.


Which exact services are you going to extend, without affecting north of Bromsgrove?

Why would you extend a service for an extra 15minutes each way to get to a station that has no local/organic customer base?
(CrossCity has no more than 5mins between stations)

Why wouldn't you go to Shrub Hill, because then you can also serve Droitwich?

What connections would you be making from/to the CrossCity?
(Hereford, Malvern, Worcester, Oxford, you can already get to them easier from Birmingham. No-one is going to get off an XC service to change, because the train they're on already goes to Birmingham)

Who is going to fund it?
WMCA won't. WCC have borrowed to build a few boxes for a station & a car park. They don't have the resources to part fund electrification, rolling stock & running costs.

 

[option]

Going to throw this in here;
Worcester North Parkway (this is from 2008)
I assume this would have been by the A449, & served by the stopper services from Birmingham & Malvern.

 

[Noddy]

‘Option’ I don’t disagree with your analysis about the (currently timetabled) interchange possibilities, but you are missing the point that it’s a Parkway station. It’s primary purpose is serving SE/E Worcester and SE Worcestershire (and even Tewksbury). Most users won’t be interchanging-they will be getting in their cars and driving to the free/cheap car park rather than fighting the queues and expensive parking in Worcester (or Cheltenham).

 

[option]

‘Option’ I don’t disagree with your analysis about the (currently timetabled) interchange possibilities, but you are missing the point that it’s a Parkway station. It’s primary purpose is serving SE/E Worcester and SE Worcestershire (and even Tewksbury). Most users won’t be interchanging-they will be getting in their cars and driving to the free/cheap car park rather than fighting the queues and expensive parking in Worcester (or Cheltenham).

Indeed, & that will be pretty much the only user base for the station, which does mean that there won't be anyone getting off the XC services in the mornings, when they are already full. So where are the new passengers at Parkway going to go on the train?

deltic08 & others keep mentioning interchange, which obviously won't happen.

 

[Noddy]

Indeed, & that will be pretty much the only user base for the station, which does mean that there won't be anyone getting off the XC services in the mornings, when they are already full. So where are the new passengers at Parkway going to go on the train?

deltic08 & others keep mentioning interchange, which obviously won't happen.

I can’t speak for southbound morning services but northbound they are not full. I often catch the 7.34 Ashchurch to Worcester service and the preceding XC Service to Birmingham and beyond is well used when it leaves Ashchurch buts it’s never full.

 

[Clayton]

No knowledge about any of this but I imagine many people better qualified than the angry posters here will have studied all the options!

 

[takno]

No knowledge about any of this but I imagine many people better qualified than the angry posters here will have studied all the options!

I admire your optimism.

Tbh I think a lot of the irritation comes from the fact that the council were pushing this as a completely idiotic facility that was supposed to benefit the city 25 years ago. As built it is actually a slightly more sane proposition largely for the benefit of people in the county wanting to get to Brimingham and London. It has essentially nothing to do with Worcester, but thats never been made clear enough.

 

[option]

No knowledge about any of this but I imagine many people better qualified than the angry posters here will have studied all the options!

This wasn't an NR or TOC project though, just something pushed by County councillors, & they've had to borrow to fund it. Cost about £22m to get it built, no idea what it will cost to run, or how that will be funded.

 

[Noddy]

It has essentially nothing to do with Worcester, but thats never been made clear enough.

Hence the name Worcestershire Parkway, not Worcester Parkway.

 

[Parallel]

Apologies if I’ve missed this, but does this mean this is the furthest station out GWR will manage, seeing as XC don’t manage stations. Or will someone else manage it?

 

[jimm]

Indeed, & that will be pretty much the only user base for the station, which does mean that there won't be anyone getting off the XC services in the mornings, when they are already full. So where are the new passengers at Parkway going to go on the train?

deltic08 & others keep mentioning interchange, which obviously won't happen.

I doubt anyone is expecting many people to be getting off XC services in the mornings. That's not the point of the station.

Perhaps instead of airily declaring that interchange

obviously won't happen

might I suggest you wait until you see what the new GWR timetables look like from December - timetables that are designed in the knowledge that Worcestershire Parkway will soon be an operational station, which was far from the case when the basic pattern of the current Cotswold Line services was devised.

