Ricoh Arena train station update (6 Viewers)

[Nick]

Are the CCC and N&BBC responsible for the rolling stock, operating the rail service and electrification of the line?

An SAG is actually made up of several bodies including the emergency services. Again are they responsible for rolling stock, operating the rail service and electrification of the line?

Not sure what point you're making here.

I "think" the point isn't that it isn;t running, just all the shouting about how great it will be for Wasps / CCFC / Events when they were told it wouldn't be able to support those kinds of things

 

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[dadgad]

People should understand that the funding for this was EU, nothing to do with Local Govt or CCC.
Elf an safety will determine whether it is safe to use on match days which will be partly due to no. Of trains per hour, no of carriages, etc. These are variables and likely to improve over time.

 

[OffenhamSkyBlue]

People should understand that the funding for this was EU, nothing to do with Local Govt or CCC.
Elf an safety will determine whether it is safe to use on match days which will be partly due to no. Of trains per hour, no of carriages, etc. These are variables and likely to improve over time.

Don't talk nonsense! Do you think the EU would have given the money if CCC and others had not applied for it, and JUSTIFIED it??? Easy answer, they wouldn't!

 

[OffenhamSkyBlue]

Incidentally Dad, have you ever been to a railway station which is over congested at the end of a sports event, even when there ARE sufficient trains to move people away? If there are no trains (the fault for which lies fairly and squarely at the door of the lack of investment in the railways by successive UK governments since "privatisation"), you cannot move the people away, and it is dangerous.

 

[Sick Boy]

Are you 12?

He just enjoys trying to get as much attention as possible.

 

[Moff]

Hate to be the bearer of the truth but no council is to blame whether that be CCC or N&BBC. Both councils have done what they're supposed to have done it's the electrification of the line that's been the issue, or rather lack of. That's down to central government. It's them who have failed to deliver or more accurately failed to make sure that what was supposed to be delivered as line upgrades has happened. A whole section going all the way to Warwick I believe was supposed to have been electrified and this upgrade also included new stations at Bermuda and the Ricoh. Both N&BBC and CCC have kept up their ends of the bargain it's other parties that have stopped the project being completed.

Surely CCC are to blame for wasting money, as any sane organisation would have checked first whether the trains would come before spending the money on a station no one will use.

 

[Will Silver CCFC57]

According to the published Saturday timetable Nuneaton to Coventry there is a train due to arrive at Coventry Arena 17.28. If we identify ourselves as normal Arena Park shoppers and not football/Rugby supporters will we be able to make use of the train service or will it just go straight past and ignore us completely, or as hinted earlier it will not run on matchdays so Joe Public miss out as well, bit confused to be honest.

 

[skybluetony176]

I "think" the point isn't that it isn;t running, just all the shouting about how great it will be for Wasps / CCFC / Events when they were told it wouldn't be able to support those kinds of things

Unless you know different when the upgrades are completed that's still the plan as far as I'm aware. Has something changed on that front?

 

[chiefdave]

So the argument is we shouldn't have built the station at all until the improvements in 2017 are done? Would we still have got funding?

CCC should have managed expectations. Instead of telling everyone how great it would be for CCFC and Wasps they should have been saying it was only for shoppers but hopefully at the future, when the line gets upgraded, it can be used for supporters.

 

[cov_george]

Just checked train prices from Reading to arena station & its quoting £51.70 its only £19.60 to Cov station, so doubt I would use it

 

[chiefdave]

Coun McNicholas, deputy cabinet member (transport) said: “When the new station opens we will have one train an hour connecting Coventry City Centre to the Ricoh and on to Bedworth. “I am sure it will be well used by local people and on match days – rugby and football – it will provide an additional way for fans to get to games.”

 

[skybluetony176]

Surely CCC are to blame for wasting money, as any sane organisation would have checked first whether the trains would come before spending the money on a station no one will use.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there funding for the station's both at the Ricoh and Bermuda by way of grants and both CCC and N&BBC were both faced with the choice of build and use the grants by a certain point in time or lose it? Meaning that either the stations wouldn't have got built or they would have been built fully at the expense of the local rate payer?

Also these trains that "no one will use" aren't services about to start at both stations?

 

[OffenhamSkyBlue]

... provided there are only 75 of you per hour each direction! Pointless!!

 

[OffenhamSkyBlue]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there funding for the station's both at the Ricoh and Bermuda by way of grants and both CCC and N&BBC were both faced with the choice of build and use the grants by a certain point in time or lose it? Meaning that either the stations wouldn't have got built or they would have been built fully at the expense of the local rate payer?

