Thatcham station - some work imminent (red/yellow lines on platform)

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Just came across this http://www.networkrail.co.uk/great-western-route-modernisation/west-berkshire/ which says it is a new footbridge and construction due to start in late October.

Thanks for that link.  In the Oxfordshire section it says that Goring is going to be replaced with a structure including lifts, which will no doubt please the local community.

[ChrisB]

So the Henley Standard & the local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) haven't seen/read that? Or have NR^» (Network Rail - home page) changed their mind since that was published?

[IndustryInsider]

Well, as you say, it was quite an old article which was published last year, so perhaps funding has indeed since become available?  However it doesn't appear in the Access For All list http://www.networkrail.co.uk/improvements/access-for-all/stations, which is the obvious funding stream I'd have thought?  Or the Network Rail website is incorrect - just as likely! 

[lordgoata]

Thanks for that link.  In the Oxfordshire section it says that Goring is going to be replaced with a structure including lifts, which will no doubt please the local community.

Yeah that was announce earlier in the year after the local mobility action group and the local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) managed to lobby NR^» (Network Rail - home page) successfully. Given Goring isn't staffed past lunch time or at all on Sundays, it will be interesting to see if the lifts only operate during staffed hours, or are remotely monitored as per earlier discussions.

I still don't know why the bridge wasn't replaced when they did the "refurbishment" work a year or two ago - they put a huge temporary scaffold bridge up and just replaced a few parts of the knackered bridge!

[IndustryInsider]

Yeah that was announce earlier in the year after the local mobility action group and the local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) managed to lobby NR^» (Network Rail - home page) successfully. Given Goring isn't staffed past lunch time or at all on Sundays, it will be interesting to see if the lifts only operate during staffed hours, or are remotely monitored as per earlier discussions.

I still don't know why the bridge wasn't replaced when they did the "refurbishment" work a year or two ago - they put a huge temporary scaffold bridge up and just replaced a few parts of the knackered bridge!

Thanks for that.  You'd have thought it would have to be remotely monitored to be of any real use given the hours of staffing.  Twyford station doesn't have monitoring and the lifts get taken out of use on weekends late afternoon and that has caused complaints, but at least they're available on weekdays until fairly late.  Are there any remotely monitored lifts on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations currently?

I'm guessing the previous refurbishment work was of quite an urgent nature before planning had been finalised for the new bridge.

[BerkshireBugsy]

Yeah that was announce earlier in the year after the local mobility action group and the local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) managed to lobby NR^» (Network Rail - home page) successfully. Given Goring isn't staffed past lunch time or at all on Sundays, it will be interesting to see if the lifts only operate during staffed hours, or are remotely monitored as per earlier discussions.

I still don't know why the bridge wasn't replaced when they did the "refurbishment" work a year or two ago - they put a huge temporary scaffold bridge up and just replaced a few parts of the knackered bridge!

Thanks for that.  You'd have thought it would have to be remotely monitored to be of any real use given the hours of staffing.  Twyford station doesn't have monitoring and the lifts get taken out of use on weekends late afternoon and that has caused complaints, but at least they're available on weekdays until fairly late.  Are there any remotely monitored lifts on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations currently?

I'm guessing the previous refurbishment work was of quite an urgent nature before planning had been finalised for the new bridge.

Are the lifts taken out of service for safety reasons or to stop them being abused as a toilet?

[ChrisB]

What do you think? Fancy being in one when it fails and no one knows you're there? :-)

[Oxman]

All lifts are fitted with alarm buttons. These activate a phone call, usually first of all to a local number, and if there is no answer within a set period, then to a number at FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Control. A separate telephone line is provided for each lift, and the lift must be taken out of service if the line fails (or, as happened to me, is cut off because some accountant could not identify what the line was for so had it disconnected!). The numbers called must not have answerphones on them, so there can be no chance of the trapped person being asked to leave a message. In practice, the first number dialled will be to a staff office on the station - the station control room if there is one - so that a member of staff can attend the lift and, at least, offer reassurance. Some senior members of staff are able to open the doors to release anyone who is trapped. I certainly did this on a number of occasions. On others, I called the fire brigade, who are well versed in lift rescues. After the rescue, the lift would be put out of use until inspected by a lift engineer.

FGW has the front line responsibility for monitoring lifts. Maintenance of them is down to NR^» (Network Rail - home page). If FGW find a lift fault, it is reported to Network Rail. It in turn has a contract with the manufacturers for maintenance. Manufacturers have 24 hour engineering cover and the contract with NR used to specify a 2 hour response - don't know what it is now. So anyone trapped in a lift at an unstaffed station should find themselves talking to FGW Control, who will report the problem to NR, who will immediately call out a lift engineer, who should attend within two hours. There is also the fallback of asking the on call station manager to attend, but I can imagine this not going down too well with some managers.

One other thought: New lifts all have the capability of having CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele-Vision) installed within the car. If lifts are to be left operational whilst the station is unstaffed, I would have thought that CCTV would be fitted and connected through to FGW Control. Not only would this be useful in deterring abuse of the lift, but it would also help with an entrapment, in that the Control staff could see what was going on in the lift and call for the emergency services if needed.

I have also heard that lifts are to be installed at Goring and, noting the limited staffing hours there, can only assume that they are to be remotely monitored, although how this will be achieved in reality, I do not know (yet).

[BerkshireBugsy]

Many thanks Oxman for that reply.

I can imagine that if you suffered from a fear of enclosed spaces (can't spell the proper word at the moment!) 2 hours could seem like an eternity

[stuving]

Many thanks Oxman for that reply.

I can imagine that if you suffered from a fear of enclosed spaces (can't spell the proper word at the moment!) 2 hours could seem like an eternity

But the world is full of lifts with no full-time staffing - just think of all those blocks of flats, small hotels, car parks, etc., etc. People do get stuck in them, too. But I don't hear a call for such lifts to be closed down out of hours - or if there's never any employed minder to be permanently closed. I do hear calls for better maintenance and monitoring, though.

[stuving]

In case you've not seen it, there was a report written by Atkins for Network rail, covering all the planning implications of electrification.  Presumably they submitted it to West Berkshire Council, though it does say:

This document and its contents have been prepared and are intended solely for Network Rail‟s information and use in relation to the Great Western Main Line Overhead Electrification.
Atkins Limited assumes no responsibility to any other party in respect of or arising out of or in connection with this document and/or its contents.

I guess that just means WBC can't sue them, only NR^» (Network Rail - home page) can.

Anyway, it includes the footbridge at Thatcham station on P9 -

Thatcham Station Footbridge (No. BHL 4946)
The footbridge provides access to the two platforms of Thatcham station across the BHL. The
footbridge would be demolished and reconstructed to increase the clearance necessary for
installing the OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"). The works would be at some point in 2013 or 2014 and would take 8 to 10
weeks. The worksite would be located at the eastern end of the station car park to the south of
the BHL.

There's nothing more about the new bridge itself. The West Berkshire Council website has these items in its planning data:

Screening request - Parapet works
Ref. No: 12/00287/SCREEN | Status: Application not required
Screening request - Parapet works
Ref. No: 14/01494/SCREEN | Status: Application not required
Erection of new footbridge
Ref. No: 87/28166/ADD^▸ (Automatic Dropping Device) | Status: Approved

The last of these is now removed or restricted.
The other two relate to a block request for environmental impact assessments on parapet works for seven footbridges. These (and other overbridges) need their parapets raised to 1.8 m to comply with EU^» (European Union - about) requirements for safety. Actually it was an environmental impact assessment assessment, which assessed that an environmental impact assessment was not needed.