Last Friday it was good to be present at the official opening of the new station, after so many years of pressing Network Rail to build one. The new building will offer better facilities and provides a much more impressive gateway to the town than the old structure, which the railway kept well beyond its useful life.
The opening gave me the chance to talk to Network Rail again about the problems the level crossings create for movement around the town. The gates are down for too long a period each hour, especially during the peaks. The railway claims they cannot improve on it for safety reasons, yet observation suggests that the current safety margin is longer than needed, longer than in some other locations, and longer than it used to be in Wokingham. The best long term answer to the traffic chaos caused by the gates is a new road bridge, which the Council are now working on.
March 23, 2014
The new Station is certainly a vast improvement.
Thank you for your constant lobbying.
Let us hope that the new shelter on the platform to Reading can be extended to keep people dry.
Would have also been nice to have had a combined drop off/limited waiting area (10 mins) for collection of passengers, or when simply going to the Station to make an enquiry.
Why does the present drop off area not take the full width/length of a car rather, than the half baked situation which we have now of cars dropping off passengers blocking a single carriageway due to the one metre wide pull in.
The path is certainly more than large enough to cope with any footfall, so to reduce its width would not be a problem.
Such a simple solution, would make so much difference.
Or is a no waiting policy designed to raise more money through parking fees and camera fines the wish.
Reply I agree with your suggested improvements