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Author Topic: Reading Station improvements  (Read 1356643 times)
paul7575
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« Reply #795 on: August 22, 2012, 12:04:15 »

Obviously a lot's being going on, I'lll be at Reading station on Friday so must have a good look round.

Where will the taxi rank be?  Will there be taxi ranks on both north and south side? The "new Northern and Southwest Interchanges" plan that Paul linked to doesn't appear to show any taxi ranks.

If you view the plan at 100% various taxi rank, bus stop and 'drop off' road markings are shown both north and south - I thought it was reasonably self explanatory?

Paul
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Gordon the Blue Engine
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« Reply #796 on: August 22, 2012, 14:12:41 »

Paul, thanks, I thought I'd carefully checked the (very informative) Drawing you lniked to, but now I've opened it at 125% I can see the taxi ranks.
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Gordon the Blue Engine
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« Reply #797 on: August 24, 2012, 16:18:36 »

Had a good look round to-day.  Platform 6 was in regular use - I saw 2 trains arrive & depart.  I walked under Vastern Road bridge and the lane restrictions referred to by others are almost all cleared.  Lots of activity on the new retaining wall and (very attractive) facing bricks on the north side against the access road for the multi-story car park.  Platforms 12/13 is progressing on the London side of the existing footbridge.  Trackwork is in place on the west side of the station for P's 12/13 and 14/15. A large crane was lifting metalwork for the new footbridge.

From a contractor's point of view it must be a nice site to work on.  Plenty of space so many activities can happen in parallel, unlike, for example some of the sites along Oxford Street in London.

And of course the station was heaving with Rock Festival people.
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ellendune
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« Reply #798 on: August 25, 2012, 18:33:12 »

I see from the cameras that the bridge was sat on its bearings last night.  If you look at Camera 2 option 1, zoom in on the end of the bridge and do a comparison with 24 hours previously it has quite clearly dropped down.

They should now be able to finish the remaining gap, but also start fitting out the completed part (e.g. concrete on the floor, glazing the sides etc.)

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Gordon the Blue Engine
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« Reply #799 on: August 29, 2012, 17:45:51 »

I wonder how they'll deal with the Padd-Rdg terminators after reconstruction when the east-facing bays are gone.  Up to now they've needed both 16 and 11 (though I think it's now closed or about to be)because of the long layover pattern - surely they wouldn't wish to tie up 2 of the new through platforms for 30 minutes in every hour in the future.

Maybe they'll arrive in 12 or 13, drop off passengers, then go off (in the same direction) to the depot sidings, then come back into 14 or 15 for the trip back to Padd.   

And maybe if/when Crossrail gets to Rdg they'll operate in the same way.
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Louis94
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« Reply #800 on: August 29, 2012, 18:27:29 »

I wonder how they'll deal with the Padd-Rdg terminators after reconstruction when the east-facing bays are gone.  Up to now they've needed both 16 and 11 (though I think it's now closed or about to be)because of the long layover pattern - surely they wouldn't wish to tie up 2 of the new through platforms for 30 minutes in every hour in the future.

Well I'd hope they'd extend them to Didcot or somewhere! Give somewhere an improved service, hopefully they'll gain enough stock to allow that.
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paul7575
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« Reply #801 on: August 29, 2012, 19:53:28 »

I wonder how they'll deal with the Padd-Rdg terminators after reconstruction when the east-facing bays are gone.  Up to now they've needed both 16 and 11 (though I think it's now closed or about to be)because of the long layover pattern - surely they wouldn't wish to tie up 2 of the new through platforms for 30 minutes in every hour in the future.

Maybe they'll arrive in 12 or 13, drop off passengers, then go off (in the same direction) to the depot sidings, then come back into 14 or 15 for the trip back to Padd.   

And maybe if/when Crossrail gets to Rdg they'll operate in the same way.

They could sit in the platform - all four relief platforms will be bi-directional, and signalled to allow permissive working.  So there's no fundamental reason why a terminator couldn't layover at one end of say P13 or P14, with a reversing XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service using the other end of the platform.  (At least until there's any serious train lengthening beyond the current lengths.)  I'm also assuming that if the same number of services as now are terminating initially, then the optimum use of the relief side is for P12 to be the down through, and P15 to be the normal up through - which is a bit like the way the Southampton layout works if you know it at all, albeit there's only four platforms there in total.

This is why I've always been a bit suspicious of claims of massive increases in capacity across the board - clearly having 5 platforms for the main line side is much better, but if the relief side is seen as a straight replacement for the current P9, P10, P11 and P16, (and the closed west end bay previously P7) then it isn't vastly different.  The idea of trains running through the station to a siding could work as well though - as long as it doesn't introduce any other conflicts. The optimum would have been a reversing siding between the up and down lines - the sort of thing the underground tends to have.

