Reading Station improvements

[whole diary]

[Southern Stag]

Noticed today that the first lengths of the new canopy are in place on Platforms 8/9, around the footbridge. Feels a little less exposed now, but the London end of the platform is certainly a bit bare now all the canopies have gone.

[EBrown]

GetReading

Neighbours kept awake by railway works
Tenants in flats nearest to the site of all-night railway engineering works are furious they were not warned in advance.

Neighbours in Luscinia View, Napier Road, Reading, say the constant blast of horns and steel-cutting through the night has made their lives a misery.

Network Rail has apologised for failing to inform residents of the work, but warned there is more to come with late-night pile driving for the installation of overhead power lines.

Eight tenants from the King^s Meadow flats made their views clear at a fractious meeting with Network Rail on Tuesday.

They were furious about works which started overnight on Saturday, September 15, and continued until the early hours of Monday.

The same pattern of works are due to continue every weekend until Christmas with unloading and compacting ballast, earthwork excavation, laying tracks, deliveries, plant movement and piling.

One resident said: ^If you live next to it and your kids are crying because they can^t sleep, it^s very disturbing.

^When the siren goes off it^s a terrible noise like a fire alarm in the flats. I couldn^t work on Monday because of the noise overnight.^

Another said: ^What we don^t get is that everybody else was notified of this work ^ the flats on the other side and in Kennet Walk ^ but we are closest to it and we didn^t get a letter through until September 29.^

Ward councillor Tony Page, who attended the meeting, said: ^It^s most regrettable the original letter sent by Network Rail only went to a handful of people in the flats and it^s a cock-up that could have been avoided if Network Rail had contacted me before sending them.^

Works on the tracks, as part of the ^850 million upgrade of the local rail network and Reading station, will take place until December 27 although Network Rail said there would be no noisy work carried out over Christmas.

Eimear Fitzpatrick, Network Rail spokesman, said: ^Owing to a change in our programme, we were late informing the residents in Luscinia View of the work to upgrade the track, for which we apologise.^

Network Rail has also promised to consult with residents over the timing of the piling works.

[paul7575]

Back around pages 54/55 or so we were discussing how the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services would be platformed in the future, and in the interim 2013 layout.

Seems this has occured to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) as well, and I found a whole load of queries and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) responses on the NR 'Network Change' web pages.  Anyway, this is the plan for XC services in the 2013 interim layout:

FGW:
Paragraph 4: Platform 3 out: Need to know where Cross Country goes;

NR:
The proposals are, subject to specific timetable requirements, as follows;
Manchester ^ Bournemouth reverse in platform 8.
Newcastle ^ Southampton use platform 10 and then 11 when open.
Southampton ^ Newcastle use platform 9.
Terminating services from Newcastle will use platform 13 or 14.

 

This latter point is what I suggested a while back - will be interesting to see if it does turn out to be the normal practice in the completed layout...

The whole letter is here, it has answers to various other FGW questions that may be of interest to someone:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/network%20code/network%20change/current%20proposals/reading%20redevelopment/nc%20g1%20rsar%20002/train%20operator%20replies/first%20great%20western/reply%20to%20fgw%20stage%20f%20ncn%2003102012.pdf

Paul

[bobm]

I notice in the letter linked above Signal prefixs are shown as simply T and not TR - is it the plan that all signals will be redesignated?

[paul7575]

Going by those layout plans provided earlier (around page 55) it looks fairly systematic, in that TR seems to apply to all the re-controlled existing signals, and T to the brand new signals.  No doubt someone else can confirm what is planned, but it is quite possible that TR is an interim designation specifically to deal with the Christmas 2010 re-control.

What might tend to confirm this theory is that the approaches to the three Southern platforms (which were resignalled already) also have 'T' designations...

Paul

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Back around pages 54/55 or so we were discussing how the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) services would be platformed in the future, and in the interim 2013 layout.

Seems this has occured to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) as well, and I found a whole load of queries and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) responses on the NR 'Network Change' web pages.  Anyway, this is the plan for XC services in the 2013 interim layout:

FGW:
Paragraph 4: Platform 3 out: Need to know where Cross Country goes;

NR:
The proposals are, subject to specific timetable requirements, as follows;
Manchester ^ Bournemouth reverse in platform 8.
Newcastle ^ Southampton use platform 10 and then 11 when open.
Southampton ^ Newcastle use platform 9.
Terminating services from Newcastle will use platform 13 or 14.

