County Council reveal details of Exeter St Thomas station improvements

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From the Exeter Express & Echo:

DEVON County Council has now provided more details about the proposed improvements to St Thomas railway station.

As The Echo revealed last week a planning application which would see better shelters, lighting and CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) at the station has been lodged with the city council.

A spokesman for the county council has now told Community News: ^The station improvements are being proposed by First Great Western as part of the INTERREG Citizens Rail project, http://www.citizensrail.org/devon/

^The project covers the Riviera Line between Paignton and Exeter and includes train service frequency improvements between Paignton and Newton Abbot, with some continuing to/from Exeter, along with improvements to some stations along the line.

^The county council has put in just short of ^270,000 of funding and is using ^175,000 of Local Sustainable Transport Funding to help provide the additional train services, but it is not funding the station improvements.

^First Great Western is leading on the station improvements, which include Exeter St Thomas.

^Devon County Council may separately fund a mural and some planting but there are no details as yet.^

[Umberleigh]

Interesting. And good news for this service

However, interested to know how they are providing the extra services when apparently there are NO extra units anywhere to ease overcrowding on the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) line, for example..?

[RichardB]

It's a very long story, Umberleigh, and only the significant extra funding brought in from the EU^» (European Union - about) together with funding from Devon and Torbay has made it possible.  That funding wasn't available for any other line, I'm afraid.

Having said this, watch this space as there should be some good news soon about the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) Line.  Can't say more just now as it isn't all signed, sealed and delivered.

Richard Burningham,
Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

[DavidBrown]

You definitely know how to tease us, Richard! Still, any good news is always welcome - it shows that there are people of significance that are looking to improve the line/service, even if whatever this news is falls through for whatever reason.

[Rapidash]

Certainly good news. Don't suppose the same could be done for SJP/Polsloe Bridge? Winter is coming, and I don't fancy freezing me nadgers off in the rain anymore

[TonyK]

Certainly good news. Don't suppose the same could be done for SJP/Polsloe Bridge? Winter is coming, and I don't fancy freezing me nadgers off in the rain anymore

You'd have to sew mine back on first.

[Rapidash]

There is now a proper CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) on both platforms at St Thomas now! No more staring at a broken help point \o/ (I also saw them installed at Topsham as well!)

[TonyK]

Always good to have information at remote stations - not that Topsham or EXT should seem remote, but they are not a major terminus. Nice to be able to see that a train will appear sometime close to what it says on the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System).

[JayMac]

Always good to have information at remote stations - not that Topsham or EXT should seem remote, but they are not a major terminus. Nice to be able to see that a train will appear sometime close to what it says on the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System).

Nice to be able to get such information from a CIS. My local station's (no) Help (whatsoever) Point, has been downgraded from one with a 'train running' screen, listing departures and ETAs, to one with just a 'Next Train' button.

It's a button that is pressed more in hope than expectation, being as it still hasn't been connected to any system, human or automated, that actually provides 'Next Train' information.

Admittedly, Shirehampton is slightly more remote than Topshop or Exstir Stomas. But, to my mind, that means it should have better information systems in place. Twice in recent weeks it has fallen to a potential passenger (i.e. me) to inform others waiting that there are delays/cancellations. Information that I've had to garner at my own expense.

[TonyK]

Realtime Trains on the Smartphone caps it all. I have told staff at Temple Meads things they didn't know that I had guessed at from looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) and confirmed by Twitter. Quite major stuff, in this case a Cross Country train that was very late, and had been reduced from 10 car to 5.

[grahame]

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/St-thomas-rail-station-revamp-underway-Exeter/story-25877212-detail/story.html?

Work to improve St Thomas railway station is now underway.

The investment is coming from Devon County Council, central government, and the railway industry and will see the introduction of better shelters, more accessible platforms, enhanced lighting and CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision). There will also be improved train services.^

Local councillor Rob Hannaford was, for many years, a member of the Exeter Rail Working Group, and consistently lobbied for extra investment in the station.

He said: ^The county council has put in just short of ^270,000 and is using ^175,000 of Local Sustainable Transport Funding to help provide the additional train services, but it is not funding the station improvements, which are being led by First Great Western.

^The station and service improvements are being introduced as part of the INTERREG Citizens^ Rail project.

The project covers the Riviera Line between Paignton and Exeter and includes train service frequency improvements between Paignton and Newton Abbot, with some continuing to and from Exeter, along with enhancements to some stations along the line.

Cllr Hannaford added: ^The deep gap to the platform at St Thomas has been problematic for many passengers for over a century, and I get regular complaints about it from both commuters and those on leisure activities so this change is great news for people with buggies, wheelchairs, bikes , and those generally with mobility issues of various kinds.

^This further investment is a real boost to our valued train link in St Thomas which is a well connected station in terms of public transport to other parts of the city and beyond.^

Passenger usage at St Thomas station has increased fourfold over the last 10 years, from 45,681 in 2002/2003 to 196,198 in 2012/2013.

[TonyK]

Excellent news that work has started. That article is the first mention of closing the gap twixt train and platform, and I wondered how it is to be accomplished. Will the platform be raised or the trackbed lowered?

Closer to my home is Stapleton Road, where the climb to carriage is, if not quite the Dawn Wall of El Capitano, certainly a challenge to anyone of restricted mobility. I am keen to see how this is remedied elsewhere.

[SandTEngineer]

Excellent news that work has started. That article is the first mention of closing the gap twixt train and platform, and I wondered how it is to be accomplished. Will the platform be raised or the trackbed lowered?

Closer to my home is Stapleton Road, where the climb to carriage is, if not quite the Dawn Wall of El Capitano, certainly a challenge to anyone of restricted mobility. I am keen to see how this is remedied elsewhere.

Perhaps one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrington_Hump

[plymothian]

"great news for people with buggies, wheelchairs, bikes , and those generally with mobility issues of various kinds" who then face steps to get to street level 

And I'm not sure the "gap" (it's not a gap, but a step. the vertical difference is worse than the horizontal) will be closed, because the new shelters on the down have been placed on the existing platform surface, leaving no room for a hump to be installed, except at the extreme end away from the shelters.