Reopening Cullompton and Wellington stations (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[FlyingDutchman]

Hi

I just wondered what people thought about campaign to open Railway Station Closed

I  think a Feasibility would have to be done  for station like Cullompton and Wellington Station.



Guy

[grahame]

Hi

I just wondered what people thought about campaign to open Railway Station Closed by Beaching.

I  think a Feasibility would have to be done  for station like Cullompton and Wellington Station.

Guy

The wording "reopening stations that Beeching closed" is a good headline, but worries me slightly - it's backward looking, and while there is huge merit in re-opening stations on some sites where they existed formerly, there is also scope at certain brand new sites.

Let's see ... in my own 'neck of the woods' ... let's look at an idealised TransWilts in - say - 10 years time:

Swindon (never closed)
West Swindon (new station near site of former Hay Lane, closed 1841)
Wootton Bassett (perhaps now Chippenham line to West of junction, for cost and capacity reasons)
Chippenham (never closed)
Melksham (Closed - 1966, reopened 1985)
Staverton and Holt (on site of former Staverton Halt, closed 1966)
Trowbridge (never closed)
White Horse Business Park (new station)
Westbury (never closed)
Dilton Marsh (never closed)
Warminster (never closed)
Wylye [A303 Parkway] (former station closed to passengers, 1955)
Wilton (on site of Wilton GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), closed 1955 for passengers)
Salisbury (never closed)

So that is ...

7 Stations never closed
1 That was closed by Dr Beeching already reopened (but struggling due to dreadful service)
3 Stations to re-open that were closed prior to Dr Beeching
2 Stations that were closed by Dr Beeching to reopen
1 Brand New Station

That leaves 10 former station sites now to be re-opened - a small majority of them being Beeching closures.

When I stated to write this, I didn't know how the numbers were actually going to fall; perhaps this is a bit of unusual line with Warminster -> Salisbury being denuded of passenger stops in the 1950s.

Having written all of that - yes - there is huge merit in looking at the sites of former stations amongst other possible locations, and restoring a station and services if capacity and traffic allows (and what a good time to look at capacity, considering we're in RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) consultation!).  But remember too that when you pay the capital costs of restoring a station, you've also got to look at the operating costs of providing a decent service there - and perhaps it will take a generation to persuade people back to places they haven't been able to get a train from for 40 or 50 years.

To complete the post - former station sites not listed above - Dauntsey, Christian Malford, Lacock, Beanacre, Broughton Gifford, Holt, Heytesbury, Codford, Langford, Wishford

[devon_metro]

Surely if you live in Collumpton it takes only a few minutes to drive to Tiverton Parkway. Due to the lack of local services on that line the service would be awful.

[Super Guard]

Problem is, if you don't drive, then Cullompton has the number 1 bus which is useless to Tiverton Parkway, and takes days to get to Exeter.

Having said that, as DM has said, unless they are going to start stopping HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) 4 miles short of TVP then I cannot ever see it happening.

[FlyingDutchman]

I was think a New Passenger Service from Okehampton to Taunton.

Stopping at the re-opend or New station at Cullompton and Wellington

Okehmapton
Sampford Courtenay (request)
Yeoford
Crediton
Exeter St David
Cullompton
Tiverton Parkway
Wellington
Taunton

Maybe extend it to Bristol

[grahame]

There's a Cullompton (pop 8000) / Corsham (pop 12000) comparison here.   Both have quite frequent 125s going through, but there was (how shall I put it) extreme reluctance to stop those trains at Corsham, so I would expect the same issue with Cullompton.  The RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) shows options for a local Clifton Downs to Chippenham service that would pass through the site of a Corsham station, so there may be hope in years to come (I don't think new stations are in the RUS's terms, even though a new line that includes new stations - Portishead - is).

But - overall - the issue that you need a service that can be stopped keep coming back - it's no good having a station with no trains - we've got that in Melksham and we nearly had the problem at Ivybridge.  Dilton Marsh has some extreme measures in place to provide a train every 3 hours ... and without an extension of the Cardiff - Taunton to Okehampton (how about adding Norton Fitzwarren to the list?), a new station at Cullompton would be fighting for much more that a stop in the 06:00 Exeter to Bristol.

