Marsh Barton Railway Station Exeter - Construction

[ExRes]

Although interestingly, if you read right through that linked announcement, it's twice called Torquay Gateway; once called Torquay Gateweay (sic); but it also says it will be known as Edginswell, and is at Edginswell.

It seems to have a bit of an identity crisis!

Thanks to you and everyone else who replied, I see on the Torbay.gov.uk site that construction 'should start in the summer of 2023' and that £7.8m was received in November 2020 from the New Stations Fund, I hope they invested it somewhere giving a good interest rate ......

 

[RPI]

Back to Marsh Barton.... April/May is what I was told by someone who is heavily involved in the project the other day, they said if you tell yourself it will open with the May timetable change you shouldn't be disappointed.

 

[davetheguard]

Back to Marsh Barton.... April/May is what I was told by someone who is heavily involved in the project the other day, they said if you tell yourself it will open with the May timetable change you shouldn't be disappointed.

Thanks for the update; and thanks for dragging me back on topic!

 

[RPI]

Thanks for the update; and thanks for dragging me back on topic!

Notice i didn't say what year though......

 

[Dan G]

Back to Marsh Barton.... April/May is what I was told by someone who is heavily involved in the project the other day, they said if you tell yourself it will open with the May timetable change you shouldn't be disappointed.

Thank you, that's good to know!

 

[Ashley Hill]

Here’s some photos of Marsh Barton from a week ago.

Looking rather complete.

 

[Freightmaster]

Looking rather complete.

Wot, no ramps?!




MARK

 

[Ashley Hill]

Wot, no ramps?!




MARK

I believe that is the modern way of things.

 

[zwk500]

I believe that is the modern way of things.

Indeed platforms have been built without ramps for ages. No need for the barrow crossing nowadays.

 

[Devonman2014]

An article on Devon Live is giving “spring” as an opening date.

New Devon railway station faces fresh setback

No trains will stop at the new station until at least the Spring

www.devonlive.com

 

[REVUpminster]

This delay seems so unnecessary probably for some civil servant to give it a tick; or waiting for a dignitary to have a free day. The lifts at Torquay passed planning April 2021; nothing happening. New plans for Edginswell (with lifts) still not been presented; won't be enough money in the kitty. Maybe waiting for Dawlish station lifts to be finished; another 3/4 months.

 

[zwk500]

This delay seems so unnecessary probably for some civil servant to give it a tick; or waiting for a dignitary to have a free day. The lifts at Torquay passed planning April 2021; nothing happening. New plans for Edginswell (with lifts) still not been presented; won't be enough money in the kitty. Maybe waiting for Dawlish station lifts to be finished; another 3/4 months.

4 months doesn't sound overly long to install all the screens and services, test the fire alarms and do all the safety checks before having a couple of weeks of driver and staff briefings, a couple of test services and then a soft opening.

 

[Dan G]

The platforms may be complete but there's still loads to do around access ways and landscaping. I'm quite surprised this wasn't sequenced to be done at the same time as other activities, but having only a few people working on a site at any given time seems to be the Modern Way.

Excuse the poor photos but they give you an idea!

 

[zwk500]

The platforms may be complete but there's still loads to do around access ways and landscaping. I'm quite surprised this wasn't sequenced to be done at the same time as other activities, but having only a few people working on a site at any given time seems to be the Modern Way.

There's no point doing any landscaping or footpaths if heavy equipment is still moving around and could trash it.

 

[Ashley Hill]

If the BBC are correct any time in spring would be correct. No trains at Exeter's Marsh Barton station until spring https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-64434027
Let’s be fare it’s probably May with the new timetable.

 

[Dan G]

There's no point doing any landscaping or footpaths if heavy equipment is still moving around and could trash it.

I think it's been a while since any tracked heavy plant has been on site.

Considering that, afaik, there were no surprises or ground condition issues, a six month delay on what was supposed to be an 18 month project is a bit disappointing

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I think it's been a while since any tracked heavy plant has been on site.

Considering that, afaik, there were no surprises or ground condition issues, a six month delay on what was supposed to be an 18 month project is a bit disappointing

There's a lot of it about! (delays)

 

[saxsux]

Spotted looming out of the fog this morning, Grace Rd Playing Fields have gained a double arrow totem! Pleasingly typeset in RA2.

Here’s some photos of Marsh Barton from a week ago.
View attachment 127970View attachment 127969
Looking rather complete.

Very interesting to see how far the platform works have come! The photos do make it clear how close the up platform is to the air intake for the waste incinerator. Surprising there aren't any fencing or panels to block out the sound, it can sometimes be extremely loud.

 

[ExRes]

Reported on the sw rail gen group that platform clearance tests were carried out this morning, 3Z50 & 3Z51 using 158769 & 150232 and 3Z70 & 3Z71 using 166221

 

[REVUpminster]

I'm going on a public tour of the incinerator soon so I hope the station will be open.

 

[Class172]

I wonder if road access across the bridge will be controlled by traffic lights once the works are complete. It’s quite a long and narrow section to have to reverse down, and surely requires some kind of traffic management once access to the station is required.

 

[Dan G]

Cars will go over the road bridge, which is wide enough for two to pass. But there's only disabled parking and drop-off at the station – no public parking, iirc – so there won't be much more traffic than there used to be going to Double Locks.

The big green hoardings have gone so you can see the roadway and landscape works. Kinda interesting that the footway crosses the road twice but I guess it would have been prohibitively expensive to build a new road bridge.

 

[Meerkat]

Are there really no steps on the east side - you have to walk all down/up the ramp and back??

 

[Dan G]

Got to save those pennies!

 

[fgwrich]

Are there really no steps on the east side - you have to walk all down/up the ramp and back??

It certainly seems like an oversight, on both sides!

 

[Meerkat]

It certainly seems like an oversight, on both sides!

It something that really grinds me - I don’t think architects can walk anywhere.
like when they make nice wandering paths that are all very nice….but not if it’s your route to work and you just want to get there quickly.

 

[zwk500]

Cars will go over the road bridge, which is wide enough for two to pass.

Really? On both Google Streetview and the Publicity image in your last photo, the bridge does not appear to be able to have 2 Cars safely pass. The perspective may be off, I admit.

Are there really no steps on the east side - you have to walk all down/up the ramp and back??

It something that really grinds me - I don’t think architects can walk anywhere.
like when they make nice wandering paths that are all very nice….but not if it’s your route to work and you just want to get there quickly.

Given the constraints of the site, it is hard to see where stairs could reasonably be placed without requiring the loss/moving of something else. The ramps are a requirement for all new structures under accessibility legislation, so if it's an either/or situation between Ramps and Stairs the Architect has no choice. Also, non-direct paths have purposes, such as easing gradients or managing surface runoff drainage. Although there are definitely times when 'looking pretty' was ranked higher up the priorities list than it should have been...

 

[Class172]

Cars will go over the road bridge, which is wide enough for two to pass.

Really? On both Google Streetview and the Publicity image in your last photo, the bridge does not appear to be able to have 2 Cars safely pass. The perspective may be off, I admit.

Having driven across that bridge before I wouldn’t say it’s wide enough for two-way traffic. I drive a pretty small car and know its width, but unless some clearance works have managed to expose more useable road width (I recall there being some overhanging hedges) it would be a pretty tight squeeze, especially with the size of most cars/vans recently.

 

[RPI]

18th May is the opening date being banded about at work.

 

[Dan G]

I took some more photos today. Progress is very slow. But if the opening is 18 May, I can understand the lack of urgency.

The massive pipe that's emerged from an existing culvert surprised me!