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Reading West Revamp

Snow1964

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SLC who helped get authorisation have also issued a news story, ahead of Reading West building opening 19th March

SLC, the rail development and delivery specialist, has played a pivotal role in assisting Great Western Railway (GWR) in fulfilling its obligations under the Railway Interoperability Regulations (RIR) for the redevelopment of Reading West station.

Over the last year, SLC Rail has successfully supported the station in obtaining Authorisation to Place Into Service (APIS) from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) in less than the 20-day guidance.

APIS, mandated by the ORR, serves as a vital validation for railway stations, infrastructure, or rolling stock, affirming compliance with rigorous standards encompassing aspects such as health and safety, accessibility, environmental sustainability, and technical compatibility.

Nathan Godley, Project Manager at SLC Rail, said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my involvement in this project, ensuring that the design and construction deliverables align with the requirements of Persons of Reduced Mobility (PRM) National Technical Specification Notices (NTSNs). With our extensive experience across numerous projects, we understand the criticality of compliance from an entry-into-service standpoint.

“The successful attainment of APIS in less than the normal 20-day guidance, shows the significance of collaboration, as we’ve worked closely with key partners, regulatory bodies, and stakeholders every step of the way. It’s been a rewarding journey and I’m looking forward to seeing passengers use this station soon.”

Tom Pierpoint, Business Development Portfolio Director at GWR, said: “This is an essential part of the project, and it was invaluable to have SLC’s expertise ensuring that we have everything in place and to railway standards to open this station as quickly and as safely as possible. Their contribution has been instrumental in supporting this project.”

The upgrades to Reading West station encompass a station building, housing a modern ticket office and ticket machines, complemented by enhanced signage, lighting infrastructure, and comprehensive CCTV coverage throughout the premises. The new station building is due to open on Tuesday 19 March.

 
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Mark J

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Obviously there will be ticket barriers at the Oxford Rd end of the Station. However, how will the long ramp from Tilehurst Road be secured with ticket barriers?

Reading West was a well known start/end point by fare dodgers due to no barriers previously.
 

AlastairFraser

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Obviously there will be ticket barriers at the Oxford Rd end of the Station. However, how will the long ramp from Tilehurst Road be secured with ticket barriers?

Reading West was a well known start/end point by fare dodgers due to no barriers previously.
It won't be I think, but i'd say they stick RPIS there instead (edited because I was distracted writing originally! :oops:)
 
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furlong

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Obviously there will be ticket barriers at the Oxford Rd end of the Station. However, how will the long ramp from Tilehurst Road be secured with ticket barriers?
With a new building, a fence and a metal gate. I can dig out a picture later if there wasn't already one up-thread.
 

AlastairFraser

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If not, that will be a bit daft.

Secure the front door (Oxford Rd), whilst leaving the back door (Tilehurst Rd) unsecured.
Sorry, I meant to say they'll have RPIs there maybe at peak times, I was clearly distracted when writing. But I don't think they'll bother staffing a barrier at that end.
 

furlong

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With a new building, a fence and a metal gate. I can dig out a picture later if there wasn't already one up-thread.
Looking back, the pictures were only the Oxford Road end. I've attached a picture which shows the basic layout when the shutters were down. There is one ticket machine inside and a couple of barriers.

One of the ticket machines at the Oxford Road end has been sited incorrectly as it cannot be used on a bright day because the reflection of the sky on the surface of the screen makes the dim text impossible to make out.
 

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Kite159

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And I guess the issue if they install a remotely managed gateline (similar to say Cheltenham Spa) is that the pay when challenged will simply bump the gates knowing there isn't a member of staff watching.

As for the new station building, looked quite good when I used it this afternoon when breaking my journey. No doubt the gates will pay for themselves within a few months catching out those whom think payment is optional and exit at Reading West instead of Reading due to the previous lack of barriers
 

Tw99

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I don't suppose two station stops an hour at Reading West, which is already on a slow section of track, reduces other path availability by much, even if there was actually demand for more paths.
 
