Kenilworth Station Opening Delayed.

[scouseyb123]

Hello all does anyone know what the latest is on the reopening of this station? News seems to be quiet at the moment!

On a side note what services are expected to serve this station?

Thanks!

 

[HLE]

If the situation with the new Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park stations are anything to go by then don't expect to board your first train at Kenilworth anytime soon. Soon being the next 3-4 years.

Only this week a fencing contractor was on site at the arena with a couple of guys holding caulk guns and seemingly applying it to the foot of the crash barriers ...why is anyone's guess. it does seem the council are doing these things to deliberately delay the opening.
It's the same at Bermuda with Warwickshire council .....who will be managing the Kenilworth project I would imagine?

It's all gone quiet lately on both projects......with two new completed stations gathering dust.

ill hazard a guess that Kenilworth won't start construction until 2017-18 and that it won't be open until near 2020

 

[The Planner]

Still due 2017 last I heard. LM only serving it, if they can find the stock like Arena and Bermuda Park. There is a thread about it elsewhere somewhere.

 

[Class 170101]

Still due 2017 last I heard. LM only serving it, if they can find the stock like Arena and Bermuda Park. There is a thread about it elsewhere somewhere.

To my mind either stock released from Walsall to Rugeley wiring or by through working to / from either Shrewsbury / Hereford / Nuneaton and yes I am aware of issues raised previously regarding crossing Coventry.

 

[BantamMenace]

To my mind either stock released from Walsall to Rugeley wiring or by through working to / from either Shrewsbury / Hereford / Nuneaton and yes I am aware of issues raised previously regarding crossing Coventry.

More long term but doesnt Electric Spine including wiring Leamington to Cov? Therefore just extend Coventry stoppers to Leamington via Kenilworth.

(may need double tracking throughout)

 

[Class 170101]

More long term but doesnt Electric Spine including wiring Leamington to Cov? Therefore just extend Coventry stoppers to Leamington via Kenilworth.

(may need double tracking throughout)

Except there doesn't appear to many terminators from New Street anymore looking at RTT for today.

 

[The Planner]

More long term but doesnt Electric Spine including wiring Leamington to Cov? Therefore just extend Coventry stoppers to Leamington via Kenilworth.

(may need double tracking throughout)

That is one of the ideas, but you need to either re-jig the Cov corridor a bit or LM lose a Euston service, which I doubt they will take kindly to. It doesn't need full double track and we are progressing a scheme for redoubling Kenilworth to Milverton.

 

[james60059]

Not 100% sure on this but wasn't a section between Coventry and Kenilworth always single track, even back in steam day?

 

[Senex]

Not 100% sure on this but wasn't a section between Coventry and Kenilworth always single track, even back in steam day?

Yes -- essentially it's the section containing Kenilworth Viaduct that was never double. Coventry to Gibbet Hill (I think that was the name) and Kenilworth Jn to Leamington were double, as was Berkswell to Kenilworth Jn.

 

[The Planner]

The Viaduct has the loop on it? It was the section north of there to Gibbet Hill that was single.

 

[Senex]

The Viaduct has the loop on it? It was the section north of there to Gibbet Hill that was single.

Surely the loop ends immediately south of Common Lane bridge, where the former junction SB used to be? Have I got the name of the viaduct wrong -- I mean the one about 400 yards north of that point? I'd always assumed that this little bit of line had not been doubled because of the presence of the viaduct, which would have pushed the cost of the job up considerably.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
ADD (edited): The correct name of the viaduct appears to be the Millburn Viaduct, and it seems that a number of the arches have been filled in by edxtension of the approach embankment(s) since it was built.

 

[HowardGWR]

Isn't there an opportunity to sort this once and for all in conjunction with the HS2 cross over? I can't believe the doubling won't be needed sooner or later.

 

[The Planner]

HS2 will provide a twin track bridge with an empty deck fro the second track, there is nothing that requires the whole route to be doubled yet though, only from Kenilworth to Milverton.

 

[Class 170101]

HS2 will provide a twin track bridge with an empty deck fro the second track, there is nothing that requires the whole route to be doubled yet though, only from Kenilworth to Milverton.

Seems bizarre. One would think with the whole line under possession it would be just as easy to do the lot at the first attempt.

 

[The Planner]

If we cant find a need to redouble the lot or pay for it then it wont get done, especially with the situation NR are in now.

 

[MarkRedon]

... especially with the situation NR are in now.

With the benefit of 20:20 hindsight, BR would never have carried out all the rationalisations it did in the 1980s. But without BR's grasp of then politics and then realities, Serpell http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Serpell_Report might have been enacted and we would have almost nothing left to talk about. Gold-plated engineering is unaffordable and wasteful. It is nice that HS2 will pay for the wider bridge that we all hope will one day prove to be necessary . We had better hope and work for an affordable HS2 and a cost-effective NUCKLE...

 

[Class 170101]

If we cant find a need to redouble the lot or pay for it then it wont get done, especially with the situation NR are in now.

I am surprised a capacity need cannot be found for it, the lack money to pay for it however I can understand.

 

[The Planner]

You dont need it for Kenilworth station, so it is for anything on top like the mythical second XC path.

 

[HLE]

With the benefit of 20:20 hindsight, BR would never have carried out all the rationalisations it did in the 1980s. But without BR's grasp of then politics and then realities, Serpell http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Serpell_Report might have been enacted and we would have almost nothing left to talk about. Gold-plated engineering is unaffordable and wasteful. It is nice that HS2 will pay for the wider bridge that we all hope will one day prove to be necessary . We had better hope and work for an affordable HS2 and a cost-effective KNUCKLE...

