Regional News

GREAT WESTERN

Bristol: Completing the strengthening of the St Mark’s road is the final major work for four-tracking the route to Filton Abbey Wood station, ready for additional services next year.

Plymouth: Demolition of a redundant building, including the Rail Incident Safety Centre, will enable a new 469- space multi- storey car park to be built next to the station, doubling the present capacity. Under the £100 million scheme for the area, the concourse, entrance and frontage will be revamped. A planning application has also been lodged to renovate and restyle the InterCity House tower block. Treherbert: The stabling sidings are to be improved for new Transport for Wales trains.

EASTERN

Alnwick: October 10 marks the 50th anniversary of the closure of the NER branch from Alnmouth to goods traffic ( passenger services had been withdrawn on January 29 the same year). Apart from the spur into the old station, the rest is being revived by the Aln Valley Railway group.

Doncaster: Design work has started on a new replacement glass canopy at the station entrance, providing a covered walkway to the new taxi rank and new car park on West Street. The construction period, which starts later in the year, will require the main entrance to be closed.

Leeds: A further round of public consultation has been called about improving rail and road links to the north west of the city and Leeds Bradford Airport. Light rail is not mentioned.

Market Rasen: Empty spaces at the restored north Lincolnshire station have been taken up by a shipping company and the Platform 2 cafe.

Scunthorpe: The British Steel plant has won a new £ 200 million contract with Network Rail to supply 200,000 tonnes of rail, in a two- year deal running from March next year. The company is investing in new facilities to produce specialist rail for locations where corrosion is an issue.

Sheffield: A “very early, rough plan” devised by Sheffield City Region envisages new stations at Oughtibridge, Stocksbridge, ‘Chapeltown Parkway’ and the Northern General Hospital. One route being considered for a tram extension is towards Worksop, with new stations at Waverley and Swallownest. The Barnsley area could also get new stations at Stairfoot and Oakwell, while another tram route to Doncaster would reach Warmsworth, Balby and Thorne.

York: A 17- bay bus station has been proposed to replace the car park to the left of the main station entrance, with access created by opening up some bricked- up arches in the main wall. The idea is an extension of plans already in place to improve this area.

MIDLANDS

Gazeley: Rail Central has submitted formal plans for its new freight interchange at the junction of the West Coast Main Line and Northampton loop, which is also close to Junction 15A of the M1 motorway. It is for the Government to decide ( not county and local authorities) whether it will go ahead. Construction could start in late 2019.

Silverdale: An underground colliery fire that has been smouldering for 13 years at the former railserved Staffordshire colliery is to be extinguished, to allow the site to become a new housing estate.

NORTH WEST

Halton: The first Chester- Liverpool through services over the revived two- mile £18.75 million Halton Curve have been postponed from December to next May, because of the late delivery of new rolling stock. The Government has blamed Transport for Wales for the delay.

Heaton Mersey: The only known LMS running board from the southwest Manchester station ( closed in July 3 1961 and demolished quickly afterwards) has been returned from many years

in Cyprus. It was due to be auctioned by Great Northern Railwayana Auctions at Poynton on October 6 ( after this issuen of RAIL went to press).

Pomona: The Manchester Metrolink extension to Trafford Park is making good progress. Major works started in September to install the connecting ramp between the viaduct and the route alongside the Ship Canal. Middlewich: A newly commissioned consultants’ study into the reopening of the Northwich-Sandbach line station ( closed in January 1960) has been criticised for going over old ground, because similar extensive research was conducted ten years ago. A report could be ready within three months to go to the Government.

SOUTHERN

Axminster: The section of the Waterloo- Exeter line to Crewkerne reopened on September 23, following the installation of two culverts to reduce the longterm risk of flooding.

Blandford Forum: The town council has installed railway-themed benches and cycle racks close to the Somerset & Dorset trackbed walk and arches. Dorset County Council footed the bill.

Weymouth: Around £ 900,000 will be needed to improve the area around the front of the station, as planned.

ANGLIA

Broxbourne: The Greater Anglia station is getting a new waiting room.

Soham: The estimated cost of reopening the station on the Ely- Bury St Edmunds line has risen to £ 21.9 million, of which only £11m is required for the actual construction. The date for the project’s completion has been brought forward by a year to 2021.

SCOTLAND

Aberdeen: Network Rail is renewing the track into Waterloo Quay.

Bucksburn: A new station on the Aberdeen- Dyce route ( and another at Kittybrewster) has been ruled out because there is no good place to build them. However, three good sites have been identified in the Woodside area, and others at Bankhead and Stoneywood. They now need to be compatible with a future half- hourly service to Ellon.

Blackford: Bottled water producer Highland Spring’s revised plan for a depot near its base next to the Perth-Stirling line was due to be ratified at the end of September. Perth & Kinross Council received 79 objections last year, but has been positively swayed by the revised track layout and by the promise to run trains in early morning.

Edinburgh: The 1890s gates that provided the original trade entrance for the Caledonian Hotel onto Princes Street ( now the Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh) have been restored in their original colours.

Stirling: Passenger services were withdrawn from the North British route to Dunfermline Lower station 50 years ago, on October 7.

LONDON

Camberwell: Transport for London has abandoned its proposals to construct a new station on cost grounds, as well as because of the negative impact it would have on existing rail users.

Elephant & Castle: Transport for London’s proposed Bakerloo Line extension would include relocating the present station and ticket hall to integrate with the new Northern Line ticket hall and provide an easier transfer to Thameslink services. The opening date could be 2029.

Old Kent Road: Two stations are being considered for the proposed 2029 Bakerloo Line extension. The locations being considered are near to the junction with Dunton Road and Humphrey Street, and the former Toys R Us site near the junction with Asylum Road. Shepherds Bush: The new Overground station, close to the site of the former Uxbridge Road that closed in wartime, was ten years old on September 29. The refurbished Central Line station was also opened a decade ago, on October 5.