Development contrast - two sides of the Severn Estuary

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The contrast between the treatment of the two stations at either end of the Severn Tunnel ....



From the South Wales Argus

A NEW motorway link to Severn Tunnel Junction railway station is among proposals intended to improve passenger access to the site.

The station, in the Monmouthshire village of Rogiet, is used by approximately 230,000 passengers a year - but access is generally limited.

A new report highlights the lack of bus services to Severn Tunnel Junction and notes there is poor access for safe walking and cycling, as well as no bike storage. Vehicle access, meanwhile, is "constrained by the narrow width of and parking arrangements on Station Road".

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site)'s AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting). - and I paraphrase - "no, we won't even consider more trains calling at Pilning unless we're ordered to do so" .... and yet, from http://www.sewweb.info/leaflet.pdf

Passenger flow projections (year 3)
Pilning
= 273 each way per day; c 165,000 jpa

I can't help feeling that there might not be a level playing field here between public transport support and development on the two sides of the Severn Estuary.

[Noggin]

To be honest you're not comparing like with like. NR^» (Network Rail - home page) & GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) saying one thing in Wales and one thing in England would be a different matter.

The Severn Tunnel Junction station case is an interesting one though. It's got 4 long platforms, on the junction of two main lines, between two motorways, within a couple of miles of a town with 12,000 people (and Magor too a bit further away), but is a pig to get to and has very little parking. So it's a very underused asset, which could support vastly greater passenger numbers but needing little/no rail-side investment.

There's a fair amount of green space around it, and junction on the M4 already (albeit not open to the public), so at the very least, upgrading the M4 junction to make it public, building a bigger car park and a bus interchange would make it immediately much more useful, with a relatively small outlay. I'd imagine that would go down pretty well with the locals, particularly the M4 junction.

If the planners wanted to be more ambitious, there's probably space on the north side of the railway to put in a road and cycle path, running from the west of Caldicot to the west of Rogiet, making the area between the two nicely viable for housing, the selling-points being the station and motorway access, but of course, the roads can be marketed as primarily for public transport, and so green ;-)

Seen against that context, Pilning is a completely different kettle of fish I'm afraid.

[stuving]

Now here's a thing. And it's a thing rather like this thread is suggesting. From DfT^» (Department for Transport - about):

News story
UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and Welsh governments to explore new rail links between south Wales and England

A study has been announced that will develop options for new stations and services on the South Wales Main Line.

•   UK and Welsh governments today (2 February 2023) announce a new study to improve transport connectivity between south-east Wales and west of England
• the study, backed by £2.7 million of UK government funding, will look at options for new railway stations and rail services on the South Wales Main Line
•   this project will focus on relieving congestion on the M4, a vital connector between south Wales and the rest of the UK

The UK and Welsh governments have today announced they are working together on a £2.7 million study, funded by the UK government, to develop options for new stations and services on the South Wales Main Line.

The study follows Lord Hendy’s recommendations from his review of transport connectivity across the UK, which put forward the need to relieve congestion on the M4.

A series of options will be considered as part of this study, among which is the development of 5 brand new stations between Cardiff and Severn Tunnel.

That was Richard Holden, PUS for Roads and Local Transport, which is odd. However, the minor topics have been handed out somewhat randomly, and he got union connectivity, as well as regions and devolution.

See also this thread for the previous study and proposal.