Tilehurst station - facilities, incidents and improvements (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[stuving]

Why do you say "in the London direction"?

It was the direction of spatter that showed movement from right to left

I was just wondering whether you did reckon there was enough evidence to track the track on the track*, since the photo isn't that clear. After all, you did know what you were expecting and could have checked what had come out on the data feeds. Obviously you need to assume the train was moving fast enough to overcome any directional ejection of the oil from its source, though that is not unreasonable.

*works in Dutch too, and perhaps other languages

[Oxonhutch]

Mx Stuving is casting nasturtiums at my sleuthing abilities - good grief 

I had heard of a breakdown in the Reading area and I did wonder if it had anything to do with the very fresh, and copious, oil spillage along platform 12 normally used by down services - indeed, I was waiting for the down stopper - without having consulted the web. 

The finest evidence of a 'wrong'* direction move was directly in front of me, but was a less dramatic photo in terms of capturing the volume of the spill. There is however one of the tell-tales visible in my photo and I refer the jury to the fifth sleeper from the right, just left of centre: an outstretched hand of a splatter with two slightly diverging fingers pointing away from the camera. It was this asymmetric, divergent distribution of spatter from the larger splat of oil hitting the sleeper that gave the observer an indication of the direction of the fouling train. Throw an egg-cup full of water on the patio to replicate.

I will now submit my invoice at my usual rates.

* I am aware that all the through platforms are signaled bi-directionally

[bobm]

Someone should get to Uffington, apparently there is "oil everywhere" after a pipe ruptured on a freight train this morning.  Fortunately, it terms of disruption, in happened just past the crossovers so trains are able to get past using reversible working over the Up line as far as Bourton just outside Swindon.

[Lee]

Are you absolutely sure that "oil everywhere" is the correct technical term, bobm?

[bobm]

Apparently that was the phrase used by the driver to the signaller.

[Marlburian]

The capacity of short-stay parking on the concourse at Tilehurst Station has diminished over the years, what with hatched lines reserving a space for an ambulance (always slightly annoying when the driver ignores it and parks close to his Portacabin), two spaces dedicated to disabled drivers, another for the station staff member (who works only mornings), and another surrendered to an electrification gantry. But outside peak hours four or five cars could happily be parked so their drivers could wait for and see off passengers.

Then "they" painted double-yellow lines, leaving just one formal parking-space for short-stays. Curiously "they" did not extend the yellow lines in front of bollards protecting the cycle storage units, and it's possible to leave a car there for a few minutes. With a bit more imagination, at least four more short-stay bays could have been created.

The double-yellows are routinely ignored when more than a couple of cars are at the station for a few minutes. And they are completely ignored in the evening rush-hour when friends and families collect commuters, with cars spilling back onto the busy main road.

Marlburian

[grahame]

The rule for the proportion of car parking spaces that are to be designated for blue badge holders has, I think, changed over the years; I understand that the number of such spaces at our station will rise from 1 to 5 in the new year as car parking spaces rise from just under 30 to around 70.  And because of the lie of the land, those five will take up just about all the space by the station gate.

[Marlburian]

I have no problem at all with spaces dedicated to drivers with disabilities (though, as at supermarkets, I wonder about some of the motorists who park in them - and I do appreciate there are "hidden" disabilities). It's just that with a bit of imagination several spaces for others could have been delineated.

I have peered up at various posts to see if there are CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) cameras on the tops, but haven't spotted any. And there  aren't any signs reinforcing the prohibition of parking. I guess the lines are meant to drop a broad hint and may not be enforceable in law. I park on them for a few minutes at quiet times to pick up and see off friends, but they are ignored by many others in the evening rush hour.

Marlburian

[Marlburian]

For 14 months now the customers of Tilehurst station have had to out up with the mess and disruption caused by the creation of a new Footbridge, and the removal of the old one. All part of the Western Electrification work.

The already overcrowded car park has has more than 20 spaces removed to accommodate contractors portacabins and equipment. This means on most mornings if your not in the car park by 8am - forget it.

But today I learnt (from a FGWer) that the newly commissioned footbridge (open for about 2 months) is in fact 2' 4" too low !!!

 

For the time being the contractors (who are only responsible for the erection) have left the site while a plan is formed to resolve. There are customer information screens inoperative and wires running visible all over the place held in place by temporary plastic ties.

A fairly decent station turned into a builders yard. Such a shame. And clearly more disruption to come.

Was it really the case that the footbridge was 30 inches too low? I visit the station two or three times a week and was never aware of this calamity, nor of any resolution of it. And I frequently chatted to Ernie, the very popular,  ticket man, now retired in Thailand, who expressed his own views on aspects of the station modifications.

I did hear a rumour from another passenger that the bridge was a couple of centimetres too low, though I did wonder whether this discrepancy related to a couple of threaded studs in the concrete footings that were not quite in the right position.

There were problems with the ducting designed to carry electric cables behind the fence on platform 4. Soon after it had been installed, it had to be replaced with ducting of larger size.

Marlburian

[stuving]

I have peered up at various posts to see if there are CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) cameras on the tops, but haven't spotted any. And there  aren't any signs reinforcing the prohibition of parking. I guess the lines are meant to drop a broad hint and may not be enforceable in law. I park on them for a few minutes at quiet times to pick up and see off friends, but they are ignored by many others in the evening rush hour.

Marlburian

Setting down and picking up passenger is allowed almost anywhere - yellow lines don't forbid it. Likewise loading and unloading, unless there are the kerb markings that indicate restrictions on that. (I note, however, that supermarket and parcels delivery drivers are unwilling to use this right to the full - they'd much rather sneak onto any off-road parking they can spot, whoever's it is.)

But you have to be doing what you stopped for - not just waiting to do it. The rules about on-street parking and the yellow-line restrictions are all worded is terms of "waiting", not "parking". Of course there are other higher-priority bans that do apply - motorways, red routes, etc. 

[janes]

The main problem at Tilehurst is the absence of lifts! I remember signing a petition for them about a year or so ago wich apparently was rejected on "safety" grounds. The safety of, for example, a lone woman at a quiet time of day trying to transport a pram or pushchair plus child(ren) up and down long flights of stairs obviously doesn't count for anything....

It just makes me so mad when far less busy stations such as Taplow and Iver have lifts, but a really busy (at least in the peaks) station like Tilehurst cannot have them.

[janes]

You forgot the refreshment truck!

[ChrisB]

The quickest way of getting them currently would be via an application to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s CCIF^▸ (Customer and Communities Improvement Fund) fund....as Access for All funding is currently in abeyance

[Marlburian]

I'm sure that the truck is a welcome addition for early-morning commuters. Last month it had a badly-damaged front, with one side's lights being written off. It has either been repaired or replaced. There's a similar one on the north side of Reading Station.

[Marlburian]

The issue of lifts at Tilehurst forms a long-running saga, with one political party's representatives visiting the station to ask passengers to sign a petition.

on-line petition here

Another political party has also joined in. Network Rail has signalled their intent to develop plans for step-free access at the station.

A year or so after the new footbridge opened, the ticket clerk, Ernie, reckoned lifts might be added the following year and wondered why they couldn't have been included in the original construction.