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Shepherd's Bush WLL
On 12 Oct, 13:43, Mwmbwls wrote:
On Oct 10, 7:56 am, James Farrar wrote: The new issue of Private Eye, out today, has the following interesting section on the much-delayed Shepherd's Bush WLL station: Further detail from today's Evening Standard http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...-details/New+r... quote New railway station over budget...and undersized Katharine Barney, Evening Standard 12.10.07 A new rail station needs millions of pounds worth of extra work - because the platform is 18 inches too narrow. The Standard has at least managed to talk of platform width, as opposed to Private Eye talking of platform length. However I'm certain that this Evening Standard article was completely inspired by the piece in the Eye. The various news organisations that are supposed to cover London (BBC London, ITN's ITV London news division, Associated/Evening Standard and News Int'l's thelondonpaper) have done a really bad job in failing to ask any questions, up until now, about this new station and why it's opening kept on being delayed. James Farrar's post, with a transcription of the Eye article, was the first I'd heard about this apparent muck-up about platform length (though on a seperate uk.railway thread Paul Scott reports that this was being discussed a few weeks ago on the RailwayScene internet forum). The Shepherd's Bush station was built in preparation for the massive shopping complex Westfield London, which will open next year. The work cost £12 million but only when it was finished did developer Westfield realise the station would be unable to cope with the anticipated volume of passengers. Lampposts had been installed and signs put up before it was discovered the width of the platform posed a safety risk. Now a wall will have to be knocked down so the western platform can be widened - at a cost to the developer of another £7 million. A source close to the development claimed planners had not taken into account the number of passengers changing between the mainline station and the Tube. This sounds like a bit of spin to cover up the fact that the platform was seemingly built too narrow and hence doesn't comply with the regulations. Can anyone provide some more information here - does the platform width regulations vary according to projected usage? Or is the platform as is simply too narrow, regardless of the projected usage? Workers also built the eastern platform wall in the wrong place. Have they - can anyone elaborate on what the problems are with the eastern platform? The blunders have angered passengers on the route, which links Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction. Mark Balaam, chairman of the West London Line Group, said: [...] "Our hope is that the Mayor will arrange for Transport for London to open this station as soon as possible, ideally within the first few weeks of the start of the new London Overground network next month." I'd suggest it'd be highly unlikely for the non-regulation compliant station to open anytime soon Mark! I think things will need to be fixed first. Although the station was designed and funded by Westfield, Capita Symonds was employed as project manager. It liaised with Network Rail, the train operating companies and other stakeholders and provided an on-site engineer to supervise the construction work. The company refused to comment. Yeah, I wonder why! This appears to be a masterclass in how not to manage a project. A spokesman for Network Rail said: "On any project of this size, it is sometimes necessary to revisit original designs and in this case it has been necessary to carry out further work to look at the projected numbers of passengers using the station and redesigning the platforms accordingly." "We are working with the developer to address the situation in order to see the station in use as soon as possible." Which just sounds like a load of waffle! The questions I posed above, with regards to whether the platform width regulations vary according to projected usage, stand. |
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