Reading Green Park railway station

Reading Green Park railway station is a planned railway station in Reading, Berkshire, England. The station is intended to serve the Green Park business area and the Madejski Stadium, as well as the proposed Green Park Village residential development. It is planned to be on the Reading to Basingstoke Line, south of Southcote Junction.[1][2] The station, which has planning permission from Reading Borough Council and funding in place from the Government,[3] was set to open in 2020 but its completion was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.[4]

Reading Green Park
Proposed site of Green Park station, looking north from Kirtons Farm Road overbridge
LocationReading, Reading; West Berkshire
England
Grid referenceSU695702
Platforms2
Key dates
2021Due to open

Proposals

Plans were announced in July 2007 and approved by the Office of Rail Regulation in March 2009. Building was originally expected to begin in early 2009, and be completed in early 2010. However, by late November 2010 building had not begun. Submissions were made to extend the planning permission for the station, which were due to expire in late 2010 and early 2011.[1][2][5][6]

It was reported that the extended applications for planning consent contain a clause which, if approved, would ensure the developer of Green Park Village pays a premium of £4.26 million to find an alternative developer for the station if work has not begun on it within two years.[7]

The station is expected to be served by stopping services operated by Great Western Railway between Reading and Basingstoke, with an expected frequency of two trains per hour in each direction. Additional services are expected to be provided on match days. The proposed station has two 5-car long canopied platforms and an interchange with the existing Green Park Park and Ride bus system.[2]

Suspension

On 27 October 2011 the owners of the business park, Prupim, announced that plans for the station had been suspended after a local housing development project had been scaled down.[8]

Resumption

On 3 December 2013 Reading Borough Council stated that it would re-submit planning proposals for the station in 2014.[9] It was reported on 9 July 2014 that a £17 million Government investment in road and rail projects in Berkshire will include a sum for the station, enabling building work to start in 2015–16.[10] In November 2014 the total investment was cited as £21.4 million, and that the station would cost £6.4 million.[11]

In March 2015 this cost was revised to £8 million in planning submissions to Reading Borough Council. The first £6.4 million would be met by the local enterprise partnership and the remaining £1.6 million covered by Reading Borough Council.[12] On 29 April 2015 the council's planning committee renewed planning permission for the station.[13] It was planned to open in 2018, which should have coincided with electrification of the Reading – Basingstoke Line and introduction of new or refurbished trains.[14] However, the electrification of the line is now not due to be started until after 2019.[15]

The station is planned to be built in four phases,[16] with its facilities expanding as the business park and residential development are built. Each phase will be built only when there is the required funding or demand.

Phase One will provide a station with two platforms, each long enough for a five-coach train, platform canopies and a footbridge. There will be an access road and shared cycle and footway to the station. The station will have two bus bays, a cycle hire hub and cycle parking with an unspecified number of spaces.[17]

Phase Two would add a separate footpath to segregate pedestrians from cyclists, as well as a rank for five taxis, and increase the number of bus bays from two to three.[18]

Phase Three would add another section of access road, increase the number of bus bays to six and add a ground-level car park with 103 spaces. If enough funds were forthcoming soon enough, the project could proceed straight from Phase One to Phase Three.[19]

Phase Four would add a 200-space four-storey car park and reduce the ground level car park to 42 spaces.[19]

In July 2016 the Berkshire Local Transport Body (BLTB) awarded an additional £3m to the initial £6.4m contract for Green Park Station after a review concluded "a significant increase in the forecast passenger demand for the station in comparison to the calculations undertaken in 2013". The additional funding would be for additional shelters and improved ticketing facilities.[20]

The Department for Transport confirmed in July 2017 that Reading Green Park station would receive £2.3m towards a total project cost of £16.5m.[21] The station was originally due for opening in May 2020[22] and then brought forward to Summer 2019;[23] but was then set to open by the end of 2020,[24] before being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.[4] It is now reported to be due to open in the late summer of 2021 "at the earliest".[25]

Proposed service

Great Western Railway Reading — Basingstoke local trains would serve the station. There are generally two trains per hour in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays,[12] and one train per hour on Sundays. The proposed service was discussed at a meeting of Reading Borough Council's strategic environment, planning and transport committee on 24 November 2015. Concern was expressed that delay to the electrification of the railway line between Southcote Junction and Basingstoke could adversely affect the proposed train service.[26]

Preceding station Future services Following station
Reading West   Great Western Railway
Reading to Basingstoke Line		   Mortimer

References
  1. "Reading Green Park Station, Berkshire" (PDF). Office of Rail Regulation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  2. "GreenParkVillage – Railway station". GreenParkVillage. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  3. "New Stations Fund". Network Rail. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  4. "Food waste bin collection and Green Park station delayed". The Reading Chronicle. 23 April 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  5. "Planning application details – 10/01905/FUL". Reading Borough Council. Archived from the original on 24 August 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  6. "Planning documents – Case Number: 10/02603/XCOMIN". West Berkshire Council. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  7. "Planners talk Green Park railway". Reading Post. Trinity Mirror. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
  8. Millward, David (27 October 2011). "Green Park station plan hits the buffers". Reading Post. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  9. "New railway station plan for Reading's Madjeski Stadium". BBC News. 3 December 2013.
  10. Millward, David (9 July 2014). "Plans for Green Park railway station on track following £17 million cash injection". Reading Post. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  11. "Green Park train station funding approved for Reading". News. BBC. 20 November 2014.
  12. Vashisht, Rahul (20 March 2015). "Green Park train station plans submitted". Reading Post. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  13. "Green Park railway station approved for Reading". News. BBC. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  14. Fort, Linda (29 April 2015). "Green Park Station: expired plan to be looked at again". Reading Post. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  15. Macdonald-Read, Neil (26 November 2015). "Green Park station blow as electrification delayed until after 2019". Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  16. Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services 2015, p. 5.
  17. Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services 2015, p. 14.
  18. Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services 2015, pp. 14–15.
  19. Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services 2015, p. 15.
  20. "Reading Green Park railway station cost increases by £3m". BBC News. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  21. "New station boost for passengers thanks to £16 million government investment". DfT. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  22. "Green Park Station plans given green light by government". News. GetReading. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  23. Aldridge, James (23 March 2018). "Green Park Station in Reading to open one year ahead of schedule". InYourArea. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
  24. Markson, Tevye (24 October 2019). "New Reading station Green Park opens in 2020 - final details confirmed". The Reading Chronicle.
  25. Markson, Tevye (14 October 2020). "Reading: Green Park Station delayed until 2021 – this is when it could open". The Reading Chronicle.
  26. Reading Chronicle, 26 November 2015, page 19

Sources

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