Great Western Coffee Shop

Disabled access to both Theale and Tilehurst stations is to be greatly enhanced as part of a GBP 18 million investment, reported by the Berkshire Live website a few days ago.

At Theale, there will be a new footbridge with lifts, a new ticket office, toilets and enlarged car park.

At Tilehurst, lifts are finally going to be added to the footbridge which was installed as part of the GWML electrification.

Reading West station will also see some improvements - ?improved accessibility? but no lifts, according to the report.

What's proposed for Reading West is a bit more than just accessibility, and there is a planning application for it just gone in (no. 201448) (http://planning.reading.gov.uk/fastweb_PL/detail.asp?AltRef=201448). The biggest item is a new station building, granting the passengers of West Reading the luxury of a gateline (or two, with one at the back door as well). It's a little station building under the bridge, taking up the full width of the pavement, which as a result needs a bit add-on pavement to get round it. They've even found space for a kiosk and a toilet. The drawings also show locations for lifts to be provided "by others" - could that be Access for All?

And here's Reading Council on Twitter  (https://twitter.com/ReadingCouncil/status/1318465597500510209)with some pretty pictures of the new Reading West station. As you can see, the tweeting multitudes don't find it at all pretty. Now, is this:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ekwhd7zXEAAvns_?format=jpg&name=large)
just a controlled pedestrian crossing, or is it contraflow? (Or is it just an unimpressive artist's impression?)

Another classic RBC design without thinking cyclist. Reading West bridge lights are not good at the best of times and adding a pinch point will only make it worse. Suppose I should be thankful they didn't add a traffic island as well.

More here (https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/how-reading-west-station-could-19136198)

Apart from the inverted photograph, my first reaction was the narrowing of the pavement and potential problems with cyclists who use it as an "informal" route. For some years I've avoided walking either side of Oxford Road from Reading West to Norcot Roundabout because of some unpleasant encounters, including being ridden at.

I note this as a former very keen cyclist who thirty years ago did not enjoy riding along Oxford Road. Come to think of it, nowadays I take great care driving along it. A year or two ago, there was talk of "improving" the road and recently some bright spark suggested banning vehicles from it. To be fair, I can't see that a great deal can be done improve things.

The graphic rendition only gives an impression of the final build.   Things worth noting about Readings Oxford Road is I believe a 20 MPH zone and has man speed bumps.

Unless the "station" is staffed, then it's likely to become a home for those eating food from McDonalds or "ladies" awaiting customers who normally frequent Western Elms Avenue (if you're local you'll know what I'm talking about).

I don't think passenger footfall at Reading West, as opposed to ticket sales, will be positively impacted by such as building.

Will it be ready for the opening of Green Park station?

There has clearly been further thoughts on the external appearance (at least) of the proposed building at Reading West - see-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-55159874

I like the way the photomontage for the view from the east (town centre) side includes pigeons huddled up on the bridge girder above Oxford Road.

I didn't realise you could get that stick-on brickwork paper the modellers use in a full-scale version.

Remembering the hill walking up Western Elms Avenue when I was a child going to school, these days I?d be fit for nothing after walking up there now!

I might, for once, explain that - the plan drawing submitted with the new pictures (1/12/20) is identical, apart from the kerb line, with the old one (8/10/20). I know that's not what the pictures look like, but presumably the architects' drawings are closer to what the builders build than what any impressionable artist thinks.

Looks nicer, but still no lifts.

They have used Better Builder instead of Lego.

Cladding, hopefully not flammable.

The scheme now has planning permission -see- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-55664318

Work on Reading West Station due to start next/this week. (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/19509863.roadworks-coming-oxford-road-ahead-reading-west-station-upgrades/)

My search for this link also produced this

Flasher at Reading West (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/19506279.flasher-exposes-teenage-girl-reading-west-train-station/)

(I may be mistaken, but when half-listening the TV news I've twice thought that the newsreader has referred to the improvements being at "Reading Railway Station" (and it wasn't "a Reading railway station").

