Green park station/south Reading station

[Royalshow]

Anybody who travels on the Reading to Basingstoke line seen any signs of work starting.The GP website says it will be ready for 2008.Surely this means that work must have started on site?

I'm fed up of using the station shuttle.

[Behindu]

Don't think PP has been granted yet, but can;t see it would take long to drop a couple of platforms alongside existing track. If they are lucky and signals exist in the right place it may be a simple exercise as i can;t see there being much in the way of buildings needed.

[Warfield Royal]

http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/Airfix/TracksideIndex.htm

Job done

[Chaney]

Don't think PP has been granted yet, but can;t see it would take long to drop a couple of platforms alongside existing track. If they are lucky and signals exist in the right place it may be a simple exercise as i can;t see there being much in the way of buildings needed.

planning permission was granted last year, even then there was surprise that it would take all of 2 years to construct

[Behindu]

OK, I may have been confused by the recent Green Park Village application that made reference to the station.

PP is valid for 7 years so I guess the timing of the build is economic, GP won;t build it if there is no one to use it and unless RFC put some cash into it I guess we are dependent on them for the timing.

[Tutti Frutti]

I wouldn't worry too much about timing - the network rail guys are very swift when they get to it. They are building an entirely new platform at bristol Parkway in about three months.

[Behindu]

Although Portsmouth seems to have been cut off from the rest of the network for about 2 years due to massive over runs on work there !

I haven;t a clue about railway engineering but I can see the platform shouldn;t be a big deal (bit of scaffolding and a few planks would do it !). Whether they need to change the signalling i have no idea, but could that not potentially have much bigger impact ?

You would think the club would be doing everything possible to ensure the station is there for August 2008- could make all the difference to the traffic !

[Dirk Gently]

I suppose it all depends on whether they need to put a loop or siding in for the platforms, or if they just build the platforms either side of the existing tracks.

If the latter then the work will be quicker, but they'll have less flexibility in how they operate trains. If they just put the platforms up it'll make it harder for them to operate any type of shuttle service, and in the same way they won't be able to hold a train at the station waiting for a match to finish (as at Charlton), because that would potentially block up other services on that line.

[readingfc_4_life_and_beyo]

Didn't have much problem at Man United or Bolton TBH.

Waited a little while but the queue soon dissapeared and were on the train in no time.

Admittedly though they'll need bigger trains than they currently have... Meaning a bigger platform to Baisingstoke (at Reading Station, currently Platform 1 & 2 are quite small which are the platforms for Newbury or Baisingstoke).

Could make everything a little complicated.

[ScottishRoyal]

Admittedly though they'll need bigger trains than they currently have... Meaning a bigger platform to Baisingstoke (at Reading Station, currently Platform 1 & 2 are quite small which are the platforms for Newbury or Baisingstoke).

Could make everything a little complicated.

I doubt they'd use bigger trains tbh. If you've ever commuted into London in the morningh then you'll know how full they get the trains before great western add on additional carriages.

[Behindu]

No way will they spend money extending platforms all along the line !

Reading has plenty of platform capable of taking long trains so no need to do any work there in any case.

It will be interesting to see how they approach match days. The mass usage will be from Reading so ideally a shuttle from there to GP would be needed but whether it is practical i have no idea.

While the work is in progress I wonder if they will lay on rail replacement buses !

[Royalshow]

From this image it looks as if it will be on the existing line.Pedistrians access to the ground looks to be a little differcult.It would be nice to see a big Wembley way style footpath leading to the ground.Also there is a scheme to built an extra two through platforms at Reading central to reduce delays.

[Warfield Royal]

That's got to be a Dodd. I posted the same picture higher up the thread

[Behindu]

[.It would be nice to see a big Wembley way style footpath leading to the ground.

Would mean a huge amount of extra work though, and highly unlikely the Pru would fund it seeing as they don;t want any football fans on their business park !

.

[.Also there is a scheme to built an extra two through platforms at Reading central to reduce delays.

Is this the plan to build a double decker station at some point in the distant future ? IIRC it adds about 5 platforms but is an idea rather than a plan, and I doubt it would impact the branch line to Basingstoke.

