Reading Green Park

[whole diary]

[stuving]

To open by "end of the year": https://www.reading.gov.uk/vehicles-roads-and-transport/transport-schemes-and-projects/reading-green-park-station/

To date, the council has delivered:

    2,150m of platforms;

Wow! All those extra platforms - at least 14 in all - just by a single dodgy keystroke!

[paul7575]

The contractor ought to try and see if he can get paid for all that extra platform construction, no wonder it’s taking so long to do the final surfacing….

[grahame]

To open by "end of the year": https://www.reading.gov.uk/vehicles-roads-and-transport/transport-schemes-and-projects/reading-green-park-station/

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-62048949

A new railway station, delayed due to the pandemic, is set to open by the end of the year.

Reading's Green Park Station on the Reading to Basingstoke line had been expected to open in late 2020.

Building work on the two-platform station, near Reading FC^‡(resolve)'s Madejski Stadium, will finish in July.

It will then go through a period of testing before the station will be up and running for passengers, Reading Borough Council said.

[CyclingSid]

near Reading FC^‡(resolve)‡'s Madejski Stadium

Will be a nice job for Thames Valley Police sheparding the fans through Green Park Village and the Business Park to the Stadium. Bet the residents will soon be complaining about that.

[eightonedee]

Building work on the two-platform station, near Reading FC^‡(resolve)‡'s Madejski Stadium, will finish in July.

It will then go through a period of testing before the station will be up and running for passengers, Reading Borough Council said.

Does any forum member know what such testing involves, why such a period is needed, and how long such period ought to be? It seems odd that they cannot be more specific.

[IndustryInsider]

It should be a lot quicker, but as we saw for Worcestershire Parkway and Kenilworth it takes forever….mostly for the paperwork to be signed off it seems rather than the actual testing.

[IndustryInsider]

It looks like substantial sections of the platforms have been dug up for some reason.  Perhaps part of the ongoing delays?

[bradbrka]

It looks like substantial sections of the platforms have been dug up for some reason.  Perhaps part of the ongoing delays?

Walked past the station yesterday evening. It appears they are repositioning the tactile paving further away from the platform edge as discussed  in post 230. The paving on the south bound platform looks to have been done.

[IndustryInsider]

Ah, thanks…I’d missed post #230.

If it is as a result of the turbulence from passing intermodal trains it’s a good example of why safety standards for new stations increase costs.  Especially given the proximity of the station to Southcote Junction with its 45 or 50mph permitted speeds meaning those trains won’t be going anywhere near their 75mph maximum speed.  Probably 60mph at the most through the station.

[paul7575]

Ah, thanks…I’d missed post #230.

If it is as a result of the turbulence from passing intermodal trains it’s a good example of why safety standards for new stations increase costs.  Especially given the proximity of the station to Southcote Junction with its 45 or 50mph permitted speeds meaning those trains won’t be going anywhere near their 75mph maximum speed.  Probably 60mph at the most through the station.

Well, if someone’s recently worked out that the tactiles should be behind the yellow line rather than just in front of it, as has been usual for years, then a heck of a lot of other platforms will need modifying…

Paul

[CyclingSid]

Signs of progress

Just been by Green Park station. Platforms still dug up.

But NR^» (Network Rail - home page) icon on a pole at the front of the station and "Reading Green Park" name boards on the platforms.

[bradbrka]

Passed over the bridge at Green park again yesterday evening. There are now 2 rows of tactile paving on the southbound platform, one by the platform edge stones, the other further back. Not easy to see but appear to be different patterns. I tried to get a photo but with all the temporary fencing proved too difficult.

[eightonedee]

When I last posted a picture back in March, I foolishly predicted that it would be the last time before the station opened. I was back there today, and this is what I saw. There are indeed two lines of tactile paving down each platform and it looks like (at least on the east side) either some making good behind the outer (furthest from the track) edge or perhaps a linear drainage grid to cover a gully.

To my untrained eye it does look almost ready to go. Does anyone know if the period for testing mentioned previously has passed and the testing completed?

[Marlburian]

Well, there's a coincidence. I was composing the first post in this thread since July and so were you. Today I was driving back to Tilehurst "though the gravel pits", as I used to call the route in my cycling days and intended to cross the railway by means of the bridge by Green Park Station. Only the road was closed. Looking back through this thread, I couldn't see any reason for the closure. Perhaps there are works taking place on the bridge itself??

[eightonedee]

The road closure was for a triathlon event (I hasten to add I was not participating!). I travelled to and from the site on foot.