St Erth station - facilities, footbridge, improvements, incidents and awards (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[jester]

Loving the phrase 'taking advantage of the available capacity on the railway' Have any of them travelled recently???

[Maxwell P]

Long overdue, but I hope that if this does go ahead, it will be done sympathetically with due regard for the gem that is St Erth station.

[vacman]

Compared to Other places the Size of Penzance, Penzance is riding things well, there aren't that many empty Shops in Penzance.

Nope, Penzance is far worse than most places, the fact that most of the shops that are still open are all pound shops and junk shops says it all, there are probably 4 "big" names in the town and one of those is poundland and Iceland another, need I say more?........... Basically there is nothing to attract people from outside the town, if you live in west Cornwall you may as well go to Truro (like most do), Penzance shot it's self in the foot by not allowing the likes of M&S to come into the town.

If proof were ever needed just look how many commuters travel on the 0741 and 0828 from Penzance compared with how many arrive on the sleeper and the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) that arrives just after and the very few daytrippers outside of holiday season.

[grahame]

Go 10 miles South, North or West from Penzance and you're at sea.   The metrics of Penzance are bound to differ from the metrics of most other towns due to its geographic location ... how does it compare to Cambeltown? And there links to tell us, because I'm sure that someone has worked it out - Penzance council for starters (And are we going off topic here?   Still interesting, though ... )

[Lee]

From the Western Morning News:

Green light for new ^10m transport hub

Plans to create a new park and ride scheme at a west Cornwall railway station and 750 car parking spaces as part of a ^10 million development have been approved by councillors.

On Thursday members of Cornwall Council's strategic planning committee voted 16-5 in favour of granting planning permission at St Erth station near St Ives.

The scheme includes a park and ride service to St Ives, Penzance and Truro.

Supporters said the new "transport interchange" would reduce congestion on the roads while critics argued the scheme was too costly.

Graeme Hicks, the council's portfolio holder for transport highways and environment said the new system was a key part of the local transport plan to connect Cornwall.

He said: "The rail network in Cornwall has untapped capacity which can help us towards taking people out of their cars and reducing the growth of traffic on our roads.

"I hope that this new transport interchange will encourage people to investigate the local area and be a trigger for further local investment.

"The interchange will improve the connectivity between different transport modes and enable car-free days out for visitors whilst enabling commuters and businesses to use car-free travel for part of their journeys.

"This will help reduce congestion on the A30 through the villages of Rose-an-Grouse, Canon's Town, Cockwells and Crowlas."

Three car parks are planned to lie adjacent to the existing railway station.

A new section of road will be created through the A30 junction for cyclists and pedestrians to use.

The scheme includes improvements to the A30 junction with Station Approach, including traffic signals, along with additional lanes for turning traffic.

Councillors said this would increase the junction capacity and regulate traffic flows by reducing congestion and improve the current situation for vehicles travelling to and from St Erth village.

It is anticipated that construction will commence early next year.

Councillor Rob Nolan, who voted against the scheme said it was far too expensive.

He said: "It will cost around ^40,000 per parking space.

"This is a colossal waste of money.

"We can't ignore the fact we might be wasting money."

When Philip Mason, head of planning and regeneration, interrupted Mr Nolan to remind him to "put cost out of his mind" and leave it to another committee to decide, the councillor replied: "You cannot ignore cost."

I visited the site at St Erth today, along with visits to Lelant Saltings, Carbis Bay and St Ives stations. Good to see a fair few people about wherever I went, with the 2-coach Class 150 unit well-loaded.

[chrisoates]

I visited the site at St Erth today, along with visits to Lelant Saltings, Carbis Bay and St Ives stations. Good to see a fair few people about wherever I went, with the 2-coach Class 150 unit well-loaded.

Going to be interesting to see how the extended park & ride works out.
In winter the service is 1x153, March to high season is 1x150, high season is 2x150 .
In summer the 2x150 are PACKED and despite ticket facilities at the Saltings car park and two Conductors St Ives is also barriered to enable revenue collection.
The service is maxed out at 2tph and even with a rumoured extra 153 I wonder if all these potential extra visitors are going to actually get to St Ives.
Would be great if they did as access and parking in St Ives is woeful - the rail link puts you right at a beach and very close to the town centre.

Would also help while there is cash sloshing around - a disabled ramp from St Ives station to the path below the station leading to the town  - the Station has a disabled toilet which I've never seen used as it's sort of isolated by steps and steep hills.

Also a huge sign to the path - 'town & beaches this way'...so many people head out via the car park. 
 

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

When were the barriers installed at St. Ives Station? I was there on holiday last June and there were no barriers there then.

[chrisoates]

When were the barriers installed at St. Ives Station? I was there on holiday last June and there were no barriers there then.

Portable crush barrier type of thing.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From The Cornishman:

St Erth Railway Station reaches final of international awards

Staff at St Erth Railway Station have been celebrating after reaching the finals of an international competition.

The railway station reached the top six of of the International Station Awards of the Year 2013 which rate stations based on their appearance, the facilities available, transport links and customer focus.


St Erth Railway Station reaches final of international awards

Judges from different railway companies looked at the station, which is managed by First Great Western (FGW^▸ (First Great Western)), over a two month period.

Sara Rogers, station manager, represented St Erth at the awards in Cardiff. She said: ^We did so well to achieve a place in the finals, but of course I am sad that we didn^t achieve the top prize. Especially after the hard work that was put in to show the judges how good our passengers feel about St Erth Station.^

First place went to Aylesbury Vale Parkway, which was named Best Small Station of the Year.

Despite not taking home an award, Jeremy Joslin, director of the Sterling Group who created and run the First Class Buffet on the Station, was delighted with the result.

^We have a great relationship with First^s staff from Sara to the regular duty station managers Ray and Peter and including the train crews who rest over at the station,^ said Mr Joslin. ^We always help each other to make the passengers feel welcome and a little less worried about their long journeys. This international recognition is a great boost to the buffet and to the hard work done by our FGW staff.^

[John R]

Whatever happened to this scheme. Is it ever going to happen?

[FarWestJohn]

I have just heard that Cornwall Council has rejected the idea of demolishing the listed footbridge and installing lift towers.
At present disabled passengers cannot cross the line at St.Erth from the down platform to the exit. There is a dispensation that you can travel to Penzance and get a train back.

One idea aired for the lifts not being required is that all down trains crossover to the Up platform and then back to the Down again for the onward trip to Penzance!! This would be great for line capacity and virtually turn St.Erth into a single line.

It will be interesting to see what the plans will be in the future with the Park and ride and the through trains from St.Ives to Penzance.

[LiskeardRich]

There is a dispensation that you can travel to Penzance and get a train back.

Is there always a connection to get someone back? Would a taxi option be used where no connection back.

[trainbuff]

The last train back is often the Crosscountry service after the sleeper at 22.08 weekdays. If arriving after that a taxi is essential.

[brompton rail]

Would sighted disabled (probably wheel chair users) be better getting of at Hayle if they are not continuing by train. I assume the barrow crossing is still in use. Otherwise Penzance is the only option.

[LiskeardRich]

Would sighted disabled (probably wheel chair users) be better getting of at Hayle if they are not continuing by train. I assume the barrow crossing is still in use. Otherwise Penzance is the only option.

Barrow Crossing is closed at Hayle - There is a fully wheelchair friendly underpass in place now.