Abergavenny - New Footbridge

[Envoy]

I see that Network Rail are going to install a new footbridge with lifts at Abergavenny.

Is any action going to be taken to improve access from the east side = A465? Abergavenny station has limited parking and people are using lay-bys on the A465 for P&R. They have to scramble down a slope in order to reach the old footbridge and hence the platforms. It seems to me that a proper parking area is needed on the east side (A465) for these people along with a proper link to the new footbridge.

My 2 photos below show the ‘pathway’ that people are using from the lay-bys to the station.

 

[Llanigraham]

You would need to talk to Powys CC to get that footpath "improved" .

 

[416GSi]

You would need to talk to Powys CC to get that footpath "improved" .

It's in Monmouthshire, so I'm guessing Powys aren't going to do anything!.

With all seriousness, the challenge is that much of what is a public footpath is on railway land, but there is a small part which is owned and managed by the Monmouthshire CC. I doubt that Network Rail would want to improve this path, as potentially they could lose car parking revenue from Abergavenny station car park. Monmouthshire CC are on record that they don't want to encourage the use of the A465's emergency lay-by as a car park.

My conjecture is that the only reason this path is still open is that it's a public right away. Given the vested interests of the landowners I doubt that they're going to do anything about this path unless they have to.

 

[John R]

How much of the cause is people being unable to park in the car park, and how much due to them wishing to avoid the charges? If the latter then I would have thought some type of parking restriction on the lay-bys would be sensible, especially if they are not designed for long term use.

 

[Envoy]

Well, if they don’t make it easy to park on the east side and get to the platforms, then people will just stay in their cars and drive to Newport, Cardiff, Hereford or wherever and the railway won’t get their revenue.

I presume that most of the people using these lay-bys as parking for transfer to trains are from villages along the A465 towards Hereford and places east of Abergavenny. If they have got the extra hassle of driving around to the main station car park and then finding it full, they simply ain’t going to bother with rail travel.

Some heads need banging together at Network Rail, TfW and Monmouthshire Council. Do you want people to transfer to the trains or not? I should also add that a bus stop on the A465 at this location would be a good idea in order to make public transport easier for people in this area.

 

[John R]

Well, if they don’t make it easy to park on the east side and get to the platforms, then people will just stay in their cars and drive to Newport, Cardiff, Hereford or wherever and the railway won’t get their revenue.

I presume that most of the people using these lay-bys as parking for transfer to trains are from villages along the A465 towards Hereford and places east of Abergavenny. If they have got the extra hassle of driving around to the main station car park and then finding it full, they simply ain’t going to bother with rail travel.

Some heads need banging together at Network Rail, TfW and Monmouthshire Council. Do you want people to transfer to the trains or not? I should also add that a bus stop on the A465 at this location would be a good idea in order to make public transport easier for people in this area.

I do, but I note you “presume” and haven’t answered the question as to what is the primary motivation for parking there. Many areas close to charged for station parking suffer from parking issues due to people trying to avoid paying, although typically it’s residential areas that suffer.

Lay-bys on a major trunk route don’t sound as though they should be used for commuter parking, as presumably they are not then available to meet their intended purpose if full of cars parked there all day.

 

[Envoy]

I do, but I note you “presume” and haven’t answered the question as to what is the primary motivation for parking there. Many areas close to charged for station parking suffer from parking issues due to people trying to avoid paying, although typically it’s residential areas that suffer.

Lay-bys on a major trunk route don’t sound as though they should be used for commuter parking, as presumably they are not then available to meet their intended purpose if full of cars parked there all day.

Look at it on Google Maps. It is blatantly obvious why people living east of Abergavenny would choose to park in the lay-bys rather than drive all the way around to the official station car park - which may well be full and is up some back streets.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[rcro]

That’s a reasonably good footpath. Far from a “scramble”.

Most of the people I know that use the laybys are actually from East Monmouthshire going north long distance, though I won’t deny the convenience for those coming down the A465.

This thread feels like it’s all based on assumptions of who uses the trains, who uses the laybys, who uses the footbridge, and what the actual plans for replacing the footbridge actually are - beyond that there will be lifts. Not a lot based on fact, so in that absence I guess the answer to original question is “no”

 

[56xx]

I used to regularly catch an early northbound train from Abergavenny driving from Dowlais and finding nowhere to park in the Station Car Park.

Missed a few trains trying to find somewhere to park and then I thought, what are all those cars doing in the lay by on the northbound A465 to Hereford. It wasn't long before I gave up on the car park and used the lay by.

The car park has been extended but is totally inadequate for the potential and current users.

 

[Envoy]

56xx above proves my point that the current car park is inadequate and inconvenient for many people. I also note that 56xx is from Dowlais and obviously uses this station as it is the nearest railway for travel north up The Marches.

56xx also only discovered why all the cars were in the lay-bys on the A465 by searching it out and investigating. Just think how many more people could be attracted to use Abergavenny station if a decent car park with signage were built by the A465 at this location? Buses could also stop at this location and thus give direct access to the station - something they don’t do at present on the west side where they stay on the A40.

They have built a new P&R coming directly off the A4042 at Pontypool & New Inn station. That’s what is also needed at Abergavenny.

South Wales Argos reports the building of the new footbridge at Abergavenny. I think it would blend in better with the Victorian station building if the new bridge was painted in the same sandstone colour rather than grey. Goodness knows why we have this fad that everything has to be grey these days?

LOOK: New design for long-awaited railway station footbridge revealed

DESIGNS for a new footbridge at a railway station where wheelchair users currently have to be pushed across the tracks have been unveiled.

www.southwalesargus.co.uk

"DESIGNS for a new footbridge at a railway station where wheelchair users currently have to be pushed across the tracks have been unveiled".

 

[Llanigraham]

It's in Monmouthshire, so I'm guessing Powys aren't going to do anything!.

With all seriousness, the challenge is that much of what is a public footpath is on railway land, but there is a small part which is owned and managed by the Monmouthshire CC. I doubt that Network Rail would want to improve this path, as potentially they could lose car parking revenue from Abergavenny station car park. Monmouthshire CC are on record that they don't want to encourage the use of the A465's emergency lay-by as a car park.

My conjecture is that the only reason this path is still open is that it's a public right away. Given the vested interests of the landowners I doubt that they're going to do anything about this path unless they have to.

Never sure exactly where the boundary lies there!
Sorry.

 

[Envoy]

It’s all within Monmouthshire.

 

[Lucan]

It is blatantly obvious why people living east of Abergavenny would choose to park in the lay-bys rather than drive all the way around to the official station car park - which may well be full and is up some back streets.

I used to use this station, driving in from the A40 east, and was never aware of this layby. I can't imaging that a very high proportion of people approach the station from the A465 direction, it is quite empty countryside that way. It is not far round between the layby and the station car park (< 1 mile?) and on quite open roads, the only pain being the roundabouts at the south end. The only "back street" is Station Road itself.

Just think how many more people could be attracted to use Abergavenny station if a decent car park with signage were built by the A465 at this location?

Looks like it is in green belt land. But there does look like there is some low value property on the west side around the car park that could be bought up, and some disused(?) sidings to the south of the station, to add to the existiing one