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I don't suppose two station stops an hour at Reading West, which is already on a slow section of track, reduces other path availability by much, even if there was actually demand for more paths.
There are currently three GWR trains an hour each way calling at Reading West, two Basingstoke-Reading and one Newbury-Reading. With the two Basingstoke-Reading trains now also serving Reading Green Park I would suggest only the Newbury-Reading train calling at Reading West and replacing one of the two Basingstoke-Reading GWR services with an extension of the York-Reading hourly Cross Country service (which will be hourly again from May 2025) with this and the remaining GWR Basingstoke-Reading service calling at Reading Green Park, Mortimer and Bramley and the Cross Country Manchester-Bournemouth service running non-stop between Reading and Basingstoke. The Cross Country York-Basingstoke train would then again provide a direct train service from Hampshire to Yorkshire without needing any paths between Basingstoke and Southampton or any additional paths between Reading and Basingstoke. Revamped Reading West Station would then still have a useful service but be less of a capacity constraint.
The following document has information about capacity constraints on rail freight between Southampton and the Midlands and on page 13 lists the following schemes needed for growth.
The Freight Network Study identifies several corridors and the potential options for funders that would need to be delivered to facilitate the growth that the study predicts. The Solent to the Midlands corridor is ‘Corridor 4’ in the study and the following capacity and gauge options are identified:
1. Improving existing passing loops between Eastleigh and Basingstoke
2. Grade separation at Basingstoke
3. Assuming OLE electrification of Southampton to Basingstoke, provision of electrified diversionary route via Andover [note that this was identified in the previous ‘Electric Spine’ study aspirations]
4. Capacity enhancements between Southcote Junction (Jn) and Oxford Road Jn in Reading
5. Grade separation at Didcot East Jn and Oxford North Jn
6. Capacity improvements Didcot – Oxford and Oxford station
7. Banbury Loops
8. Leamington Spa station remodelling
9. Water Orton area interventions
10. Sutton Park Line electrification
11. Gauge clearance of W10 of diversionary route via Westbury and Melksham
12. Gauge clearance to W8 of Bradford Jn to Bathampton Jn
13. Electrification of key freight terminals in the West Midlands
 

AlastairFraser

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There are currently three GWR trains an hour each way calling at Reading West, two Basingstoke-Reading and one Newbury-Reading. With the two Basingstoke-Reading trains now also serving Reading Green Park I would suggest only the Newbury-Reading train calling at Reading West and replacing one of the two Basingstoke-Reading GWR services with an extension of the York-Reading hourly Cross Country service (which will be hourly again from May 2025) with this and the remaining GWR Basingstoke-Reading service calling at Reading Green Park, Mortimer and Bramley and the Cross Country Manchester-Bournemouth service running non-stop between Reading and Basingstoke. The Cross Country York-Basingstoke train would then again provide a direct train service from Hampshire to Yorkshire without needing any paths between Basingstoke and Southampton or any additional paths between Reading and Basingstoke. Revamped Reading West Station would then still have a useful service but be less of a capacity constraint.
The following document has information about capacity constraints on rail freight between Southampton and the Midlands and on page 13 lists the following schemes needed for growth.
I don't know if you're originally from, or live in Reading, but Reading West serves a completely different area to Reading GP.
Green Park serves Whitley, the Mad Stad, Green Park offices and the new housing development at Green Park Village adjacent to the new station.

Reading West serves the Oxford and Tilehurst Roads. The Oxford Rd area is very dense and has several commercial destinations in their own right within walking distance of Reading West. It's also the closest station to the new River Academy (which will be the overspill school for a large area of Berks likely), about 15 mins walk. Reading main is another 700m away.

Tilehurst Rd is not quite as populated, but more and more smaller apartment blocks are popping up all over that area of town.

If you want to increase capacity on the existing XC services, lengthen them first by using double Voyagers on all but late night/early morning services.
Price as many Reading/Oxon/South Mids passengers onto the Reading to York service using Advances and you leave capacity free for Hants passengers.

Getting rid of the 2nd GWR service is also stupid - the villages to the south of Reading have seen significant population growth, and there's a new station proposed in the large suburb of Chineham in Basingstoke, so these services will only get busier.
 
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Keysan

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Looking back, the pictures were only the Oxford Road end. I've attached a picture which shows the basic layout when the shutters were down. There is one ticket machine inside and a couple of barriers.

One of the ticket machines at the Oxford Road end has been sited incorrectly as it cannot be used on a bright day because the reflection of the sky on the surface of the screen makes the dim text impossible to make out.
Hungerford ticket machine is the same
 
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Obviously there will be ticket barriers at the Oxford Rd end of the Station. However, how will the long ramp from Tilehurst Road be secured with ticket barriers?
Reading West was a well known start/end point by fare dodgers due to no barriers previously.
The following states there are ticket gates at the Tilehurst Road entrance (see also post #90) but gives no details about how they are to be operated.
AIUI the Tilehurst Road entrance only provides access to the down platform for trains to Basingstoke and Newbury, not the up platform for trains towards Reading, and the former footbridge was removed when overhead electrification was installed so the only way to access the up platform from the Tilehurst Road entrance is via the Oxford Road entrance. I do not know if this can be done without going out and back in through the new ticket gates.
New ticket gates have also been installed at the Oxford Road and Tilehurst Road entrances to ensure that paying passengers only have access to the platforms.
 
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swt_passenger

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I do not know if this can be done without going out and back in through the new ticket gates.
It can. If you look at the photos in post #87 you can see there’s only one gateline shared by both platforms, the route between the two platforms is behind the new building they’re in. I remember this was the layout shown in the original planning drawings.
 
