Exeter St Thomas - station, facilities, improvements, events and incidents - merged posts

[whole diary]

[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.