Great Western Coffee Shop

Work is under way to build a new footbridge at Tilehurst station, as part of the Great Western track electrification programme. You can see the approved plans here: http://planninghome.reading.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=MHCEGIMS01X00. The design includes "passive" provision for later addition of passenger lifts. MIGGS (Mobility Issues Group for Goring and Streatley) is campaigning to have lifts added at the same time that the footbridge is rebuilt at Goring and Streatley station, also a part of the electrification programme. You can follow MIGGS on facebook, at: https://www.facebook.com/MobilityIssuesGroupForGoringAndStreatley?ref=stream.

Thanks for posting the links, and welcome to the forum.

Is there a similar application in for Goring's footbridge yet?  I wonder whether the opportunity to extend the 'down main' platform will be taken at the same time at Goring, given that it's current usable length is just 69 metres, and if 4-car 20 metre electric trains will be using it that's not long enough without SDO being used.

The case for lifts being installed is a difficult one.  There's a similar argument for other stations where footbridges will need to be altered/replaced as part of the scheme, and (as is the case near Oxford) others are, or will be, pushing for disabled access at 'their' bridge, but obviously the cost to each location of providing lifts or ramps eats into the budget.

Nothing on the planning application section of South Oxfordshire District Council's website yet so it seems that the plans for replacing the footbridges at Goring and Cholsey have not yet been submitted.

Moving further west, I understand that bridge replacement between Didcot and Swindon is scheduled for next year. The A338 bridge at Wantage Road (Grove) is planned for demolition on the weekend of 39/30th March and will take around 6 weeks to reopen. The A417 bridge at Challow is slated for demolition on the weekend of 11/12th October 2014 and will reopen in mid December.

I'm not sure about the timing for the other over-bridges on this section but I believe that bridges at Basil Hill Lane (entrance to Foxhall car park, Didcot), Steventon, Shrivenham, Bourton and on the east side of Swindon will be replaced.

That's going to cause some traffic disruption!

The bridge at Wantage Road was built for four tracks, but when the loops were restores it obviously did not quite meet the current requirements so the turnout on one side is just under the bridge.  I do hope they make it compatible with full four track formation.

Also there are other over-bridges between Didcot and Swindon that are on sections with four track formation, but currently only have two tracks.  It would be very short sighted not to renew these bridges as four track structures.

Yes we anticipate traffic chaos!  Diverting the local traffic through some of the villages like Denchworth won't be terribly popular either. However I can't think of any alternative.

Good point about allowing for four-tracking though I doubt if it'll happen except at Challow and maybe Wantage Road. I spoke to Richard Turner, Community Relations Advisor - Electrification for Network Rail. He emphasised that their budget for the project was very tight (well, he would wouldn't he) and that the bridges were being replaced on a like-for-like basis. This meant that any improvements - such as road widening, footpath improvements - would have to be funded from elsewhere, such as the local authority. Given this is Oxfordshire, it's unlikely to happen. There's controversy over the replacement of the footbridge in Hinksey at the moment, as Network Rail will only fund a basic replacement, whilst the locals want the replacement enhanced for disabled access. There's a standoff over who funds any enhancements.

I am less worried about footbridges as (a) they are cheaper and (b) they are usually less disruptive to change. At Challow there are four tracks already so there is no problem. It is at Wantage that a slight widening would be in order. 

My main concern is the other bridges around Shrivenham that are four track and where there are currently only two.

Mysteriously, the Tilehurst station footbridge planning application has disappeared from the Reading Borough Council planning website.

Though work has resumed on that bridge and also on the footbridge just west of the station which leads down to the River Thames.  I wouldn't walk down that stretch of the Thames Path at night though!

Work was due to begin on the Manor Bridge (A4310) in Didcot today, meaning closure until 5 August. Diversion via Station Road and Hitchcock Way.

or, if not a lorry, I assume that Foxhall road and Basil Hill road is still open.
And what exactly are the doing to the bridge?


Also I note that they are working on the bridge over the Thames at Appleford. Is this maintenance rather than electrification work?