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I do not know how the Tilehurst Road entrance gates will be operated or whether that entrance will be open at all times. The reports make clear they want to ensure that paying passengers only have access to the platforms so at quiet times they may decide to only open the Oxford Road entrance if they can close off the Tilehurst Road entrance. The accesses to the platforms from the footbridge at Fratton Station were closed off when ticket gates were installed in the station entrance.
the villages to the south of Reading have seen significant population growth, and there's a new station proposed in the large suburb of Chineham in Basingstoke, so these services will only get busier.
From the following I assume that with the opening of Reading Green Park Station there is no capacity for any more stations on the Reading to Basingstoke line.
Chineham station: Blow for hopes as congestion on line revealed 21st September 2021
The Basingstoke to Reading railway line is already congested and cannot take another station, dealing a blow to hopes for a new station in Chineham, a meeting has been told. The idea of having a railway station at Chineham has long been discussed, with conversations stretching back decades.
Earlier this year, a senior councillor said plans for a station there were “gaining traction”. But its future is now uncertain after a Chineham ward councillor said that a new station further up the line has been prioritised. Speaking at a meeting of the council’s EPH committee last week, Cllr Jenny Vaux said: “When we have asked about it, we have been told there is insufficient capacity on the line and another station closer to Reading has been prioritised. The line cannot take another stop and is congested already.”
 
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Cowley

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Some of the speculative stuff is now in the thread below:
 

MarkyT

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I do not know how the Tilehurst Road entrance gates will be operated or whether that entrance will be open at all times. The reports make clear they want to ensure that paying passengers only have access to the platforms so at quiet times they may decide to only open the Oxford Road entrance if they can close off the Tilehurst Road entrance. The accesses to the platforms from the footbridge at Fratton Station were closed off when ticket gates were installed in the station entrance.

From the following I assume that with the opening of Reading Green Park Station there is no capacity for any more stations on the Reading to Basingstoke line.
It's not really 'capacity', it's journey time that's the problem. The turnrounds were already tight before Green Park. Adding another station would likely be impossible with current rolling stock unless the timetable was revised. An extra unit might be used inefficiently with a long layover (i.e. about 30 minutes) at one end of the route. Then you would get into capacity issues with a platform being tied up for that time at the appropriate terminus. The better acceleration of electric trains might solve the impasse more elegantly if wires were provided as planned previously.
 

Kite159

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It's not really 'capacity', it's journey time that's the problem. The turnrounds were already tight before Green Park. Adding another station would likely be impossible with current rolling stock unless the timetable was revised. An extra unit might be used inefficiently with a long layover (i.e. about 30 minutes) at one end of the route. Then you would get into capacity issues with a platform being tied up for that time at the appropriate terminus. The better acceleration of electric trains might solve the impasse more elegantly if wires were provided as planned previously.
For Reading - Basingstoke when the timings for Green Park were inserted it changed from 2 units to 3 units with a longer layover at either end. Basingstoke has no issues as nothing else uses P5 and Reading has space with the West facing bays

Except on Sundays which is still one unit going back and forth which gets later and later throughout the day until GWR cancel a round trip to get it back to right time.
 

MarkyT

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For Reading - Basingstoke when the timings for Green Park were inserted it changed from 2 units to 3 units with a longer layover at either end. Basingstoke has no issues as nothing else uses P5 and Reading has space with the West facing bays

Except on Sundays which is still one unit going back and forth which gets later and later throughout the day until GWR cancel a round trip to get it back to right time.
Interesting. I didn't realise they'd changed to a 3 units service already. Does that mean another stop en route could be practical or are the new paths too close for comfort relative to other limited stop passenger and freight traffic on the line?
 

AlastairFraser

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It's not really 'capacity', it's journey time that's the problem. The turnrounds were already tight before Green Park. Adding another station would likely be impossible with current rolling stock unless the timetable was revised. An extra unit might be used inefficiently with a long layover (i.e. about 30 minutes) at one end of the route. Then you would get into capacity issues with a platform being tied up for that time at the appropriate terminus. The better acceleration of electric trains might solve the impasse more elegantly if wires were provided as planned previously.
You'd only need around 14 miles of wiring too, I wonder if there was any detailed design work done that could be used today before it was last cancelled (as part of the "Electric Spine")?
 

Starmill

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Interesting. I didn't realise they'd changed to a 3 units service already. Does that mean another stop en route could be practical or are the new paths too close for comfort relative to other limited stop passenger and freight traffic on the line?
It looks like one stop would fit for the most part. Chineham would have greater demand than Mortimer though, so if it didn't fit you could always move one of the stops off Mortimer (no doubt to screeching from some, but usage under 200k per year makes it one of the lowest in the country with 2tph).

Sadly Chineham will face an uphill battle, despite quiet support on the borough council and strong demand, it doesn't really have much third party funding that can go in.
 

Mark J

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Looking back, the pictures were only the Oxford Road end. I've attached a picture which shows the basic layout when the shutters were down. There is one ticket machine inside and a couple of barriers.

One of the ticket machines at the Oxford Road end has been sited incorrectly as it cannot be used on a bright day because the reflection of the sky on the surface of the screen makes the dim text impossible to make out.
I can't see that pristine grey shutter remaining that way for long, in West Reading!


----
Passing through today..

Nice to see nothing has been done at Reading West to improve platform conditionsm For example, platform canopies.

Although I do see the footbridge has been removed.
 
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