Theale station - services, facilities / improvements, incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[Surrey 455]

I've been overcarried a few times. I normally would have got off at West Drayton but often would doze off and end up at the next stop, Iver.
One Friday night, must have been about 1 or 2 am I got to Paddington and waited for a train home to West Drayton. I saw a lot of people standing next to a Thames turbo train on Platform 2 I think. The doors were closed, the engine was off. The departure boards on the concourse and platform were on but not showing the next departures. But I knew this had to be my train so I waited for the doors to open and when they did I got on. Watching the scenery go by I watched with horror as we sailed through Ealing Broadway. I knew then that we would not be stopping at Hayes or West Drayton so I would have to get off at Slough. Except we didn't stop at Slough either. Eventually we arrived at Reading where I discovered that this was a very late running Thames Trains service on behalf of Great Western to Bristol. It was running so late it had disappeared off the departure board! In those days Thames used to run an overnight hourly or thereabouts stopping service to Reading. Great Western Trains would not normally be running at that time.
I had a long wait for a train home.

[Robin Summerhill]

Oh, Mr Porter, what a silly *@!* I am!

George Le Brunn 1892

The word you "bleeped out" from the original song was "girl."

I'm not sure that's politically correct these days...

[TonyK]

Mods – given the way this thread has gone would it be a good idea to change the title to “Overcarriying and incorrect journeys” and move it to The Lighter Side?

Reading some of these tales reminds me of incidents when I was at Temple Meads in 1979 working the shifts round as ASM^▸ (Assistant Station Master)’s clerk.

There was the time when a tearful young woman came into the office with a ticket from New Street to Bicester – presumably somebody misheard what she asked them on the platform or misheard a manual announcement. We got her home via Banbury.

Then there was the occasion a one Saturday morning when the overnight trains to Devon and Cornwall were still running, when four men of Asian extraction and a poor command of English came bleary-eyed to the counter clutching Stockport to Euston tickets. They had clearly go on the wrong train at Stockport, and needed to get to Heathrow by 0730. The ASM explained to them that it was their fault because they got the wrong train, and we had nothing in those days that would get them anywhere near Heathrow by the time they needed to get there.

He suggested they take a taxi, but as a precaution to make sure they weren’t ripped off, he told me to go to the taxi driver’s rest room (now the small cafe on the right at the top of the approach on the Old Station side). Did you know what walking in there at 0500in the morning and saying “Will somebody give me a price for a Heathrow?” does? It would have probably woken ‘em up if rigour mortis had already set in...

Then there was the very aggressive bloke that stormed in one day. “Your bloody train didn’t stop at Bristol Parkway!” he ranted.” It stopped at bloody Chippenham, it stopped at bloody Bath, then went straight through bloody Bristol Parkway without stopping!”

He didn’t seem to be the sort of bloke you would want to put right in those circumstances... I often wondered if he noticed the scenery and station names were different as he went up the hill...



Edited to add - seven hours after I posted this I realised that I put it the wrong thread! Could someone move it to "All Newbury Trains used to stop at Theale" on the Kennet Valley board please?

I did rather enjoy it, Robin, so I've left the original where you first posted it until someone cleverer than me can shift it properly.

[GWR 158]

Good news for Theale.
https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/19194503.theale-station-improved/?ref=ebmpn

[ChrisB]

From The Telegraph via MSN

One is a 102-storey giant regarded in its heyday as the eighth wonder of the world, the other a prefabricated footbridge at the Princess of Wales’s local railway station.

Yet the Empire State Building in New York took less time to build than Network Rail is taking to complete a small pedestrian walkway on the London to Bristol line.

Passengers have been left fuming at the interminably slow pace of work on the bridge at Theale station near Reading in Berkshire, where the Princess’s parents and siblings are often seen boarding trains to London.

Construction was already 10 years overdue when it began in January 2023 and it is not expected to open until spring 2024. In contrast, the Empire State Building, which was for decades the tallest building in the world, took just one year and 45 days to complete.
Theale’s MP^▸ (Member of Parliament), Sir Alok Sharma, described the footbridge saga as a “case study” in British bureaucracy and inefficiency.

When the new bridge does finally open it will be the first time wheelchair users will be able to catch trains from the station since it opened in 1847.

Funding for the upgrade to Theale station, which is the nearest station to Carole and Michael Middleton’s home in Bucklebury, was first announced in December 2011, with the budget set at £1.25 million.

A new ticket office was built in 2014 but is yet to open because of delays to the footbridge. In the meantime the budget has rocketed to £9.5 million – coincidentally the same cash sum the Empire State Building cost to build.

The 13 years it will have taken for the village station to undergo its refresh – assuming there are no further delays – is the same length of time it took to build Big Ben or, according to the Bible, King Solomon’s Palace.

In the meantime, passengers access the platforms via steps down from a road bridge, which means there is no disabled access.

Sir Alok told The Telegraph: “The redevelopment of Theale station is a classic case study in just how slowly even relatively small infrastructure projects are delivered in our country, with resultant cost increases having to be picked up by the taxpayer.

“We have to get much better at untangling the stifling bureaucracy and red tape in our system which holds back the time-efficient and cost effective delivery of infrastructure.”

David Sidebottom, director at the independent watchdog Transport Focus, said: “Investment in accessibility improvements at Theale station is a welcome move to help passengers with disabilities travel with greater confidence, however the delays have been frustrating and disappointing.

“Passengers will want assurances that there will be no further delays and for the station to have step-free access as soon as possible.”