Well there are other ways round but what I said is the official (and signed) diversion.

It is for 'rail bridge maintenance and carriageway resurfacing work'.

That's disappointing- I only have to lug my bike up & down stairs @ TLH but I see many families with pushchairs struggling with them. In this day & age I would have hoped that any opportunity to improve such faciilities should be grasped. Within the overall cost of the Reading area improvements I would have thought the cost of lifts @ Tilehurst wouldn't have registered!

Welcome to the forum 'Andy'...

The problem with comparing the possible cost of Tilehurst lifts with the overall Reading area improvements is that they are separate issues completely, they just happen to be going on in parallel.  The footbridge rebuild is for OHLE clearance as part of the GWML electrification project, as is the next footbridge along.

At the many stations where they have been fitting lifts in the last few years the lifts themselves have usually been paid for by the DfT's ring-fenced 'Access for All' funding line, and that has yet another list of priority stations, which is mainly based on station usage, so Tilehurst probably must not have enough day to day usage to justify lifts.

Paul

 

The three sets of steps and the main line span are in position at Tilehurst , the attached photo clearly shows the overall style. 

I noticed a small snag on the up relief side, the bottom flanges of the intermediate support legs have not lined up with the studs in the concrete footings, missing by a few cm, so the studs appear to have been sawn off flush.  I guess there'll be some sort of quick re-work will have to be done to solve that problem.

Paul

From what I've heard the old footbridge will be removed over the Christmas shutdown, so I'd expect the new footbridge to be opened in a month or so.

A little earlier that I thought, but Tilehurst's new footbridge is now open (with some snagging works to complete), and the demolition of the old footbridge has now started.

I think it opened on Thursday or Friday last week.

We try to avoid the word demolition .........

They are deconstructed

After a thorough check for bats, newts and fairies I hope?   :D

Yep and 'elf n safety checks on the paperwork to make sure there are no sharp edges ................ to get paper cuts

For 14 months now the customers of Tilehurst station have had to out up with the mess and disruption caused by the creation of a new Footbridge, and the removal of the old one. All part of the Western Electrification work.

The already overcrowded car park has has more than 20 spaces removed to accommodate contractors portacabins and equipment. This means on most mornings if your not in the car park by 8am - forget it.

But today I learnt (from a FGWer) that the newly commissioned footbridge (open for about 2 months) is in fact 2' 4" too low !!!

 >:(

For the time being the contractors (who are only responsible for the erection) have left the site while a plan is formed to resolve. There are customer information screens inoperative and wires running visible all over the place held in place by temporary plastic ties.

A fairly decent station turned into a builders yard. Such a shame. And clearly more disruption to come.

In a very belated (for which I must apologise) response to a helpful suggestion from member 'paul7755', this topic has now been moved and merged here, in the interests of clarity and continuity.

Sorry, Paul.

