Posted 12th November 2009 | 5 Comments
Network Rail unveils £3.25bn plan for stations
Glasgow Central is gaining extra platforms which will improve capacity
Network Rail has outlined plans to spend more than £3 billion on stations between now and 2014, when Control Period 4 ends, and it's asking rail users for their opinions about the main priorities.
It says most National Rail stations will receive some investment over the next five years, 'ranging from tens of thousands to tens of millions'. Heading the queue are high profile, major developments such as Reading and Birmingham New Street, but hundreds of minor stations will also be improved in various ways.
These improvements, which are sketched out in a new brochure called 'Action Stations', include new information systems, lifts and stairways, toilets, waiting rooms and shelters, bigger or refurbished ticket halls, better lighting, CCTV and general redecoration. More seats and better opportunities for station traders are also in the plans.
NR operations and customer service director Robin Gisby said stations are the shop front of the railways, and he admitted that they have been ignored for too long. He added: 'We must invest wisely. We shouldn't try and second guess passengers but ask them what they want from stations and what's important to them. We need to listen to passengers and use their views to guide our decisions."
As a result, Network Rail is launching a research project in which passengers will be asked what is important to them at their local station, and where they would like to see investment. The survey will start later this month, and is said to be the first of its kind. The results will be incorporated into a wider review of stations which will take place during most of 2010, while a parallel report is also expected from the Department for Transport shortly, following its appointment of 'station champions' Chris Green and Sir Peter Hall.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Paul Cook (Proj Mgt Services Ltd), Gloucester, England
Welcome investment in the rail network. However I'd argue that "communities" have been involved with identifying stations as important hubs in their market towns.
The Gateway Stations Programme was an integral part of the Market Towns Initiative. The programme was based on communities identifying railway stations as important to the regeneration of a town and its hinterland, through healthchecks and community planning tools.
ACoRP also have a Community Stations Initiative.
Will any of this super-investment trickle down to rural stations? I'd sincerely hope so.
Clive Oakenby, Market Bosworth, England
I agree with David Spencer's comments. In the West Midlands the growth is supressed by the poor frequency on some routes (so it is hard to use as a network), but growth in train numbers at Walsall is being tackled by the plan. Strangely the town of Polesworth (quite an interesting place with an Abbey), lost its access to its second platform during West Coast improvements, but is not on the stations list. Some mistake surely (trains currently only in one direction).
David Spencer, Bolton, Lancashire
It has to be said that stations in general have improved over the years since the 1960's. However the negative side of station environments appear particularly in the late evenings and on Sundays when refreshment rooms/kiosks and newstands close down. Stations should be a fulcrum, a pivot around which passengers enter a town or city and feel welcome at all times. In particular bus services and other forms of transport should be intergrated with trains. The bus station should be at the railway station and no where else. But I do believe also that stations should have a hotel also at the station so that if train connections are missed at least there may be a bed for the night.
I look forward to what improvements can be made.
G Steel, Northampton, United Kingdom
It is good to hear that more investment is going into stations but Network Rail, like the DfT are very good at recycling old news to make it look like a new announcement.
Much of this work has already been announced in particular the massive works to be undertaken at Reading and Birmingham which will no doubt take the lions share of the money. The installation of lifts is being done under the DDA (step free access) scheme which has been underway since 2006.
Nevertheless, the proposed improvements to ticket halls and the general station environment is long overdue and I welcome the proposed consultation with "rail users" and suggest that NR includes the various Rail Users Groups that exist around the country as a conduit for ideas and suggestions.
Craig Ward, Blackburn, UK
When are Network Rail going to do something about clearing the appalling amounts of rubbish from railway embankments in urban areas.. It is becoming a national disgrace. I know the general public's dirty habits put it there but it does detract from the journey experience of rail travel.