I am pretty confident that there will be a decent level of demand from the Vale of Evesham to/from Cheltenham/Gloucester and beyond and to/from Birmingham - so long as connecting times at Worcestershire Parkway produce end-to-end journey times that are competitive with driving.

While much of the drive to Birmingham is dual-carriageway, there are slow single-carriageway legs around Redditch and then on the traffic-choked roads into the centre of Birmingham, so it typically takes an hour for just over 30 miles.

It will take a train 12 or 13 minutes from Evesham to Parkway and the running time from Parkway to Birmingham New Street is showing on realtimetrains as 35 minutes, so even a 20-minute connection would hardly be a deal-breaker.

I admire your optimism.

Tbh I think a lot of the irritation comes from the fact that the council were pushing this as a completely idiotic facility that was supposed to benefit the city 25 years ago. As built it is actually a slightly more sane proposition largely for the benefit of people in the county wanting to get to Brimingham and London. It has essentially nothing to do with Worcester, but thats never been made clear enough.

There are plenty of things to criticise about the project and how it has been handled over 40-odd years now but at least we are nearly there now in terms of a station being opened. A lot of people living in Worcester will use it - no wonder when Shrub Hill is hard to get to and has just 120 parking spaces, as opposed to 500 - so not sure how it's nothing to do with Worcester.

As a way to get to Birmingham, it might be do-able off-peak but it certainly won't be able to handle the peak flows out of Worcester and back due to the limitations of XC's Class 170s. In any case the Birmingham-Hereford route will soon get lengthened trains.

Apologies if I’ve missed this, but does this mean this is the furthest station out GWR will manage, seeing as XC don’t manage stations. Or will someone else manage it?

Station management and operations will indeed be in the hands of GWR.

 

[Noddy]

This wasn't an NR or TOC project though, just something pushed by County councillors, & they've had to borrow to fund it. Cost about £22m to get it built, no idea what it will cost to run, or how that will be funded.

Pretty sure NR or a TOC (if TOCs actually build stations?) would have borrowed the money in one way or another too.

According to the BBC article here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-34049248

£14 million came from the council with the remainder from the LEP (ultimately central government)

 

[jimm]

This wasn't an NR or TOC project though, just something pushed by County councillors, & they've had to borrow to fund it. Cost about £22m to get it built, no idea what it will cost to run, or how that will be funded.

As Noddy says, a third of the budget is a grant from the Worcestershire LEP and the county council will repay the loans it has taken out for the rest using the car park fees - the council will run the parking, like at Bromsgrove station, not GWR - and by charging the train operators station access fees for using it.

This information has been in the public domain for a long time now and can easily be found online - the Worcester News has dozens of stories about the station project.

 

[Class 170101]

Demand will supressed to Birmingham with its two hourly frequency in that direction.

 

[deltic08]

Interchange with which trains though?
The Cotswold line services are hourly, & are unlikely to be increased any more than that. A more frequent service to/from Evesham I could understand, but that itself could be hourly, to give Evesham an every 30mins service to Worcester.

So, lets have 4 services using the Parkway;
A is the Cardiff>Nottingham service
B is the Nottingham>Cardiff service
C is anything going towards Evesham
D is anything going towards Worcester
Assume a 5min transfer time between services
(I'm going to use the times from Cheltenham Spa & Norton Jnc as examples)

A is due at Parkway at 09:00.
B is due at 09:10
There is currently a D due to pass at 09:11, from London to Great Malvern, so that service is fine for picking up at Parkway, but it's too late for transfers to A or B.
A C service is due at 08:43, so fine for transfer to A or B, but no good for transfer from.

In order to allow all interchanges, C & D need to be at Parkway by 8:55. But, in order to change from A, those services either need to be still at the station at 09:05, or there needs to be C & D due somewhere between 09:05 & 09:15.
Now that is doable if there is an every 30min service to/from Evesham, say at 8:45 & 09:15. But it won't work for anyone east of Evesham.

