Kenilworth delays
Pressure grows on Warwickshire County Council as opening of Kenilworth station is delayed for a sixth time.
PRESSURE is mounting on Warwickshire County Council, following yet another missed opening date for Kenilworth’s new £13.6 million station.
An hourly service operated by West Midlands Trains had been expected to commence calling at the station on February 26 and then March 19 ( RAIL 848), but the failure of this to materialise means a new date will now have to be found by the project’s sponsor WCC, for the sixth time since December 2016.
Efforts from local residents and stakeholders to discover the cause of the continued delays have so far been frustrated by a lack of communication from WCC, with many turning to social media to vent their frustration.
One Twitter user called it “a joke” to cancel the station opening so many times, while another asked: “What kind of management allows deadlines to constantly be put back and ignored?”
Others simply wanted information, with one user stating: “I drove past and the lights were on but no one was in!” Another added: “Could someone explain exactly what the problems are?”
As this issue of RAIL went to press, WCC had not responded to repeated requests made by RAIL for a statement. And neither the train operator West Midlands Trains nor Network Rail were able to shed any light.
Sources at NR said that all enquiries should be directed to WCC because “it has directly managed the project”, and that all associated rail infrastructure works to signals, tracks and power supplies had been completed by December 2017 to an agreed schedule.
Meanwhile, WMT said it remained “ready to introduce the service as soon as the station is opened”, adding that it is “actively supporting” WCC to enable this to happen as soon as possible.
An email (seen by RAIL) written by Office of Rail and Road (ORR) Chief Executive Joanna Whittington confirms that the station is still pending approval while ORR awaits information from the applicant WCC.
Dated March 16, the email confirms that track access rights were granted to WMT for the hourly service between Coventry and Leamington Spa via Kenilworth on February 6, but that the ORR still needs to be satisfied that the station complies with safety standards before it can be authorised for passenger use.
She added: “We do not have a date from the [WCC] project team regarding when they would like to open the station.”
Kenilworth resident and Chairman of the Shakespeare Line Promotion Group Fraser Pithie said that he intends to write to local MP Jeremy Wright, to request that the scheme is referred to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling and the Transport Select Committee, owing to a lack of governance from WCC.
He told RAIL: “The persistent stonewalling of residents and media enquiries by the county council has been indefensible. We now have it confirmed that it’s been Warwickshire County Council all along who are responsible for the failure of our new railway station to open.” @paul_rail
Warwickshire County Council Joint Managing Director Monica Fogarty confirmed on local radio on March 20 that outstanding information would be sent to the ORR later that day.