Caroline Stickland, chief executive of Transport for All, said any improvements to disabled access were welcome but “the pace of change must increase”.

She said the latest research found that almost half of disabled people report issues with lifts and a lack of step-free access at railway stations.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “Plans to build a new footbridge with lifts at Theale station, part of the Department for Transport’s Access for All programme, were approved in January 2013 alongside a range of improvements including a new ticket office and expanded car park. At this time, funding was only provided for the ticket office and to progress design work for the footbridge.

“A new ticket office was built by Great Western Railway. In 2021, £9.5 million funding was awarded for Network Rail to build a footbridge and lifts. The new facilities are set to open to the public in spring 2024. Great Western Railway will then begin work to expand the car park.”

[ellendune]

If construction only started in January 2023 then it has not taken longer to build than the empire state building.  I am sure the time spent planning and finding the finance for the Empire State Building was not included in the build time. 

[nickswift99]

Although there were plans for an Empire State Building in the mid-20s, the newly built Chrysler building forced the architect to redesign the plans to ensure that the new building would be bigger/better. The final building was designed in 1929, although it was based on two earlier buildings. Obviously, design rigour, health and safety etc weren't quite to the standards of today, accounting for some of the pace.

See https://www.history.com/news/10-surprising-facts-about-the-empire-state-building

However, it's fair to say that the footbridge at Theale is most definitely not an original design, but based on previous installations.

[TaplowGreen]

If construction only started in January 2023 then it has not taken longer to build than the empire state building.  I am sure the time spent planning and finding the finance for the Empire State Building was not included in the build time. 

And I am sure that in time the footbridge at Theale will become just as iconic......if not heralded as the Eighth wonder of the World? 

[Noggin]

Author is the political editor at the Telegraph so it's a very odd article really, especially given the very tenuous references to the Princess of Wales. Perhaps the paper needed some filler, he owed the local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) a favour or was just a few sheets to the wind?

Nonetheless, the odd thing really is not how long it took Network Rail to build it (especially given how far in advance possessions have to be planned), but rather how long it took the Department for Transport to fund it.

[stuving]

Author is the political editor at the Telegraph so it's a very odd article really, especially given the very tenuous references to the Princess of Wales. Perhaps the paper needed some filler, he owed the local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) a favour or was just a few sheets to the wind?

Nonetheless, the odd thing really is not how long it took Network Rail to build it (especially given how far in advance possessions have to be planned), but rather how long it took the Department for Transport to fund it.

You think that's odd? The Times picked up on this for a short item today, putting in figures of 1 year and 45 days and $41M for the Empire State building. They convert that cost as £9M in 1931, and obviously think the fact that's less than the £9.5M Theale's footbridge will cost to be really significant, not just a coincidence. The headline is "Costs of rail footbridge equivalent to skyscraper".

[CyclingSid]

Will this also sort out/remove the "temporary" sewer pipe on the footpath of the road bridge?

[PhilWakely]

Stoppers to Newbury suspended between Reading and Newbury due to a points failure at Theale on the Up line. Disruption expected until midday at the earliest.

[ChrisB]

From Daily Express

Ticket office built nowhere near UK^▸ (United Kingdom) train station - as £8m over budget bridge unopened

There is fury as a ticket office is built nowhere near a UK train station - as the £8 million over budget bridge is still not open.

A new footbridge at Theale Station in Reading has already taken 10 times longer to build than the Empire State Building and is over 10 years overdue.

The upgrade on the pedestrian walkway on the line from London to Bristol was initially announced back in January 2013 but Network Rail only began work in January 2023.

Residents are furious about the ongoing lack of bridge, especially after Network Rail said in January of this year that it would be opening in the spring.

A local named Steve told the Express: "Guess what? It's still not open. There was a big banner that said 'Opening in Spring'. But it didn't. And it didn't open in the summer. Or the Autumn.

"A minor inconvenience for able bodied commuters. But not to have station access for all in 2024 is pretty scandalous.

"However, they have opened the new ticket office, next to the unopened bridge. But because it's now 200m away from platform access, the guy who works in there only sells 10 tickets a day when he was selling 150. Brilliant.

"He gets very little info on what's happening. No one does."

Funding to design the footbridge was announced in 2013 while funding for the full project was to start in in 2015. This was deferred until 2021, when the programme was resumed and fully funded by the Department for Transport.

The original budget was set at £1.25million. However, this shot up to £9.5million when a new ticket office was built in 2014.

According to Network Rail, the average accessible footbridge costs between £3 million and £5 million, but the rail operator says Theale station is a very busy station.

This means opportunities to do work are limited. The extra width of the three tracks also requires a longer span across the railway, resulting in more difficult construction.

Reading West and Mid Berkshire MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Olivia Bailey said: "I share the frustration felt by users at the ongoing delays to complete the work on the footbridge and lifts at Theale Station.

"What's more, it is really disappointing that communication from [Network] Rail and Great Western [Railway] about the delays has been very poor. I have asked them to provide an update for station users as a matter of urgency."

If the bridge opens next year, it will have taken 12 years for the station to finally get its new footbridge - about the length of time it took to build Big Ben.

Daily Express has contacted Network Rail for comment.

[Chris from Nailsea]

The Daily Express is wrong:

If the bridge opens next year, it will have taken 12 years for the station to finally get its new footbridge - about the length of time it took to build Big Ben.

Big Ben is the bell within the clock tower, not the clock tower itself.  A common misconception.