Regional News

WESTERN

Midsomer Norton: The Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust has been bequeathed £ 500,000, which will go a long way to financing its planned expansion of the station site. Separately, the Trust has also been offered the freehold of a section of the line that it operates.

Paddington: Main line station passengers are to benefit from a new step- free link from the Bakerloo Line to the new Elizabeth Line station, with two new escalators and a lift.

EASTERN

Aysgarth: Planning permission is being sought to reinstate track in the station, with a short-term view to extending the Wensleydale Railway westwards from its present limits at Redmire. The project’s promoter is West Coast Railways Chairman David Smith.

Gainsborough: Both platforms at Lea Road station are being replaced on land to the south of the present ones. All work should be finished by the end of the year.

Grimsby: Ninety buildings associated with the railway’s fish trade in the docks area are included in a £ 3.2 million scheme to revitalise the ‘ Kasbah’, which is listed as one of the seven most endangered historic sites in Europe.

Hexham: The former station booking office is now in active use as an education centre for the Tyne Valley Railway Community Rail Partnership.

Leeds: There are calls for the reopening of Marsh Lane station ( closed in September 1958), to serve a proposed new housing development on the old Network Rail depot site on the east side of the city.

York: The Scarborough Bridge, built over the River Ouse to carry pedestrians alongside the railway to the station, was due to open on April 18 ( after this issue of RAIL went to press). It has cost £4 million.

MIDLANDS

Lichfield: Work has started on the £ 2.3 million Access for All upgrade at Trent Valley station. It includes two new passenger lifts and step-free access between Cross City and West Coast Main Line services.

Marylebone: Access from the main line station to London Underground is being improved by the installation of a new staircase and the replacement of the life- expired escalators on either side. The number of ticket gates will increase from three to five, to handle almost 4,000 people. And the gateline is being moved five feet onto the Chiltern Railway concourse.

Quainton Road: The Buckinghamshire Railway Centre wants to expand out from its restricted station site and relay one and a half miles of the former Aylesbury line, part of which will be alongside the current freight- only line to Calvert. The project has been priced at up to £ 2.5 million.

NORTH WEST

Appleby: The Friends of the Settle- Carlisle Line group has organised and part-funded a new station shelter that will save passengers having to wait in the wind and rain when the booking office is closed.

Blackpool: Construction of the new single platform at Talbot Square, for the new tramway extension to Blackpool North, has been completed.

Cumbria: Stations on the Cumbrian Coast, Lakes and Furness Lines have received £15 million worth of improvements. The upgrades at Workington, Whitehaven, Sellafield, Barrow- in- Furness, Burnside, Staveley and Windermere stations include better seating and waiting areas, toilets, and new customer information screens.

Gobowen: The Railway Heritage Trust is discussing a renovation programme with the present owners of the station building, which is in neglected external condition despite substantial investment from the Trust 30 years ago.

Manchester: All six of the new stops on the new £ 350 million Metrolink Trafford Park line from Eccles should have their platforms and shelters completed

by the end of this month. Two-thirds of the track has been laid, and a start will soon be made on the overhead equipment. Services are due to begin in the first half of 2020.

Mytholmroyd: The exterior of the Calderdale station building has been renovated by Network Rail, and awaits an internal refit and the installation of a tenant to bring it back into full use.

SOUTHERN

Lewisham: Transport for London’s 20- year business plan includes a commitment to extending the Bakerloo Line into the town - and possibly beyond.

Robertsbridge: The Public Inquiry into the Rother Valley Railway’s two- mile link- up with the Kent & East Sussex Railway has been delayed to early 2020, because Highways England wants more time to assess the impact of reinstating the controversial level crossing over the main A21 road. While two farmers also object to the line traversing their land, the owner of the Morghew Park Estate has offered his full support to the scheme.

Woking: The borough council has been told that a new station could be on the cards in the next five years or so, as well as a flyover ( or dive- under) to separate the Bournemouth and Portsmouth lines - allowing two additional hourly service slots to London. The cost would be £ 200 million to £ 300m.

ANGLIA

Cambridge: The new Cambridge North station, opened in May 2017, has exceeded all business expectations with almost half a million passenger journeys made last year.

Forest Gate: New lifts have been installed at the Transport for London station, and the ticket hall has been improved.

White Hart Lane: Work is on target to complete the comprehensive station upgrade by the summer, to coincide with the full commissioning of the new Tottenham Hotspur football stadium. There is a larger ticket hall, entrances on Love Lane and Penshurst Road, step-free access, and an underpass to both platforms.

SCOTLAND

Airdrie: The station’s new £ 200,000 park- and- ride facility was officially opened at the end of March, increasing capacity by a third.

Inverness: In a rare court case of its kind, the 60- year- old driver of a lorry that became wedged under the Shore Street railway bridge last October, causing heavy delays to trains and road traffic, has been convicted of careless driving by the city’s Sheriff Court and fined £400.

Inverurie: Aberdeenshire Council has turned down ScotRail’s plans to install stainless steel waiting shelters on the platforms. It says they do not respect the main buildings’ historic features.

LONDON

Battersea: Transport for London says it is no longer certain of hitting its target date of opening its Northern Line extension in December 2020, because of the redesign of the power station redevelopment and the Tube station beneath it. The ticket hall ceiling was completed in March, and the internal walls are going in.

Holborn: Severe peak- period congestion at the interchange of the Central and Piccadilly Lines is to be addressed by doubling the size of the station, as well as creating a second entrance on Procter Street and three new lifts in the existing Kingsway entrance.

Sutton: Transport for London’s latest 20- year business plan includes a commitment to extending London Tramlink services between the town centre and Merton.

Victoria: With the new Underground station escalators now bedded in, attention has turned to refurbishing three of the remaining six older moving stairways that lead from the ticket hall directly to the Victoria Line platforms. Work started on February 18, and will be complete by January 20 next year.