[FlyingDutchman]

Yes I can see you point about stopping at Cullompton. The  only way would be to build a new station which is a a loop, I guess the same would have to be for Wellington.



If you build a new station at Norton Fitzwarren was built you would have to decide how to link it to the West Somerset Norton Fitzwarren Station on the traiangle.

[Lee]

From the Somerset County Gazette:

Network Rail to discuss Wellington station plans

Network Rail officials have accepted an invitation from Taunton Conservative parliamentary candidate Mark Formosa to visit Wellington to discuss how a new railway station could be built.

Mr Formosa, who earlier this year launched a ^Trains for Wellington^ campaign, is also inviting town councillors to the meeting.

[JayMac]

http://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/4751320.Network_Rail_to_discuss_Wellington_station_plans/

[FlyingDutchman]

Interesting story  thanks

[eightf48544]

Yes I can see you point about stopping at Cullompton. The  only way would be to build a new station which is a a loop, I guess the same would have to be for Wellington.



If you build a new station at Norton Fitzwarren was built you would have to decide how to link it to the West Somerset Norton Fitzwarren Station on the traiangle.

This is a very good point. Referring to my bible R.A. Cooke's Atlas of the Great Westren Railway I see that in 1947 there were four tracks through Tauton from Cogload Junction to just beyond Norton Fitzwarren and the Junctions for Minrhead and Barnstable. There were then loops at Wellington, Samford Peveril Tiverton Junction (then a junctionfor Tiveton and Hemyock, Cullompton and Hele and Bradinch stations  plus 4 tracks through Exeter.

That's an aweful lot of lost infrastructure and thus reduced capacity. If new stations are built then they should be on loops because it woiuld enable and RB/RE^▸ (Religious Education) and IC^▸ (Inter City) services to be run. Which is a stopper following the fast and being overtaken by other fasts at suitable points and connecting hopefully cross platform with a following fast for onward fast connections from previous small stations and vice versa from stations on fast services to small stations ahaed..

Thus you would have a Penzance Bristol all stations overtaken and connecting with onward fast at say Par Plymouth Newton Abbot Exeter Taunton. It could also be overtaken by other fasts if new stations had loops.

Thus if you wanted to go from say Hayle to Paddington it would be one change at Par or Plymouth. If you wanted to go from Hayle to Bridgewater it would be either stay on the same train or make two changes at Par/Plymouth and Taunton for a faster journey. But Penzance Bridgewater would be one change off the fast at Taunton.

Of course this would be considee expensive because of the cost of reinstated infrastructure and extra train sets to provide the service because you don't have one train trying to do two jobs i.e. IC to Plymouth adn all stations in Cornwall. it would be IC to penzance and another train set doing the all stations.

[FlyingDutchman]

Maybe you could add a Loop at Exminster and try to develope that area of Exeter

I hope they put in a loop on the sherford station when they may build it also.

[Lee]

From This Is The West Country:

Support for Wellington station 'overwhelming'

A survey has shown the argument for re-opening Wellington railway station is ^overwhelming^, according to the campaign leader.

Mark Formosa, prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Taunton, surveyed 5,500 homes about the railway earlier this year.

Mr Formosa says the results show people in the town have a strong desire to be reconnected to the rail network.

Mr Formosa said: ^I have received a tremendous response of around 750 forms, many of which contained detailed comments and observations.

He said the survey showed ^the overwhelming case for a new Wellington station.^

According to the survey about 76% of people in Wellington use a car as their main form of transport and only 1% use a train.

When prospective passengers were asked what they would use a new station for, 48% said they would use it for occasional day trips, 12% would use it for regular commuting to work and 10% for occasional commuting to work.

The stations people would most like to have a service to were: Taunton (535), Exeter (499), Tiverton (189), London (163) and Bristol (143).

