Worcestershire Parkway railway station

Worcestershire Parkway is a split-level railway station where the Cotswold and Cross Country lines cross near Norton, Worcester, England.[1] It opened on 23 February 2020.[2][3]

Not to be confused with Worcester Park railway station.

Worcestershire Parkway
The cross country line platforms at Worcestershire Parkway
Location
PlaceNorton, Worcestershire
Local authorityWychavon
Coordinates52.1556°N 2.1609°W / 52.1556; -2.1609
Grid referenceSO890508
Operations
Station codeWOP
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Number of platforms3
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
History
23 February 2020Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations

Purpose

The cross country rail main line from Birmingham to Cardiff, Bristol and the South West passes close to the east of Worcester, however there were no nearby stations on this line, and the cross country trains passed through Worcestershire without stopping. Worcestershire County Council therefore sought for many years to have a station on this line built near Worcester.[4]

The station is positioned a mile outside Worcester near the village of Norton, at the point where the cross country line passes under the Cotswold Line from Worcester to Oxford and London. It has two platforms on the former, and one on the latter, allowing interchange between the two lines. It is also close to Junction 7 on the M5, allowing Worcestershire residents to use the station as a 500-car park and ride to major cities, as well as into Worcester's Foregate Street and Shrub Hill stations, which is expected to relieve traffic and parking problems in Worcester itself.[4][5]

Map of railways around Worcester, showing location of station

Development

Funding

An outline business case was developed by Laing Rail in March 2006, which concluded in favour of the development of Worcestershire Parkway Regional Interchange.[6] Worcestershire County Council set aside £3 million for park and ride facilities at the station in 2007.[7][8] In October 2008 an e-petition was set up on the No 10 website calling for a Worcestershire Parkway. The Third Worcestershire Local Transport Plan (LTP3) cited Worcestershire Parkway Regional Interchange as the top transport priority for Worcestershire.[9] It was also listed in the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy as a Sub Regional Priority, and featured in Policy T6 - Strategic Park and Ride. A revised business case was submitted to the Department for Transport's Rail Office, who gave their formal support to the project in 2012.[10]

In July 2014 the station was given funding as part of a government infrastructure fund distributed to local enterprise partnerships.[11]

Concerns

Concerns were raised that the construction of Worcestershire Parkway would lead to reduced services at Worcester Foregate Street. However, this was rejected in 2014 by the deputy leader of Worcestershire County Council, Councillor Simon Geraghty, who said, "There has been no risk identified by Network Rail to existing railway stations."[12]

Construction
CrossCountry Plymouth-Edinburgh and GWR London services passing the proposed station site in 2017

Artist impressions were released in February 2015 and the council said that a planning application had been submitted, with a decision due to have been made during the summer of 2015. The plan was for work to commence by the spring of 2016 and the station was on track to open in summer 2017, the county council said.[13]

In February 2015, Worcestershire County Council advertised for contractors for the construction of the railway station to include platforms, station building, passenger footbridge and lifts with a commencement date of late September 2015 with completion in May 2017.[14] On 25 August 2015 planning permission was granted, with work expected to start in 2016. The cost of the scheme was estimated at £22m.[15][16]

A potential legal battle between Worcester County Council and Norton Parkway Developments, who currently own the land, started in 2016. Norton Parkway Developments refused to hand over the land to the council as they felt that they were in a position to complete the development themselves.[17]

In January 2017, WCC's plans for Worcestershire Parkway were approved by the DfT.[18] In February 2017, clearance work on the site began, and Worcestershire County Council appointed Buckingham Group Contracting as the developer as part of a design and build deal.[19][20] Construction work finally began in early 2018, with a planned opening date in 2019.[21] In November 2019, it was announced that the station would open on 15 December 2019.[22] This was later pushed back to an unspecified time "early in the New Year."[23] In January 2020, it was announced that the station would be further delayed but opening was expected 'well before' the May timetable change.[24]

View of station atrium

Phase 1 construction included the Cotswold Line, station building, interchange facilities, 300 space car park, road access and infrastructure for phase 2. This second phase included two new platforms on the Birmingham - Bristol Main Line, a footbridge between the Phase 1 and 2 platforms, and an additional 200 car parking spaces.[25]

Worcestershire Parkway opened to the public on Sunday 23 February 2020. The first train to serve the new station was the 8:29 GWR service to London Paddington. At 9:57 the first Train arrived from London Paddington. The first Cross Country service to serve the station was the 10:40 to Cardiff Central from Birmingham New Street.

Services

The station is served by both Worcester - Oxford/London and all Nottingham - Cardiff trains. The aim is for trains to travel to London in 2 hours or less.[25]

Phase 3 of the station's introduction will schedule additional Cross Country trains.[25]

Services at Worcestershire Parkway are operated by CrossCountry and Great Western Railway. The current off-peak service at the station in trains per hour (tph) is:

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Cheltenham Spa   CrossCountry
Cardiff – Nottingham		   University
Ashchurch for Tewkesbury
limited service		    
Worcester Shrub Hill   Great Western Railway
Hereford – London Paddington		   Pershore or Evesham
  Future services  
Cheltenham Spa   CrossCountry
South West – North East and Scotland		   Birmingham New
Street
  CrossCountry
Bristol – Manchester		  
gollark: As I said, it's not doing *much* to other people but it is doing something, which is why your threshold for that should probably be... above zero?
gollark: If you refuse to use more private ones, that forces privacy-liking people who want to communicate with you onto worse ones.
gollark: Like I said, a big example is with messaging apps and social networks.
gollark: Maybe it should be.
gollark: It *does do things*, you can hardly say it doesn't. They might not be significant things, but they're there.

See also

References
  1. DFT Archived 6 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Opening date for Worcestershire Parkway finally revealed". Worcester News. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  3. "First trains stop at Worcestershire Parkway station". BBC News. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  4. "New train station connects Worcester to London, Cardiff & Nottingham". ITV news. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  5. "Worcestershire Parkway rail station given go ahead". BBC News. 25 August 2015. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  6. "Worcestershire Parkway Regional Interchange (From Worcestershire County Council)". worcestershire.gov.uk. 19 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  7. "New rail station 'could just be a white elephant' (From Worcester News)". Worcesternews.co.uk. 11 January 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2009.
  8. NWM Plans
  9. http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/LTP3
  10. "Worcestershire Parkway plans progress (From BBC News)". news.bbc.co.uk. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  11. "Worcestershire Growth Deal". Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  12. Edwards, Tom (14 November 2014). "£17m Worcestershire Parkway will not wreck services at Foregate Street, insists county council". Western Telegraph. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  13. Edwards, Tom (11 July 2014). "Worcestershire Parkway rail station plans submitted". BBC News. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  14. "Tender Advertisement"
  15. "UK's Worcestershire Parkway regional interchange station gets planning permission - Railway Technology". Railway Technology. 27 August 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  16. "BBC News"
  19. "PICTURES: Lift off! Clearance work underway for Worcestershire Parkway". Worcester News. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  20. "Contractor chosen for new railway station in Worcestershire". 21 February 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  21. Preece, Stephen. "Worcestershire Parkway Rail Station". www.worcestershire.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  22. "Worcester Parkway on track for December opening".
  23. "Worcestershire Parkway | Great Western Railway". www.gwr.com. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  24. Barnett, Christian (31 January 2020). "Trains will be calling at Worcestershire Parkway as soon as it opens, council promises". Malvern Gazette. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  25. "Worcestershire Parkway Station Worcestershire Local Transport Body Funding Application" (PDF). Worcestershire County Council. May 2013. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved 14 July 2014.

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