CfN  :-[

Access improvement works begin at Goring and Streatley station

Work has begun at Goring and Streatley station that will culminate in the construction of a permanent new footbridge with passenger lifts at all three platforms plus an accessible (disabled) toilet and various other improvements designed to help mobility impaired passengers.
The target date for completion of the main works is June 2015, following which (according to First Great Western) the line between Tilehurst and Didcot will be ^energised^ for the testing and the training purposes. Evidently, this will be the first section of the Great Western electrified network to go live.
   Contractors have already set up a construction compound in the station car park: this will reduce the number of parking spaces available until works are completed. However, one of the options still being considered by First Great Western is an extension of the car park into the old coal yard after electrification.
   The first stage of the works, well under way, is clearing shrubs and undergrowth from platform 1, the west side of the line. This is to make way for realignment of the footpath along the platform between Station Road and Holmlea Road. It will enable the platform to be re-surfaced and its level raised so that six coach trains can stop at platform 1 safely when the relief lines are out of use ^frequently^ between December this year and April 2015. FGW says there will be no interruption of train services.
   Next, a temporary footbridge will be erected opposite Station Road and Reading Road, although access on the eastern side will continue to be via the booking office entrance. Stairs on the western side will be immediately facing Station Road. The temporary bridge is due to be open from January 2015. The existing footbridge is due to be demolished in February; the new, permanent footbridge installed by the end of April and the temporary bridge removed by the end of June. 
   The permanent footbridge will be near the Reading end of the platforms, with the bridge deck between platforms 1 and 2 skewed towards Station Road. To make space for the staircase on the island platform the disused building at the Reading end will be demolished. Also, in place of the existing staircase on platform 4 (the booking office side) the platform canopy will be restored to match the existing style.
   With passenger lifts now certain to be installed, the main obstacle to disabled access to trains at Goring and Streatley is the narrow and overgrown pavement alongside the railway line in Wallingford Road. This path was upgraded and new crash barriers installed at the High Street end in 2006. A similar upgrade was carried out opposite Reading Road in 2012 but the 60m stretch in between has remained more or less as it was when the path was declared a public highway by the GWR nearly 90 years ago. The barrier and fence are actually supported on sections of railway track salvaged from Brunel^s broad gauge line, lifted in 1892! The Mobility Issues Group for Goring and Streatley (Miggs) is leading a community partnership scheme to plan an upgrade of the remaining pavement and secure funding for it.

Is it possible john_boler to provide a source for that information you've posted?

Looks like a paraphrased version of the full page article in the latest Goring Gap News. I was meaning to ask them if I could republish it here, but forgot all about it, so not much point now :)

Edit: Ah ha ... I just spotted at the end of the article in the Goring Gap News.... John Boler, Chairman MIGGS

In which case, it's excellent to have the article on the forum, and as it's John's work and copyright.  Thank you for adding it, John ...

Like you, lordgoata and bignosemac, I was concerned that this article / text might have been posted here from another site in contravention of copyright, and that the original author would require credit at the very least.  That happens so often that I'm afraid I tend to check unaccredited long journalist-style postings ... in this case it appears I was worrying needlessly and the posting is 110% OK  ;D

No need for concern about copyright. Ultimate sources of information: Network Rail and FGW.

Was it really the case that the footbridge was 30 inches too low? I visit the station two or three times a week and was never aware of this calamity, nor of any resolution of it. And I frequently chatted to Ernie, the very popular,  ticket man, now retired in Thailand, who expressed his own views on aspects of the station modifications.

I did hear a rumour from another passenger that the bridge was a couple of centimetres too low, though I did wonder whether this discrepancy related to a couple of threaded studs in the concrete footings that were not quite in the right position.

There were problems with the ducting designed to carry electric cables behind the fence on platform 4. Soon after it had been installed, it had to be replaced with ducting of larger size.

Marlburian

The main problem at Tilehurst is the absence of lifts! I remember signing a petition for them about a year or so ago wich apparently was rejected on "safety" grounds. The safety of, for example, a lone woman at a quiet time of day trying to transport a pram or pushchair plus child(ren) up and down long flights of stairs obviously doesn't count for anything....

It just makes me so mad when far less busy stations such as Taplow and Iver have lifts, but a really busy (at least in the peaks) station like Tilehurst cannot have them.

The quickest way of getting them currently would be via an application to GWR's CCIF fund....as Access for All funding is currently in abeyance

The issue of lifts at Tilehurst forms a long-running saga, with one political party's representatives visiting the station to ask passengers to sign a petition.

on-line petition here (https://www.change.org/p/glenn-dennis-we-need-a-lift-at-tilehurst-station-for-wheelchair-users-907a4057-d80e-45a7-9a81-981f99bf535f)

Another political party has also joined in. Network Rail has signalled their intent to develop plans for step-free access at the station. (https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2019/10/mp-welcomes-development-work-at-tilehurst-station.html)

A year or so after the new footbridge opened, the ticket clerk, Ernie, reckoned lifts might be added the following year and wondered why they couldn't have been included in the original construction.

It was replaced to give clearance for the overhead wires.  I imagine the budget was for a like-for-like structure and no money ‘wasted’ on lifts unless it came from another budget.  That’s the way things work, not just on the railways, these days.