There is a Leamington > Foregate St service that goes via Shrub Hill, but the 08:25 at Shrub Hill becomes the 08:38 Foregate St > Whitlocks End service.
Shrub Hill to Evesham is 16minutes, & you need to add another 1&1/2 minutes each way for Parkway stop, plus turn around time at Evesham, so 3minutes. So to extend services from Shrub Hill to Evesham & return, you need to re-timetable all the current local Shrub Hill services by 38minutes. That means re-timetabling a big chunk of the Moor St line services.
Also, you still aren't serving Parkway with any services to/from Malvern.


As for extending the CrossCity.
XC take 8minutes to pass Bromsgrove from Parkway, thats with faster trains & no stops. CrossCity have a 5min turn-around at Bromsgrove.
So, extending CrossCity to Parkway would need 30mins to get back to Bromsgrove.

It would need to be at least half hourly, that's the frequency at Lichfield TV. Lichfield City is closer to every 20mins.


Which exact services are you going to extend, without affecting north of Bromsgrove?

Why would you extend a service for an extra 15minutes each way to get to a station that has no local/organic customer base?
(CrossCity has no more than 5mins between stations)

Why wouldn't you go to Shrub Hill, because then you can also serve Droitwich?

What connections would you be making from/to the CrossCity?
(Hereford, Malvern, Worcester, Oxford, you can already get to them easier from Birmingham. No-one is going to get off an XC service to change, because the train they're on already goes to Birmingham)

Who is going to fund it?
WMCA won't. WCC have borrowed to build a few boxes for a station & a car park. They don't have the resources to part fund electrification, rolling stock & running costs.

Too detailed to follow at this time in the morning but I did pick up on one assumption you have incorrectly made and that is that passengers on A and B XC that would change at Parkway are going to/from places such as Bromsgrove, Kings Norton, University or even Redditch which is easier and cheaper than going to New St and back out.

10 minutes Parkway-Bromsgrove stop is faster than I thought, I allowed 15 minutes and maybe less than 10 as 350s that are taking over CrossCity services I believe, are faster accelerating than 8 minutes in a XC 170.

How do you know what the catchment would be around Parkway for CrossCity stations where motorists already use Bromsgrove as a railhead or even just drive the whole way. There might be a whole new clientele including those living immediately east of Worcester who previously used Shrub Hill who would now use Parkway for their commute, as it would be quicker than Droitwich.

Who funded Parkway? Someone wanted it badly enough to build it against all odds. Maybe NR as another step in electrifying to Bristol/Severn Tunnel Junction.

 

[Ted172]

Who funded Parkway? Someone wanted it badly enough to build it against all odds.

Worcestershire County Council wanted the station and are also funding it.

 

[VT 390]

10 minutes Parkway-Bromsgrove stop is faster than I thought, I allowed 15 minutes and maybe less than 10 as 350s that are taking over CrossCity services I believe, are faster accelerating than 8 minutes in a XC 170.

I don't think it has ever been the plan for 350's to operate on the Cross City line. I thought there is actually an order of 730's for the Cross City line to be operated in 3 and 6 carriage formations, I may be wrong though.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I don't think it has ever been the plan for 350's to operate on the Cross City line. I thought there is actually an order of 730's for the Cross City line to be operated in 3 and 6 carriage formations, I may be wrong though.

Correct. 350s are simply not suitable for CrossCity work - they are not as fast accelerating or stopping at the lower speeds CrossCity sees, and their doors are unbelievably slow by comparison to the sprightly 323 doors. Not a chance. Besides the fact that, as you say, there are already new stock orders in place for the 323 replacements.

 

[deltic08]

Correct. 350s are simply not suitable for CrossCity work - they are not as fast accelerating or stopping at the lower speeds CrossCity sees, and their doors are unbelievably slow by comparison to the sprightly 323 doors. Not a chance. Besides the fact that, as you say, there are already new stock orders in place for the 323 replacements.

I knew the 323s were being stood down on Crosscity and thought refurbished 350s were taking over. Are the 730s 75 or 90mph units? They would still out accelerate a 170 from Parkway to Bromsgrove if electrification was extended to there. That would only be 9 or 10 minutes between the two places if a 170 only takes 8 minutes start to pass.