Also these trains that "no one will use" aren't services about to start at both stations?

I don't know the local geography up there, but I understand that Bermuda Park is near a large housing development, so it is possible that many of the residents will use the station to get into Cov or Nuneaton. It probably WON'T get used as a "parkway" because the car park is so poorly designed.
I don't have a problem with the NUCKLE project as a whole, although the fact that it has to cross the West Coast mainline restricts how many trains can run, and of what size, but having a station serving a 32000 capacity stadium with only one service per hour each way is desperately short-sighted!

 

[chiefdave]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there funding for the station's both at the Ricoh and Bermuda by way of grants and both CCC and N&BBC were both faced with the choice of build and use the grants by a certain point in time or lose it?

Again that is about managing expectations. If thats the case they should have been making that clear. Say we're building it now or the grant goes and then when the line is upgraded there will be matchday services.

Following the Strategic Rail Authority's (SRA) decision not to grant permission for a railway station on the site, these works were excluded. The exclusion of these works has meant that the budget allocated for the railway station was not utilised. These funds have been allocated to other parts of the scheme including the construction of the railway arches. However, the Council is still committed to securing a railway station as part of the Arena development and will be resubmitting its business case to the SRA. Should a railway station be built in the future, the Council would need to find the required funding.

The Council are proceeding with work to the archways, which are an essential part of any future railway station. This project involves the construction of two new access/egress routes using existing archways under the Coventry/Nuneaton railway line, between the Ricoh Arena and Arena Park. These new routes would also provide the pedestrian linkage between platforms for a new rail station subject to HM Railways Inspectorate approval. The estimated costs for work to the archways are £0.9m and are subject to change given that the extent of ground contamination will not be known until the work has commenced on site and the outcome of Network Rail's approval process is known. This may cause delay and increased cost to the project. The quantum of potential increased cost is difficult to quantify at this stage since much of this is due to the extent that contamination is an issue. This cannot be assessed until works have progressed.

Members are asked to note that officers have varied the contract with Tony Gee and Partners (Rail engineers/architects) for an additional £15k above the agreed contract price for additional work to assist the Council's negotiations with Network Rail. It is currently anticipated that this cost can be absorbed within the current budget as a result of negotiations aiming to reduce the overall contract price.

Regrettably, the project has had to forego a proportion (£0.3m) of the ERDF funding originally allocated to the project as a contribution towards the railway station construction costs, due to the Strategic Rail Authority/Department for Transport's 'turn around' regarding the railway station.

 

[Captain Dart]

Just checked train prices from Reading to arena station & its quoting £51.70 its only £19.60 to Cov station, so doubt I would use it

Must be one of those routes where it is cheaper to buy a ticket for each leg. Can't be more than £4 or £5 from Cov Station to Ricoh?

Overall it is a fiasco, as I understand it the line was subsidised by claiming certain passenger numbers for a Nuneaton-Coventry commute, that is what it is for, whether those numbers bare any resemblance to reality remains to be seen. Can't see the station at the Ricoh getting much use for commutes into Cov or Nuneaton, easier to get a bus on the Foleshill Rd to Cov & probably very limited numbers work at other end.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Just checked train prices from Reading to arena station & its quoting £51.70 its only £19.60 to Cov station, so doubt I would use it

You just buy separate tickets then

 

[skybluetony176]

Again that is about managing expectations. If thats the case they should have been making that clear. Say we're building it now or the grant goes and then when the line is upgraded there will be matchday services.

So what were your expectations for a project that was announced in 2013 was facing delays for various reasons and now won't be completed until 2017 at the earliest?

Mine wouldn't be for it to be completed and running at full capacity in the first month of 2016. But hey, maybe I'm the stupid one.

 

[torchomatic]

What didn't help though was a Councillor stating how great the station would be on match days despite being told by London Midland at inception that wouldn't be the case. I know you like to hold the council in almost holy reverence but they mislead the people of Coventry from the outset.

So what were your expectations for a project that was announced in 2013 was facing delays for various reasons and now won't be completed until 2017 at the earliest?

Mine wouldn't be for it to be completed and running at full capacity in the first month of 2016. But hey, maybe I'm the stupid one.

 

[skybluetony176]

What didn't help though was a Councillor stating how great the station would be on match days despite being told by London Midland at inception that wouldn't be the case. I know you like to hold the council in almost holy reverence but they mislead the people of Coventry from the outset.

So it's been said that there never be any trains ever on match days? Last I heard it would when electrification has been completed and electric rolling stock can then be used. Has that changed? Is that what you're saying?

