Great Western Coffee Shop

THIS is what the front of Basingstoke railway station should look like after its ticket office undergoes a ^1million revamp.

(http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/resources/images/1688648/?type=display)

The project, which starts this month, will include demolition and reconstruction of the existing station booking hall.

Drawings released by South West Trains show how the building will look once it is complete, with a stainless steel and glass frontage.

The work will include renovation to the clock tower at the station entrance, and creating secure cycle parking facilities on both sides of the station.

Temporary access and ticket office facilities will be located outside the station this month while the work takes place throughout the rest of the year.

The project to modernise the station is part of a wider South West Trains project to improve 14 stations. Malcolm Page, station development manager for South West Trains, said: ^Good rail links are vital for connecting people and businesses. The accessibility enhancements and upgrade of facilities at Basingstoke will make a big difference to the overall travelling experience for the passengers who use it for over 4.9 million journeys every year.^

The accessibility enhancements and upgrade of facilities at Basingstoke will make a big difference to the overall travelling experience for the passengers who use it

Outside machines are not the ticket

TRAIN users have faced difficulties buying tickets at Basingstoke railway station because of the poor visibility on the ticket machines which have been moved outside.

South West Trains is carrying out a major refurbishment of the front of the station, including the ticket office, which is expected to be finished at the end of the year.

While the work is carried out, the ticket machines have been temporarily placed outside the station.

But some passengers have experienced difficulty viewing the screens on the self-service machines, because of sunlight outside.

Mike Pearce, from Kempshott, Basingstoke, who occasionally uses the trains to travel to Bristol on business, said: ^The workforce have kindly erected a transparent screen to shelter customers from wind and rain. However, they have not taken into account the effect of the sun shining on the screens.

^I, and many other customers, are now finding it extremely difficult to read the display screen. I imagine that some people will find they simply cannot fathom out how the machines work.^

Mr Pearce, an actuarial technical adviser for Friends Life in Basingstoke, has emailed customer relations at South West Trains, asking for a sunscreen to be put up as a ^matter of urgency.^

He ordered train tickets online, but needed to use the self-service machines to collect them, and added: ^I spoke to a man at the ticket office and he said they had fought hard enough just to get the cover from the weather. No matter how you hold your coat to shelter the screen, if the sun is overhead, it makes it impossible to see. I have used the machines before, but anyone who hasn^t might give up.^

Corinne O^Loughlin, group communications manager for Stagecoach Group, said there are plans to erect a canopy to protect passengers from the rain and to improve visibility of the screen, and she admitted that the company had failed to spot the potential visibility problem before the machines were moved outside. She was not able to say when the canopy will be put up.

Corinne O^Loughlin, group communications manager for Stagecoach Group, said there are plans to erect a canopy to protect passengers from the rain and to improve visibility of the screen, and she admitted that the company had failed to spot the potential visibility problem before the machines were moved outside. She was not able to say when the canopy will be put up.

(http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/resources/images/1688648/?type=display)

For example, the NSIP plan for Aberystwyth is for the town's name to be writen backwards in huge letters incased in a glass screen in front of the station's original building.

Is there some definable reason why the station will have HTYWTSYREBA in front of the main building?  ???