AFCCOVENTRY
Well-Known Member
LONG-AWAITED plans for a new Coventry-Nuneaton train service stopping at the Ricoh Arena have hit severe delays due to budget problems.
The new passenger service, called NUCKLE, was due to be completed by December.
But the Telegraph has learned the project is not now expected to be finished until mid-2015 at the earliest – 18 months behind schedule.
Building work on a new station at the Ricoh – for football fans, concert goers and visitors to the Arena Park shopping complex – was due to start in December 2012 and be completed this December. It is not now expected to open until autumn 2014.
The delays have been attributed to problems trying to deliver the Coventry City Council-led project within budget.
It is 16 months since government funding was won to secure the project’s go-ahead, after nearly a decade of stalled attempts.
The revamped passenger line will double the number of current hourly trains between Coventry and Nuneaton, with new stations and platforms for longer trains.
Asked about delays, a city council spokesman said: “The current completion date for the whole project is mid-2015, with the station built and in place at the Ricoh by autumn 2014.
“The current train service that passes there will be able to stop at the station from the date it is completed.
“Continuing work is taking place to enable the project to stay within the £23.5m budget resulting in the delays to early forecast completion dates.”
December was given as a completion date for the project eight months ago, when Coventry councillors granted planning permission.
The plan was for a maximum four trains an hour from Coventry on events and matchdays, and two trains an hour from Nuneaton.
In December 2011, the then Conservative transport secretary, Justine Greening, announced £9.8million funding towards the Coventry/Nuneaton phase one of NUCKLE (Nuneaton, Coventry, Kenilworth and Leamington).
Phase one also includes engineering works, a new station at Bermuda Park, and longer Bedworth station platform, and Coventry station would get a new six-coach bay platform.
It aims to relieve congestion on the roads for around 70,000 commuter journeys.
A phase two extension into south Warwickshire had long been shelved until some unknown future date.
The government claimed at the time it was one of 21 major transport schemes getting the go-ahead to help fast-track stalling economic growth.
Details of the latest funding problems are not known.
Coventry News
EXCLUSIVE: New Coventry/Nuneaton railway delayed Apr 08 2013
Read More http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2013/04/08/exclusive-new-coventry-nuneaton-railway-delayed-92746-33132506/#ixzz2PrKINmzf
The new passenger service, called NUCKLE, was due to be completed by December.
But the Telegraph has learned the project is not now expected to be finished until mid-2015 at the earliest – 18 months behind schedule.
Building work on a new station at the Ricoh – for football fans, concert goers and visitors to the Arena Park shopping complex – was due to start in December 2012 and be completed this December. It is not now expected to open until autumn 2014.
The delays have been attributed to problems trying to deliver the Coventry City Council-led project within budget.
It is 16 months since government funding was won to secure the project’s go-ahead, after nearly a decade of stalled attempts.
The revamped passenger line will double the number of current hourly trains between Coventry and Nuneaton, with new stations and platforms for longer trains.
Asked about delays, a city council spokesman said: “The current completion date for the whole project is mid-2015, with the station built and in place at the Ricoh by autumn 2014.
“The current train service that passes there will be able to stop at the station from the date it is completed.
“Continuing work is taking place to enable the project to stay within the £23.5m budget resulting in the delays to early forecast completion dates.”
December was given as a completion date for the project eight months ago, when Coventry councillors granted planning permission.
The plan was for a maximum four trains an hour from Coventry on events and matchdays, and two trains an hour from Nuneaton.
In December 2011, the then Conservative transport secretary, Justine Greening, announced £9.8million funding towards the Coventry/Nuneaton phase one of NUCKLE (Nuneaton, Coventry, Kenilworth and Leamington).
Phase one also includes engineering works, a new station at Bermuda Park, and longer Bedworth station platform, and Coventry station would get a new six-coach bay platform.
It aims to relieve congestion on the roads for around 70,000 commuter journeys.
A phase two extension into south Warwickshire had long been shelved until some unknown future date.
The government claimed at the time it was one of 21 major transport schemes getting the go-ahead to help fast-track stalling economic growth.
Details of the latest funding problems are not known.
Coventry News
EXCLUSIVE: New Coventry/Nuneaton railway delayed Apr 08 2013
Read More http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/2013/04/08/exclusive-new-coventry-nuneaton-railway-delayed-92746-33132506/#ixzz2PrKINmzf