[Platypuss]

[.It would be nice to see a big Wembley way style footpath leading to the ground.

Would mean a huge amount of extra work though, and highly unlikely the Pru would fund it seeing as they don;t want any football fans on their business park !

.

[.Also there is a scheme to built an extra two through platforms at Reading central to reduce delays.

Is this the plan to build a double decker station at some point in the distant future ? IIRC it adds about 5 platforms but is an idea rather than a plan, and I doubt it would impact the branch line to Basingstoke.

Definitely a plan (but wthout the double-decker lines)

http://www.reading.gov.uk/NewsArticle.asp?id=SX9452-A7823DB1

The business case, to be submitted to the Department for Transport on the 31st March 2007 by Network Rail, clearly sets out the costs and the benefits of all aspects of the revised scheme. These include: -
1) New tracks and platforms to the north of the station
2) An additional over bridge for platform access
3) Reopening of the access to the station from the north
4) Extension of platforms 4a & b and a new platform 4c to the east
5) Upgrades to other platforms
6) Removal of the depot at Cow Lane
7) Relocation of the existing Turbo Depot in the Reading Triangle
The provision of a new bridge and access road at Scours Lane
9) Grade Separation of the freight and main lines at Cow Lane

[Behindu]

There was a double decker scheme mooted at one point though (wasn't there ?)

How on earth they would have done it without crippling most of the west of England I'm not sure ...

[fandroid 30004]

The Basingstoke line was re-signalled during the Basingstoke blockade over Easter this year. You would hope that Network Rail allowed for the Green Park station in that (but I wouldn't put money on it !). However that new signalling means they can stuff more trains down the line, which means they can fit new stations in too, without the extra stop messing things up too much. Platforms 1,2 & 3 at Reading can already take 5-coach trains, so it's not impossible for them to add another 3 coach set to the current 2 coach shuttle, and outside peak hours (ie on a Saturday) that should be possible. I don't know if Mortimer, Bramley and Basingstoke (platform 5) stations can take 5 coaches tho.

Lastly, there already is a fairly wide path leading all the way from near the proposed Green Park station site to the boundary of the Madstad site, including a bridge over the Foudry Brook. Once over that, all you have to do is scramble up through the bushes and you emerge in the stadium carpark! There is a gentler (and longer) route to Northern Way, but I can't imagine many fans actually bothering with that.

[Platypuss]

Lastly, there already is a fairly wide path leading all the way from near the proposed Green Park station site to the boundary of the Madstad site, including a bridge over the Foudry Brook. Once over that, all you have to do is scramble up through the bushes and you emerge in the stadium carpark! There is a gentler (and longer) route to Northern Way, but I can't imagine many fans actually bothering with that.

There was a section about ped access from the station location to the MadStad in the RFC planning permission application.

I'll try and dig it out again later.

[Skyline]

There was a double decker scheme mooted at one point though (wasn't there ?)

How on earth they would have done it without crippling most of the west of England I'm not sure ...

There was indeed a proposal to make Reading station a double decker at one point. Think it was first mooted around 3/4 years ago. Definitely remember seeing it on the front of the EP. IIRC the idea was that the upper deck would be for lines running North/South. the lower deck for those running East/West.

They were going to close the station for the duration of the work and have everyone use Reading West and Tilehurst I think - either that or run shuttle buses. I remember thinking at the time that I would definitely need to be working somewhere that didn't involve travelling by train if they ever did that.

[Symposium]

There was a double decker scheme mooted at one point though (wasn't there ?)

How on earth they would have done it without crippling most of the west of England I'm not sure ...

There was indeed a proposal to make Reading station a double decker at one point. Think it was first mooted around 3/4 years ago. Definitely remember seeing it on the front of the EP. IIRC the idea was that the upper deck would be for lines running North/South. the lower deck for those running East/West.

They were going to close the station for the duration of the work and have everyone use Reading West and Tilehurst I think - either that or run shuttle buses. I remember thinking at the time that I would definitely need to be working somewhere that didn't involve travelling by train if they ever did that.

No, the proposal was to first build two satellite stations... one to the east and one to the west of Reading. They would replace Reading "central" station for the duration of the works so that it could be taken out of action without "much" disruption.