Terrible as it may sound, at Reading West, a flasher is probably better than a jumper.

I walked past the Reading West works this morning at 0845. Temporary traffic lights, a lane closure and a certain amount of chaos, with the drivers of a couple of vehicles emerging from Salisbury Road being confused and getting honked at. The northerly pavement under the bridge was closed and I dutifully crossed over to the southerly one and walked towards the town centre, only to encounter a "pavement closed" sign after 200 yards. I was heading for a basement key-cutters 50 yards further on, so kept on, as did other walkers.

Outside the shop a couple of guys were laying paving stones, with a barrier across the steps leading down to the key-cutters, which they moved for me.

As a cyclist I disliked Oxford Road between Norcot Roundabout and Chatham Street, nowadays as a motorist I still do, and I try to avoid walking along it because of cyclists and, recently, e-scooterists. In fact I had walked down Portman Road to avoid it. Returning with my new keys, I took to the side streets, emerging near Brock Barracks at 1000. To my amazement Oxford Road was empty of traffic; no doubt westerly-bound traffic was held at the Reading West works and perhaps easterly traffic was finding another route.

BTW there was no admittance to the key-cutters', conversations taking place through a locked grilled door with a perspex screen attached to it. The young man explained that he'd only been single-jabbed.

I was in Reading this morning so had a stroll along Oxford Road to see if there was any progress on the works at Reading West station. No work has started on the new station building yet, just some preparatory work to narrow the road from the south side, as shown in the attached photos. I didn't go onto the station, so I don't know if anything has been happening at platform level.

I went to Reading by train today, for the first time since March 2020. I thought I would have another wander down Oxford Road and marvel at the amazing progress that was sure to have been made on the refurbishment of Reading West station.

Only to find a scene of desolation. The hole in the road is a bit bigger, but has been slowly filling with litter and other items. No sign of them starting work on the new building. In fact, no sign of any current activity.

Work seems to have finally started on the Reading West station rebuild.
I was down the Oxford Road today, and there is a big new barrier surrounding the site and narrowing the road. There are pedestrian crossings controlled by traffic lights.

Sorry, no pix - I was driving. 

I'm sure there were more recent posts about Reading West's new building, but can't find any. So here it is - RBC are now saying that this new station will open real soon now, just as soon as they can finish waterproofing the paperwork. That's on top of the Tilehurst lifts, also announced at the start of this thread.  From the Reading Chronicle (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/around/24102946.updates-train-station-upgrade-projects-reading/):

And it's going to be opening next Tuesday - here's the announcement from GWR (https://news.gwr.com/news/media-invite-new-reading-west-station-building-will-open-for-customers-on-tuesday-19-march) - especially for anyone who feels they count as "media":

There is logic to suggest that a well established member of the Coffee Shop could go along to report at we're a form of media. At one point we had a roving reporter ...

“ New ticket gates have also been installed at the Oxford Road and Tilehurst Road entrances to ensure that paying passengers only have access to the platforms.”

Presumably that means non-paying passengers get a greater level of access?   ;D ???

They might, but asking at the Excess Fares window at Reading for a single from Reading West is going to elicit a different response.

I suspect quite a few people will get caught in the next few weeks.

(Quotes trimmed/adjusted for clarify)

Ticketed passenger flow data shows that over a third of journeys from / to Reading West have been to Reading [General] which suggests to me that dumbelling might be a significant issue.   The stats available to us do not differential between journeys from Reading West to Reading [General] and from Reading [General] to Reading West.  The excess ticket window may well be more question now of arrivals from "Reading West", but the main concourse ticket office, surley, has to continue to sell tickets to Reading West including to passengers who are intended to travel illegally further to ungated stations.  I have also seen over the years far too many "person hit by train" reports from Reading West, and would hope that ticket gates might provided a deterrent to people who are intentionally hit - I don't know the times of day these events happen, but they would require the gates to be in operation for most hours and not just at peaks.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/rwest.jpg)