Mr Formosa has written to the Rail Utilisation Strategy programme manager at Network Rail expressing his disappointment that the inclusion of a new station at Wellington was not included in current plans.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: ^We welcome aspirations to help grow and improve the railway but they have to be tested and proven feasible.

^Organisations that are keen to invest in stations can refer to the industry^s station investment policy to pursue their aspirations outside the route utilisation strategy process.^

[Chris from Nailsea]

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

Group tour former railway station

Councillors and business people hoping to get Wellington railway station reopened have had a fact-finding tour of the former station site.

At present the site is used to store gas tanks but if this was moved land adjacent to the West Country to London Paddington line could become available.

Group Trains for Wellington wants to see the station opened in 2014, the 50th anniversary of its closure.

A spokesman said the idea had "massive" local support. "I think we made some real progress and there was a lot of valuable information which the Network Rail people were able to give us and many useful tips for going about things the right way," said campaigner and prospective Conservative candidate Mark Formosa.

"By working closely with the town council I hope to show them how they can do more to push the idea of reopening the station, which is an initiative that has massive public support locally.

"I was pleased that so many councillors came along to become better informed about the way the community can go about getting a new station for Wellington," he added.

A question and answer session with Network Rail officials followed the meeting.

[FlyingDutchman]

From Mid Devon Gazette

MID Devon District Council is backing calls for a new railway station in Cullompton ^ half a century after the town's halt was closed.

The authority says it would welcome the development of platforms on allocated land at junction 28, roughly where the station was before it fell victim to cuts to the British rail network in the 1960s.

As buses linking Cullompton with Exeter and Taunton have reduced, optimism is growing that local train services could be sustained due to the town's steady increase in population.

A district council spokesman said: "Both district and county councillors representing the area have been voicing their concerns against any reduction to both main line and Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Line services.

"We also have land allocated for a railway station at junction 28 and would be pleased to see a development on that site.

"We are in an economic climate that is seeing the price of motoring escalate beyond the reach of many in rural communities. There are rising concerns over climate change and our over dependency on oil.

"For these reasons the council wants to maximise the availability of public transport that meets residents' needs."

Town and district councillors, as well Cullompton Traders' Association members, have been buoyed by comments from Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council's cabinet member for highways and transportation.

Cllr Nikki Woollatt, who represents Cullompton at town and district level, wrote to the authority to congratulate it on its plans for a station in Okehampton to improve the local infrastructure. She told the authority a new station would help boost ongoing regeneration as well as asking if Cullompton features in its economic development plans.

Cllr Hughes said: "While it is possible in layout terms to provide a station for Cullompton there is currently no train service which would call there.

"However, in responding to the Department for Transport's consultation on the new Great Western Rail Franchise to start in 2013, we made the case for an hourly stopping service between Exeter and Taunton.

"If this could be achieved at some time within the new franchise, then it would pave the way for a station to be added at Cullompton."

Stations in Stoke Canon, Silverton, Hele and Bradninch, Cullompton, Tiverton Junction, Sampford Peverell and Burlescombe closed after Dr Richard Beeching, as chairman of the British Transport Commission, drew up a report stating that British Rail was losing ^140m a year in 1963.

Neil Vaughan, chairman of the Cullompton Traders Association, said the rise in Cullompton's population due to the number of homes being built should be enough to sustain rail connections from Cullompton to Exeter and Taunton.

The population of the Cullompton area currently stands at 23,989, a figure Devon County Council did not expect would be reached until 2016.

Mr Vaughan's association is to meet the Cullompton Regeneration Advisory Group and Gordon Cleaver, Mid Devon District Council's economic development manager, this week.

He said: "I think we need to promote the links we already have but I do think the train station should be at the top of the list when it comes to transport and infrastructure.

"A train station will allow people from a tourism point of view to come to Cullompton to see what is here and it would also provide a fantastic saving in the carbon footprint currently attached to the number of cars that travel to Exeter and Taunton every day.

"If there was a local train service that went to Exeter, Cullompton, Tiverton, Wellington and Taunton on an hourly basis, it would provide a track of opportunity for those towns to attract people."