Why do stations cost so much to build?

[furnessvale]

Under BR though, everyone was pulling in the same direction.

Were they? Not my experience of BR in the 1960s/70s.

 

[Railsigns]

Were they? Not my experience of BR in the 1960s/70s.

They generally did in my experience of BR in the 1980s and 1990s.

 

[Dr Hoo]

They generally did in my experience of BR in the 1980s and 1990s.

I wish that I could agree but sadly the tensions persisted right up until the very end, in 'sector' days.

I was the sponsor within a Regional Railways profit centre for a modest bit of work to bring a few yards of disused platform back into use for longer multiple units. As the station was on an Intercity 'owned' route they had to do the work even though no Intercity trains called there. We were quoted £4,000 and the local authority agreed to pay.

Work commenced and was due to be completed before a timetable change. The local authority head of transport kindly agreed to travel on the first lengthened service and duly inaugurate it.

We rolled up early one morning and the big man alighted onto an unfenced building site where a workman with a whacker plate nearly crushed his foot. "What the ****ing hell are you doing" was cheery welcome. "I've come to open the ****ing station, why isn't it ****ing well ready" was the swift reposte.

Fortunately the invited reporter and photographer from the local paper had failed to turn up and capture the moment.

After the work was finally completed, late, Intercity kindly debited us with a £40,000 bill, ten times the original estimate, citing unspecified difficulties.

 

[Mikey C]

Nor would the M6 through the Lune Gorge I hope?

Or indeed the railway line...

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Or indeed the railway line...

I know I am biased but it is obvious which has caused more blight on the landscape - and the railway was there 100 years earlier

 

[InOban]

There was a similar outcry 150+ years ago when these lines were being built through our 'romantic wilderness' landscapes. Wordsworth was a particular opponent, I think. Now these same lines are treasured parts of scenery.

Just as people object to windfarms while accepting the concrete dams built by a previous generation.

 

[DarloRich]

After the work was finally completed, late, Intercity kindly debited us with a £40,000 bill, ten times the original estimate, citing unspecified difficulties.

ahhhhhhhh - the "unspecified difficulties" aka sorry we only quoted you for materials and forgot the labour