"A Development Consent Order (DCO▸ ) was sought and obtained for this design. Subsequent to
the DCO and GRIP▸ 3 design, DfT» initiated a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) exercise which
removed the station building at Portishead."
Mark
Maybe we should carry out an MVP on the various Sir Humphrey’s at the DfT and Treasury and see has they like that!
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Au contraire, dear boy. Sir Humphrey would enjoy spending money. It's that nasty chancellor telling him what to do that is the problem.
As always, cheese paring will get in the way. Taking the
Tarka▸ line as the exemplar, the fairly recently improved services are turning out to be very popular, to the surprise of nobody but DfT. Early trains leave Barnstaple full and standing, to the chagrin of waiting passengers further down the line. Studies are under way to find a way to resolve this, which will cost a lot of money. I cannot imagine that the Portishead services, when they finally start, will be any less popular with commuters, given the time it takes by bus and the cost of parking a car in Bristol. Being shoehorned into a 3-car Turbo at Pill will not be an appealing experience, and before long some will ask "Why wasn't the Portishead platform built long enough for 5-car trains?"