On Mon, 2 Jun 2008 21:29:14 +0100, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

There is an interesting tale in the Alan Williams column in the current
Modern Railways. Apparently the NR plan for the rebuild of Effingham
Junction with one of these modular stations, supposedly using permitted
development rights, failed to gain the local planner's agreement down in
rural Surrey.

So the portakabins have disappeared from the car park, and the project has
been cancelled. Back to the above 'brand new' part of the above discussion,
perhaps if they have a modular metal clad footbridge and some prefab
buildings earmarked waiting in a warehouse somewhere, they're actually far
more likely to gain acceptance in a new build urban setting than a 150 yr
old rural setting?

Well I like the Alan Williams column in MR so it's usually the third
thing I read after the Editorial column and Uncle Roger. I think the
Effingham tale illustrates the lack of competence in NR (the planning
problems), the arrogance (one size fits all and you'll get it
eventually) and the lack of thought (one design solution). I
particularly liked the comment about how can maintenance costs be
reduced when no money has spent on the station in years.

I think the basic idea of modular stations is good if it saves money but
not when it delivers facilities that are not necessary (lifts compared
to ramps for mobility access), increase whole life costs for NR *and*
the operator and which are simply out of scale / sympathy. If TPE can
win awards for sympathetic station refurbishment and repair why on earth
can't NR take a similar cost effective approach at Effingham Junction?
I expect the Eff Junc story to run and run because NR have managed to
rouse a fair proportion of the local populace as well as a well known
critic and other relevant organisations. I'd call it an own goal and I
expect they'll end up having to compromise.

--
Paul C