Bath Spa station - improvements, incidents (merged topics)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Bath Chronicle:

Work to start on Bath Spa Railway Station's new ticket office


Bath Spa Station

Work is about to start on Bath^s Railway Station^s new ^500,000 ticket office.

First Great Western has confirmed the work, which will take six months to complete, will start on Monday.

Station manager Peter Rignall said the work would involve remodelling the existing ticket office and the station^s foyer area.

^First Great Western pride^s ourselves on putting our customers first and supporting the communities we serve. We recognise the key role that rail travel has in supporting the local and national economy and we are delighted to be able to start this work.^

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the First Great Western press release:

Bath Spa named Best Station in international awards

Bath Spa station is celebrating two awards in this year^s prestigious International Station Awards. The team won Best Medium-Sized station and then took home the top prize as overall winner of Best Station.

The award recognises the success of recent renovations at the station as part of wider works to improve Bath city centre while still keeping its original Brunel-era features. The station has benefited from an expanded access providing more flexibility to move passengers through the station and new lifts to platforms.

The station, which sits in a World Heritage Site, recently received a coveted Red Wheel plaque from the Transport Trust. It sees 5.8 million passengers pass through each year, including high numbers of foreign tourists as well as commuters and its 48-strong team is led by Station Manager Peter Rignall.

Peter said: ^These awards came as a massive surprise and we^re pleasantly astounded. It is a reflection of how well the team delivers customer service. The judges were impressed by how cheerful and knowledgeable our staff are and it was heartening to see how well the team pulled together when we were shortlisted.^

For more information on how this work will affect rail journeys please visit www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk or call 08457 000 125.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Bath Chronicle:

Rail firm's pledge after second evening of frustrated queuing at Bath railway station


The queues last night. Pic: Fraeya Whiffin

Rail operator First Great Western is looking at whether it can further boost the number of carriages on trains through Bath next weekend.

Bath Spa railway station was engulfed by frustrated queueing passengers for the second time in a week on Saturday night. Unprecedented queues formed in front of the station as people leaving the city after shopping at the Christmas Market or watching Bath Rugby^s clash with Exeter went to go home.

Although FGW^▸ (First Great Western) had laid on enough extra carriages to increase overall capacity throughout the day by 2,000 seats on Saturday, its ability to do more was compromised by the need to provide additional space on trains to Wales because of the Wales-Australia rugby match and Cardiff City^s home game with Arsenal.

At one point, passengers were stopped from entering the station to allow crowds already on platforms and the concourse to catch their trains and free up some space.

The station had also seen scenes of chaos on Tuesday evening when services had been delayed or cancelled by signalling problems.

There were also long queues for park and ride buses on a day which brought nearly 150 coachloads of visitors to the city for the first Saturday of the market.

A spokesman for FGW said: ^The first weekend of the ever-popular Bath Christmas Market and the Bath game against Exeter meant demand was always going to be high.^

He added: ^Customers had been advised to leave extra time for their journeys and that they may not be able to board the first train available. Clearly safety is paramount and we will have to have people queuing up outside the station at times to allow safe access to trains.^

Staff from across the firm will be helping to marshal passengers at busy times over the Christmas period.

The spokesman said the fact that there were fewer competing events this coming weekend should mean the firm was better placed to raise capacity again.

Ironically, the station has just won the title of international railway station of the year.

Roads were clogged for much of the day, with people trying to get into Bath from the north held up by the slow movement of an abnormal load at times.

Meanwhile, the Green Party in the south west has launched an electronic petition to get the franchise for the services currently provided by FGW taken into public control.

Bath spokesman Jon Lucas said: ^Those of us who rely on First Great Western^s train services in Bath will hardly be surprised to hear that the idea of taking our railways back into public ownership has never been more popular. Since privatisation, the cost of train travel has risen by 23 per cent in real terms and the drain on the public purse has more than doubled. Passengers have to put up with some of the highest fares in Europe and for many years have put up with overcrowded trains and unreliable services.^

The party wants the franchise returned to public ownership when the current contract expires in two years^ time, saying this could save taxpayers more than ^1 billion a year and lead to lower fares and better services. The petition is at http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/56244.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Bath Chronicle:

More trains to and from Bath to cope with Christmas Market crowds

First Great Western will be running more trains in Bath this weekend after long queues at the start of the city^s Christmas Market.

At one point last Saturday, passengers had to be stopped from entering Bath Spa railway station, with queues stretching along Dorchester Street, while not far away, hundreds more queued for park and ride buses.

First Great Western has now said it will be running 12 additional trains to and from Bath on Saturday.

There will be six more evening trains, providing 3,000 extra seats, as well as an increase in lunchtime and morning services.

However, people are still being advised that it could be busy.

Bath Spa station manager Peter Rignall said: ^It^s is great to see the Christmas Market here in Bath, with 150 chalet stalls, proving ever popular. While our friendly and approachable staff will be on hand to help keep people moving, I would urge customers to allow time for their journeys, as during the evening peak some passengers may not be able to board their first choice train.^

On top of the usual timetable, extra services will run at from Westbury to Bristol Temple Meads at 10.17, 10.54 and 12.15, we well as Bath to Bristol Temple Meads at 17.46, 18.45 and 19.55.

There will also be trains running from Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury at 09.10, 10.04 and 11.13, and Bath to Westbury at 16.21, 17.25 and 18.25.

First has already been expanding its park and ride services over the Christmas period, but has agreed to look at whether it has the resources to improve this further.

[bobm]

From Journeycheck - one of the extra trains was cancelled.

Cancellation of the 10:04 Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury due 10:44.

This train will be cancelled.

This is due to a train late from the depot.