Consultation on proposed closure of Angel Road Station

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Department for Transport

Closure of Angel Road station

Purpose of the consultation

Network Rail, as network operator have carried out an assessment in accordance with the Department for Transport's (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) Railways Closures Guidance of whether retaining Angel Road station as part of the national rail network represents value for money. It concluded that retaining the station is neither an appropriate nor responsible use of resources given the investment in opening a new station and other infrastructure enhancements in that area.

The consultation period began on 22 August 2018 and will run until 21 November 2018.

Flagging this up for our members; not GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area and the replacement of one station by another just up the line met be very sensible (heck, we can advocate such a process in places!). However, worth keeping an eye on method and precedent just in case anything controversial should come up.

[Surrey 455]

Angel Road is apparently the least used station in London. Wikipedia tells me that there were only 33,500 passenger entries/exits in 2016/7

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Road_railway_station

[0lg4]

... yet Pilning Station remains hopeful that Angel Road footbridge might get salvaged and relocated to Pilning. Apparently, a few responses to the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) consultation suggested exactly that.

[Lee]

Summary of responses and outcome document stating that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have decided that the closure of Angel Road station should proceed - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/angel-road-rail-station-closure-may-2019

The department will now send its proposal to the Office of Rail and Road for ratification, as required under legislation.

From a Pilning perspective, this is the key passage:

21 responses had a common theme in calling for the footbridge at Angel Road station to be dismantled and re-erected at Pilning station on the Great Western Mainline.  This has no bearing on the closure of Angel Road station so the matter of any future use of the footbridge at another location has been referred to Network Rail and will not be dealt with further in this summary.

[brooklea]

21 responses, out of 27 received in total , called for the footbridge to be relocated to Pilning - what were the chances of that? Co-incidence? 

[Western Pathfinder]

21 responses, out of 27 received in total , called for the footbridge to be relocated to Pilning - what were the chances of that? Co-incidence? 

You may very well think that
I couldn't possibly comment!!..😉

[grahame]

From Ian Visits

Angel Road, London’s second quietest train station is set to close in May, the Department for Transport has announced

The reason for the closure is not due to the lack of passengers, but in fact the exact opposite, the area is about to get considerably busier, and a replacement station is being built nearby, to be known as Meridian Water.

This new station will serve a large housing estate for some 10,000 new flats that’s being built nearby, and Angel Road was both too small too shabby, and too far from the housing estate to be of much use.

The new station, approximately 580 yards to the south will have three platforms (with space for a 4th), and is being be delivered as part of the Lee Valley Rail Programme upgrade of the railway between Stratford and the new station. This is an integrated programme of works that will provide more capacity for suburban services on the West Anglia Main Line, as well as improvements at Tottenham Hale and Northumberland Park stations.

[snip]

At it’s peak, the new station is expected to handle 4 million passengers per year — a far cry from sleepy Angel Road’s 33,000 passengers last year.

As the new station is nearly completed, the Department for Transport has now issued the legal notice to close Angel Road “when the new station is opened, on or after 19 May 2019”.

It is rare for me to say "a sensible thing" to a station closure, but from all the data I've seen this one, to be replaced by a station less than 800 metres away but far more appropriate for the local updated catchment. makes sense.  An unusual situation maybe, but not a unique scenario.