 

This latter point is what I suggested a while back - will be interesting to see if it does turn out to be the normal practice in the completed layout...

The whole letter is here, it has answers to various other FGW questions that may be of interest to someone:

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/network%20code/network%20change/current%20proposals/reading%20redevelopment/nc%20g1%20rsar%20002/train%20operator%20replies/first%20great%20western/reply%20to%20fgw%20stage%20f%20ncn%2003102012.pdf

Paul

Thanks Paul, very interesting, and I've read the letter too. I'm surprised there are so many issues from FGW re layout at this late stage in the Project.

Incidentally, I hope they haven't forgotten to think about where Bournemouth- Manchester XC's go - though it could be their wording is a bit loose and they will be in P8 also.

[Jonty]

Apologies if this has already been dealt with but it's a real shame they have got rid of the old bay platform 7.

This was/should be perfect for the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) trains and surely there is enough room to have kept it?

[paul7575]

It wouldn't be well positioned in the new layout even if physically possible, because the platforms either side (new P8 and new P9) will both be down main platforms. 

But the real reason it has been lost,  is that it was in the way of the stairs and escalators on the rebuilt island.  Don't forget the whole centre of gravity of the station including platform facilities such as waiting rooms, shops etc, has moved well to the west, there just isn't room for bays as well, as the transfer deck is roughly above where the old P7 buffer stops were...

Paul

[Jonty]

Thanks Paul.

If new 7,8 and 9 are all down platforms doesn't that mean that the smaller platforms 10 and 11 will serve the up traffic to Paddington- seems a tad strange seeing as it's the busiest single route...

[IndustryInsider]

If new 7,8 and 9 are all down platforms doesn't that mean that the smaller platforms 10 and 11 will serve the up traffic to Paddington- seems a tad strange seeing as it's the busiest single route...

There's far less waiting time for passengers travelling to London who rarely find themselves on the platform for more than 10 minutes.  Sometime grannies heading for the West Country are in position hours in advance, so extra circulating space might not be a bad idea!

[Not from Brighton]

Despite not being a granny, I shall somehow miss loitering on (the old) platform 4 trying to guess which of my fellow loiterers were waiting for the same train as me.

[eightf48544]

Just heard more blockades around Easter FGW^▸ (First Great Western) running Swindon Banbury (reverse) Padd via Foxhall

West of England Westbury Salisbury Waterloo via Mainline swing link problem with HST^▸ (High Speed Train) solved!

Might get a Padd Swindon return I've never done Foxhall

[IndustryInsider]

Just heard more blockades around Easter FGW^▸ (First Great Western) running Swindon Banbury (reverse) Padd via Foxhall

West of England Westbury Salisbury Waterloo via Mainline swing link problem with HST^▸ (High Speed Train) solved!

More details of which were given earlier in this thread:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=6405.630

[paul7575]

West of England Westbury Salisbury Waterloo via Mainline swing link problem with HST^▸ (High Speed Train) solved!

The 'swing link problem' is not solved, LSL^‡(resolve) bogies are still not allowed on the DC^▸ (Direct Current) network.  The issue of running up the mainlines into Waterloo was a basic matter of gauging limitations through stations such as Wimbledon and Clapham Junction, and the suitability of the platforms on the main side at Waterloo.  Primarily, HST power cars were not allowed into any of the platforms on the main line side, so there was no point in sending the HSTs up that side of the route.  The crossovers in the Vauxhall area that allow moves from the up main into platforms 17-19 (the platforms used last time) cause too many conflicts with other services so are rarely used in the weekday timetable.

Paul

[paul7575]

Thanks Paul.

If new 7,8 and 9 are all down platforms doesn't that mean that the smaller platforms 10 and 11 will serve the up traffic to Paddington- seems a tad strange seeing as it's the busiest single route...

I think another way of looking at it is simply that the P8/P9 island is much wider than it needs to be.  Clearly there was no point in reducing its width if there was no essential requirement to, but that doesn't mean P10/P11 is necessarily too narrow.   The up main island is normally going to be dealing with a similar number of trains as the old P5 did on only one platform face, but now spread evenly over two faces, with access from the new footbridge (aka transfer deck) designed to fill the platform from both ends, rather than everyone standing around together.  Also, with trains towards London probably alternating from either side, there's much more space for people to wait in the middle of the platform, once away from the escalators, stairs and platform facilities.     

I expect it will be fine.

Paul