 

[Grendel]

So it's been said that there never be any trains ever on match days? Last I heard it would when electrification has been completed and electric rolling stock can then be used. Has that changed? Is that what you're saying?

Yep.

National rail are scheduled to do some work around 2017 2018 but no confirmation this will include electrification.

To accommodate several trains a new platform is needed

Diesel stock is still the most likely route to make it happen

Despite "shortage" of diesel stock some are available but the council cannot contribute funding

Up to ACL to charter some diesel trains by purchasing available stock (though of course none are available)

 

[chiefdave]

So what were your expectations for a project that was announced in 2013 was facing delays for various reasons and now won't be completed until 2017 at the earliest?

London Midland say they told the council right at the start there would be no additional trains available to run a matchday service so why did the council keep going on about how great it would be for CCFC and Wasps when the station opened? Even last year they were still talking about people who had been to matches being able to use the train.

If they had said in 2013 there wouldn't be a matchday service, hopefully there might be in the future, then fair enough but they didn't.

Once again the council have either deliberately been untruthful or, if you're being charitable, have been incompetent.

 

[torchomatic]

No, read the quote from the Councillor. How does that read to you? Would you read that as the station would be available from match days when it opened or we'd have to wait another three years after completion?

So it's been said that there never be any trains ever on match days? Last I heard it would when electrification has been completed and electric rolling stock can then be used. Has that changed? Is that what you're saying?

 

[Gazolba]

If they pull it out of the bag then fair play to them.

I don't think they make bags that big.

 

[Grendel]

But hey, maybe I'm the stupid one.

Maybe? There's some doubt?

 

[TheParsonsHose]

What a waste of time the whole station has turned out to be!

Who do you blame and who should we boo?

 

[The Reverend Skyblue]

This whole situation can only be described as one all mighty fuck up

 

[ccfc1234]

Are we saying the station that cost the taxpayer millions is far from fit for purpose with months of opening?
When you have a huge sporting arena and 2 teams using it even a total cretin could work out it might just come in handy and be used by the fans!! Sack them all

 

[dadgad]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't there funding for the station's both at the Ricoh and Bermuda by way of grants and both CCC and N&BBC were both faced with the choice of build and use the grants by a certain point in time or lose it? Meaning that either the stations wouldn't have got built or they would have been built fully at the expense of the local rate payer?

Correct, not that some on here want to accept this as it is "all the Council's fault" apparently. :facepalm:

 

[skybluejelly]

Maybe we could change the words in "in our coventry homes " to if you want a station we've got one to spare


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Grendel]

Unless you know different when the upgrades are completed that's still the plan as far as I'm aware. Has something changed on that front?

The council have confirmed there is no guarantee that the line will be electrified or that the London Midland will be able to ever schedule enough trains without a fifth platform.

They acknowledge that for it to work it is more than likely to be diesel rolling stock

Whose fault is it again?

 

[Grendel]

People should understand that the funding for this was EU, nothing to do with Local Govt or CCC.
Elf an safety will determine whether it is safe to use on match days which will be partly due to no. Of trains per hour, no of carriages, etc. These are variables and likely to improve over time.

Er no. The funding is from the department of transport (over £4 million), Centro, CCC and WCC as well as a European grant.

 

[Astute]

The council have confirmed there is no guarantee that the line will be electrified or that the London Midland will be able to ever schedule enough trains without a fifth platform.

They acknowledge that for it to work it is more than likely to be diesel rolling stock

Whose fault is it again?

So you are saying that it is the fault of CCC if the line doesn't get electrified and their fault what London Midland can manage to do?

There are more lines that were getting electrified....including where I live. It is also on hold. Damned you CCC.

So are you saying that the station shouldn't have been built in case plans elsewhere changed? Or is it just your normal CCC rant.

It was cold here last night. There are roads blocked nearby in the lakes because of snow. And that is on top of the roads closed because of the damage done by the flooding we had. I bet you wish you could think of a reason to blame CCC for it.

 

[fernandopartridge]

So it's been said that there never be any trains ever on match days? Last I heard it would when electrification has been completed and electric rolling stock can then be used. Has that changed? Is that what you're saying?

Don't try and be clever, Tony. The council were either incredibly naive or were misleading people for a PR opportunity.

 

[italiahorse]

So the line will be running in the next few days and the only problem is capacity on match days because of lack of carriages ?
Nothing to stop other teams putting on a special train. Like JH used to do.

I won't be using it myself but I guess those complaining will be.
Unless of course its just a moan at the council.