Plans for new Rugby parkway station go on show

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Plans for a new railway station will go on show on Monday.

Warwickshire County Council hopes to see one built close to the A428 Crick Road, near Rugby, on the Birmingham New Street to London Euston line.

If it gets planning approval, the station would have two platforms and parking for 325 vehicles.

Wallace Redford, the councillor for transport and planning, said it would be "an important part of Warwickshire's future sustainable transport".

Access to the station would be from Crick Road and the plans include a taxi drop-off point and a bus stop.

It would be served by two trains an hour, in each direction.

The public consultation, which would come before an application for outline planning permission, is due to run until 20 February.

Mr Redford, Warwickshire County Council's portfolio holder for transport and planning, said the station would make it "easier for those who wish to move away from travel by private car to connect with public transport".

Combined with existing Rugby station, he said the parkway station would support "Rugby's growing population and expansion".

The plans will be available to see on the council's website and at The Barn at Houlton on 3 February and Rugby Central shopping centre on 4 February.

[Mark A]

Does anyone else think that that looks to be very small scale for a parkway station with easy access from the M1 and M6 and also in the middle of that hotbed of development?

It's not a million miles from the proposed site of the M1/M6 parkway station posited at one point by Chiltern Railways, and they saw sufficient traffic potential to meet the costs of new structures + laying track on 36 miles of former railway.

Mark

[IndustryInsider]

I think it’s the location.  Two trains an hour, and not an especially quick route into London via the quite slow Northampton route - half an hour slower than from the current Rugby station.  That’s not to say that Rugby Parkway won’t be a good asset though.

Chiltern made a couple of quite ‘ambitious’ suggestions back in the day that were never likely to materialise.

[grahame]

I think it’s the location.  Two trains an hour, and not an especially quick route into London via the quite slow Northampton route - half an hour slower than from the current Rugby station. 

It's really very close to the west coast main lines, where trains whisk by on there way to London much faster.  I suspect that there cannot be a platform on those lines because they are so busy there would be no capacity to stop trains there.  Perhaps when HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) is open there will be? 

I also wonder if a quick link to London is really the Utopia sought these days - are London journeys less important, and regional journeys more important than they used to be?  Having asked that question, with the confluence of the M1 and M6 nearby, what a wonderful park and ride location for a superfast train into London for residents coming from the Midlands, the North East, the North West, North Wales and Scotland.

[IndustryInsider]

I also wonder if a quick link to London is really the Utopia sought these days - are London journeys less important, and regional journeys more important than they used to be?  Having asked that question, with the confluence of the M1 and M6 nearby, what a wonderful park and ride location for a superfast train into London for residents coming from the Midlands, the North East, the North West, North Wales and Scotland.

It's not a utopia, but it is still very significant.

The residents of those locations, particularly when you are talking about the North West, North Wales and Scotland, already have superfast trains into London.  At least when compared to how long it would take to drive to a Rugby Parkway equivalent located on the main lines and not the Northampton lines.  In some cases superfast trains that are going to get even superfaster when HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) opens.

If it did happen you'd probably by Watford Gap would be best, as the M1 is right alongside and you have the added bonus of being closer to Daventry and its 28000 (and set to grow further) residents?  Perhaps it might become a better option then when there's much less pressure on the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) and you could offer a decent timed Euston/Watford/Milton Keynes/Hemel Hempstead/Daventry Parkway/Rugby/Coventry/Birmingham International/Birmingham New Street service twice an hour?

[Mark A]

It might be that HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))'s Birmingham Interchange will in part offer an 'M1/M6 Parkway' - with access via the M6 toll or the A42 + M42. That will in itself take the pressure off the proposed wee parkway station outside Rugby. And given that HS2 is now building what Watkin could only have dreamed of - a high speed line south of Quainton Road into a London terminus, this will not have the time penalty that Chiltern's aspirations would have endured.

Mark

[grahame]

From Corwen or Caernarvon, from Skelmesdale or Stanhope, from Catterick or Coalville, from Peebles or Presteigne, and from 101 other towns and villages out in the Boondocks you'll likely be starting off a London trip with a lift, or a taxi, or a drive in your car or a bus to a railhead.  And if you do that by driving, once in your car, you'll choose that railhead based on its ease of access off the road, the security of your vehicle there, how good the service into London is from there, and what that costs.   

I used to live near the Berks and Hants. But stations at Patney and Chirton, Lavington, and Bratton and Edington had all closed in 1966, and a trip into London involved driving - either all the way in, or to a railhead. An interesting study on where I chose - and it varied:
Osterley
Basingstoke
Andover
Hungerford
Bedwyn
Pewsey

* Where in London do I want to end up?
* How much does it cost (and ooze gonna be paying)
* Will I be sure to get into the car park
* How sure am I of my coming home time / train availability
* How many of us are going?

Taking Skelmersdale for my "via Rugby" example.  Standard Open Return from Wigan Wallgate - £347.80.  Or if I drive and park at Northampton - £69.20 ... money may talk ... and a station near to Northampton with secure parking, easy access off the motorway and a frequent service may persuade me to drive further and use the train for a shorter distance.

[IndustryInsider]

I can almost hear the good folk of Skelmersdale revving their engines in anticipation!