Great Western Coffee Shop

Some years ago Tony Paige opened a cycling tunnel under the railway to the east of Reading station.

Location
NGR SU 72478 73746
Lat 51.458065
Lon -0.95820844
Biscuit Tunnel, Newtown, Reading, South East, England, RG1 8AQ, United Kingdom

It has been closed for some time now, work being undertaken by Osborne. Any ideas as to what and how long?

Personal inconvenience because it is my default route down to the Thames Path. Not helped at present by the alternative Kennet tow path route being closed by the Horseshoe Bridge by British Gas, due to finish end of March.

As an aside, how did you find the tunnel when it was available for you to use? Did you consider it safe and inviting?  As a former regular user, I'm guessing that any such concerns were not enough to put you off.

If you take the signage literally, not very helpful. If you come from the Tesco side as soon as you emerge from the tunnel you are greeted by an end of cycle route sign.

Not sure I would want to cycle through it at night, the tunnel might be alright but not sre what you might emerge into the darkness to.

I see.

Let's say, for example, you had a pedestrian/cycle route underpass that linked a railway station and bus stops with an adjacent retail/commercial area , the town centre, and key residential estates, what features would it need to have to ensure that everyone using it found it safe and inviting compared to a surface crossing?

The issues I was thinking about was at night, when a large light contrast between tunnel and non-tunnel can leave you effectively blind on emerging.

In general, much as suggested in LTN2/2020, good sight lines allowing the area/route to be well overlooked, and no hidden nooks and crannies for people to lurk and pose a threat etc. Fairly common secure design principles, usually endorsed by the police.

Neither of the foot/cycle tunnels under the railway really satisfy these criteria. The station tunnel dumps you at the bottom of a long winding ramp in a currently undeveloped area. On the other side it has zig-zagged its way from Vastern Road, through undeveloped area. The other side of Vastern Road it has zig-zagged its way from the Thames Path through a narrow poorly sighted path. The new housing development to replace the Southern Electric offices will possibly be worse. Cars are allowed to go straight but cycles are expected to take a longer circuitous route, why?

EDIT: that should be LTN 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design. Getting confused with Circular 2/2006 Quiet Lanes and Home Zones which I have recently had an interest in.

The answer lies at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=24803.0 (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=24803.0) or at least part of it.

Another silly question, why does the NR Media Centre classify the Biscuit Tunnel as
Region & Route: Southern: Kent
https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/new-bridge-for-biscuit-tunnel-in-reading-is-a-nod-to-rich-history-of-the-area (https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/new-bridge-for-biscuit-tunnel-in-reading-is-a-nod-to-rich-history-of-the-area)

Is this still a left over from when the line to Wokingham was part of the SECR (South East and Chatham Railway)? How many years/decades ago was that.

Much more recent, I think. This section of track is in the new NR Southern Region, but the Wessex Route (rather than Sussex or Kent), and regions means boundaries. Of course it's right next to the GW main line which is in a different region and route, and you could say that as there's no real gap between the embankments the region boundary doesn't fit this work. Why the route is given as Kent is less obvious - but maybe the work counts as specialised, with one route taking the lead and a pre-selected "framework" contractor.