World Shattering Announcement

[chason]

Very pleased to see that Worcestershire County Council has announced that trains will call at the new Worcestershire Parkway Station as soon as it has opened. Sadly, they can't say which trains they will be or when it will open but it is indeed reassuring to know that one day it is going to be used for its intended purpose!!

[Adam V]

Should be 9th Feb according to my best mate who has a booking office job there. Staff going in next week for training.

All CrossCountry Cardiff to Nottingham trains will call but not the long distance 'voyager' services. All GWR Worcester to Paddington via Eveshan will call except a couple in each direction.

[chason]

Should be 9th Feb according to my best mate who has a booking office job there. Staff going in next week for training.

All CrossCountry Cardiff to Nottingham trains will call but not the long distance 'voyager' services. All GWR Worcester to Paddington via Eveshan will call except a couple in each direction.

That's more or less what I was expecting but the date is a bit sooner. We shall have to wait and see what connections will be available when the tinetables are published but it doesn't really seem that it will open up many new journey opportunities. Maybe useful if you wanted to travel, say, from Gloucester to Oxford (assuming the wait at Worcestershire Parkway is not too long) but otherwise it'll be mainly used by people driving there (or travelling by bus if there is a good enough service).

[Adam V]

Sadly, the general opinion with local frontline staff is that apart from the morning and evening Mon - Fri peaks, the place is going to be a ghost town.

Being biased here, i was the station supervisor at Shrub Hill for 17 years and only left recently after becoming disillusioned with the industry, i would have liked to have seen the money invested in what rail infrastructure we already have. Shrub Hill is DESPERATE for investment and modernising.

The other general concern about Parkway is it appears that only the hourly X50 is going to call there ( i hope i am wrong) which isn't very attractive.

Parkway will be staffed by GWR from 05:15 - 21:00 mon to sat with 2 staff. It will be staffed on Sundays too but i am unsure of hours.

After 21:00 the station will have security provided jointly by GWR and Council.

[TimBrown]

Sadly, the general opinion with local frontline staff is that apart from the morning and evening Mon - Fri peaks, the place is going to be a ghost town.

Being biased here, i was the station supervisor at Shrub Hill for 17 years and only left recently after becoming disillusioned with the industry, i would have liked to have seen the money invested in what rail infrastructure we already have. Shrub Hill is DESPERATE for investment and modernising.

The other general concern about Parkway is it appears that only the hourly X50 is going to call there ( i hope i am wrong) which isn't very attractive.

Parkway will be staffed by GWR from 05:15 - 21:00 mon to sat with 2 staff. It will be staffed on Sundays too but i am unsure of hours.

After 21:00 the station will have security provided jointly by GWR and Council.

The GWR on-line publicity gives the impression that buses will use the facility but in a conversation with First bus management last October there seemed to be little financial encouragement for the X50 to call at the new station 'transport hub' because the current timings using just two buses for the hourly service would necessitate an additional bus in the cycle for no financial gain. The bus service will pass by along the main road but as far as I know there are no bus stops anywhere near the station entrance roundabout, unless members of this website have any more up to date information than me? In addition the X50 is currently only booked to run between 7 am to 7 pm approx. so of little use to early train users and those returning home in the late evening!

I haven't been able to find out the daily, or weekly, car park charges at the new station, but as the various development agencies intend to recoup infrastructure investment from the car park revenue it is my that guess drivers will be faced with a day charge in excess of the £6-50 currently required at Shrub Hill; as such The Parkway would appear to be aimed at well-heeled professional car-owning commuters who have never used a bus and can afford the car park charges. In other cases the taxi drivers may well come out on top!

[Adam V]

Agree Tim. From all the 'internal' chat going on it does seem the station is purely aimed at car users. There are bus stops and shelters by the station enterance in the car park which look like they will be redundant.

The general opinion from ground floor staff is that the station will be a flop.

You can leave London later though as there is a 22:50 from Paddington that will terminate a Parkway (taxi drivers might like that) then go empty to Worcester sidings at Wylds Lane to form the first service in the morning.

[Adam V]

Hot off the press:

Even though the staff were told Feb 9th for Parkway, today they were told its postponed indefinitely again!

Reason unknown at the monent.

You just cannot make it up!!

[TimBrown]

Hot off the press:

Even though the staff were told Feb 9th for Parkway, today they were told its postponed indefinitely again!

Reason unknown at the monent.

You just cannot make it up!!

I was given a reason some weeks ago that there was a 'kink' in one of the platforms in need of rectification back to proper gauge; I thought this might be speculation, but it seems to be an embarrassing fact. Can anyone confirm please?

[Adam V]

I heard something was out of gauge platform wise but not sure of the facts.

I do know for a fact that there are 81 'snagging' issues left by the builders which need rectifying before anyone will sign it off. Yes, 81 !!!

The frontline staff waiting to start are getting very frustrated, they keep getting told different things week by week.

Shambles.

[TimBrown]

I heard something was out of gauge platform wise but not sure of the facts.

I do know for a fact that there are 81 'snagging' issues left by the builders which need rectifying before anyone will sign it off. Yes, 81 !!!

The frontline staff waiting to start are getting very frustrated, they keep getting told different things week by week.

Shambles.

It is all very sad. I bet the air is blue with four letter expletives of frustration!

Not quite the same as a railway station, but the Chinese are at the point of completing a 1,000 bed Coronavirus quarantine hospital according to the news today and the foundations were only laid about three weeks ago. I don't reckon any major building projects in this country ever come out within budget or on time, or without need of costly rectification.