Whilst Universal will benefit from the station, I am sure it is the TOC's who reap the rewards through ticket sales. Is it the attraction's responsibility to make rail successful or rails responsibility to make the attraction successful?
All it needs is a decent waiting room rather than bus shelters. It won't get a Brent Cross style station but deserves better than Reston (which is a glorified halt).
I am sure Alton Towers would have plenty of rail traffic if it was anywhere near a station.
I don't think anyone on the thread has agreed with that statement, it's just that it's a reality of Mmmodern British life under Conservative rule.
I don't even specifically disagree with this, I just wish people would accept that it means a big increase in cost and a consequent increase in public funding.
Either the fasts or slows are taken under possession for an agreed period as stated in the engineering access statement.
It's got a station. No trains, no rails, used as holiday accommodation. But it's got a station.
What's your point here? If you want more buses, even if you only want them one weekend in five or ten or twelve you have to start paying for them. Thameslink aren't going to pay for them out of the goodness of their manager's hearts.
If there's even one day where the necessary lines are closed then either a) the train company will have to do the plan with the relevant weekly changes in the LTP, and have them all known about and coordinated in advance, or b) somebody will have to pay for a bus. I'm not aware of any cases of a happening?
2 track railway on the MML so some Sundays only the fasts are in use.
Unlikely this would be an issue as Bedford is way more attractive for commuters (42 on EMR plus Thameslink as a backup, while you only have Thameslink at Wixams taking approx. 54 mins in).
For what it's worth, I did last year... the "shuttle bus" is certainly far better integrated with Staines station, when compared to Thorpe Park and Stoke/Derby. Albeit far more expensive than any other bus.
Crossing at Wixams would mean a different route east of Bedford towards the ECML and Cambridge, there has been enough issues with NIMBYs as it is without starting over to consult on a completely different alignment.
That sounds far too sensible. Clearly the council have been told that by someone in the industry (presumably the Network Rail people that they liaising with) that if its a two platform station they can't have services after 2200 unless the council pay for the buses when required. That is why the council announced it. Perhaps someone "digging their heals in" so that they can retain the flexibility to close the slows at comparatively short notice?
I'm not aware of that happening anywhere either. It'd also lead to chargebacks and claims by any season ticket holders because "normal timescale for engineering works" can now mean anything from 8 weeks to 1 day.