My research in the 'Engineering Access statement a few months ago had P11 remaining open until well after the 4 new platforms open, about August next year, so its eventual closure for conversion into a through platform (which will be on the up main line) shouldn't be an issue.  I believe P16 will last some while yet too.

Paul
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Gordon the Blue Engine
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« Reply #802 on: August 30, 2012, 15:11:27 »

Paul, I agree with you regarding claimed capaciity increase on the reliefs, and your comparsion with Southampton.  Difference is though at Southampton there are plenty of terminators from both directions, so the centre platform capacity is well used.  At Reading FGW (First Great Western) terminators come from Padd only, and the detailed colour coded track layout seems to show XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise))'s using P's 3 and 7.  So relief line capacity is not efficiently used if Padd-Rdg terminators are sitting in a through platform on their own for 30 minutes.

And don't forget that some freights used to go round the back of P10, so you could argue that the relief side has been reduced from 5 to 4 lines towards Padd. 

I think perhaps that Padd-Rdg terminators will arrive in P13, then go to sidings before leaving from 14 or 15.

 
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lordgoata
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« Reply #803 on: August 30, 2012, 15:48:08 »

Time to introduce some Ban/Oxford to Reading shuttles, then they can sit the next to the Padd-Reading terminators and not waste the blocked platform Wink

<rant>That way, next time there is a problem and we get dumped at Reading by the Oxford/Banbury stopper so that it can run empty non-stop to Oxford/Banbury to make up that oh-so precious time, us dumpees might be able to get home this side of Christmas.</rant>

On a serious note, is there any reason such a service doesn't already exist (between Reading and Oxford/Banbury) ? I have always found it curious there is a service between Paddington and Reading, but not the other side, as it were.
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grahame
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« Reply #804 on: August 30, 2012, 16:15:21 »

At Reading FGW (First Great Western) terminators come from Padd only ...

and from Newbury, and from Basingstoke, and from Gatwick, and from Redhill and from Shalford ...

Granted, they come in at the sides of the fan at the moment, by with some flyovers they may come right into the middle
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Louis94
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« Reply #805 on: August 30, 2012, 16:49:53 »

At Reading FGW (First Great Western) terminators come from Padd only ...

and from Newbury, and from Basingstoke, and from Gatwick, and from Redhill and from Shalford ...

Granted, they come in at the sides of the fan at the moment, by with some flyovers they may come right into the middle

Wasn't there talk that services from Gatwick and Redhill will use the relief line platforms using the underpass? Could these not interlink with the Reading to London services to reduce the length of time that the platform is blocked? I can see going to/from the depot frequently causing a pathing headache.
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Andrew1939 from West Oxon
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« Reply #806 on: August 30, 2012, 17:47:57 »

Before Reading rebuild started I recall Mark telling CLPG» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about) that there could be an Oxford direct to Gatwick service using the Reading underpass when reopened.
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Southern Stag
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« Reply #807 on: August 30, 2012, 21:10:18 »

On a serious note, is there any reason such a service doesn't already exist (between Reading and Oxford/Banbury) ? I have always found it curious there is a service between Paddington and Reading, but not the other side, as it were.
Just demand I presume. London-Reading there is a demand for 4tph but Reading-Oxford there is only the demand for 2 tph, so two London-Reading stoppers continue to Oxford, two turn around at Reading. If more Reading-Oxford services were introduced the logical thing would simply to extend the 2tph that currently terminate at Reading, so 4 stopping tph London-Oxford.
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paul7575
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« Reply #808 on: August 31, 2012, 11:15:35 »

...and the detailed colour coded track layout seems to show XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise))'s using P's 3 and 7. 

I was at one of the public information sessions and the chap advised that the colour coding shouldn't be interpreted that way.  What it was meant to show was the majority service on that route, but not the only route a particular flow will use.  That diagram you refer to shows P7 in purple - which means 'Newburys' in the key, but obviously the light blue line towards it, and towards P8, also means XC can use it.  Then P3 is also marked in light blue suggesting use only by XC - which matches today's usage. 

However if you look in particular at the XC services that terminate at Reading, they always used to layover in the old P7 west end bay, because that was the best place to be for arrival and departure using the relief side.  It is those terminating trains that will probably use a relief side platform, and the 'light blue' routes will be for the Bournemouth and Southampton services, which pass through...

Paul
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Gordon the Blue Engine
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« Reply #809 on: August 31, 2012, 19:06:35 »

Perhaps the XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise))'s terminating at Rdg used the old P7 because it was there and available, and thus it made sense for them to run RL to/from Didcot.  Maybe the new layout will provide an opportunity to run them ML and thus they would naturally stable in P3 or (the new) P7. 

Presumably the new track layout was designed with an operating plan in mind - it would be ineteresting to see it.
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