Cost effective knuckle? You're right we can but hope.

The projects already been scaled back...and with two new stations that cost a fair few £m just lying there at the minute gathering dust, hardly cost effective....

I'd like to see Kenilworth station back on the map, but if it's the same numpties managing the project that have managed the Arena and Bermuda station then expect;

a) the project to not even start before the estimated given completion date (Dec 16?)

b) the building works to commence and then suffer 'unexpected delays'

c) the station to be completed ......then left to gather dust for a few months.

d) train crew and public to be left in the dark once it comes to opening time.


I'll bet that Kenilworth station won't be open until at least 2018. But even paddy power wouldn't give decent odds.

Of course it would be great if it opened by December 2016, just be wary of what's happened with the other parts of the project.....

 

[Trog]

I have read that the single track section was a deliberate choke on capacity by the LNWR, as it gave them a reason to keep the GWR away from the Coventry coal traffic. Running powers into Coventry? Sorry mate no spare capacity.

 

[Senex]

I have read that the single track section was a deliberate choke on capacity by the LNWR, as it gave them a reason to keep the GWR away from the Coventry coal traffic. Running powers into Coventry? Sorry mate no spare capacity.

I don't think I buy that. Running powers generally involved some sort of deal, and what would the GW have had to offer in exchange for powers into Coventry? As for the parliamentary powers that would have been needed for doubling, I can't see that the GW would have had any standing to object.

 

[OwlMan]

Looks like August 2017 will be the earliest

Kenilworth Station’s opening could be delayed until August 2017, according to the Deputy Leader of Warwickshire County Council, Alan Cockburn.
The news confirms Kenilworth Lib Dem county councillor John Whitehouse’s belief that the station was unlikely to be finished by the expected date of December 2016. Cllr Cockburn (Con, Kenilworth St John’s) explained the delays were down to the Department for Transport (DfT) and Network Rail insisting Warwickshire County Council (WCC) await the publication of the Hendy Report, which recommended changes to how the Government should upgrade in the country’s rail network. He added: “The Hendy Report has now been published and includes the infrastructure required to provide a rail service to Kenilworth Station.
“Some discussions are still ongoing but we are reasonably confident that the construction contract will be signed in mid-March with a completion date of March 2017. Network Rail anticipate that the track and signalling works at Kenilworth and at Leamington will be completed in April 2017.
“The contractual date for the availability of the rolling stock is August 2017, but all the parties have agreed to use their best endeavours to bring that date forward.”
Work on the station was expected to start in late 2015. Planning permission to start work on reopening the station was granted in 2011, but funding for the work was initially refused by WCC. The DfT announced a new fund to construct or renovate stations in 2013, and WCC applied for a £5 million grant. It was awarded to the council in June of that year, with the total cost of the project being £12.1 million.

see: http://www.kenilworthweeklynews.co....-could-be-delayed-until-august-2017-1-7198175

 

[HLE]

Typical Warwickshire County Council blaming somebody else.

 

[The Planner]

To be fair, they are right though.

 

[james60059]

From the Leamington Observer.

https://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/news/opening-of-new-kenilworth-railway-station-delayed/

THE FIRST train leaving Kenilworth Station has been delayed. The new £12million station, initially providing a shuttle service between Coventry and Leamington, had been set to open in August but has had to be put back due to track and signalling work delays. It is now set to open on December 10.
The Department for Transport’s New Station Fund is contributing £5million to the total £12million cost of the Kenilworth Station project, with the remainder of the funding being provided by local transport bodies and Warwickshire County Council...

Slightly off-topic, and also in the LO, another article suggests Kenilworth having a 30 minute frequency would make it a success with a suggestion that CrossCountry's Manchester - Bournemouth services could call as well.

https://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/news/kenilworth-station-will-need-more-stops/

KENILWORTH railway station will need more regular stops than already planned to make it a success.
Fraser Pithie, a freelance railway writer, has suggested Kenilworth will need a 30-minute frequency service for the full potential of the new station to be achieved.
Current plans for the station, set to open late next year, are for an hour shuttle service between Coventry and Leamington....

Cheers,

James

 

[Senex]

From the Leamington Observer.

https://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/news/opening-of-new-kenilworth-railway-station-delayed/

Slightly off-topic, and also in the LO, another article suggests Kenilworth having a 30 minute frequency would make it a success with a suggestion that CrossCountry's Manchester - Bournemouth services could call as well.

https://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/news/kenilworth-station-will-need-more-stops/

Cheers,

James

The classic local argument: give us a better service by slowing down an already slow long-distance service with an extra stop, and by putting short-distance local traffic on to what should be a main-line inter-city service.

 

[The Planner]

Not surprised in the least. I would put money on it being touch and go for the Dec 17 timetable. XC wont stop there unless forced to.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Will the new station site be in a different location to the closed station?

 

[The Planner]

No, same place.

Ha, just read the piece on the link, Martin Frobisher is the route director not programme. Not sure why anyone expected it to be ready before the Dec timetable change anyway. Still waiting to see what LM rob the 153 from to run it.

 

[HLE]

I reckon they intended (LM) to use one of the four cascaded 153's from GWR when the 150's were meant to go off lease (wasn't it meant to have been soon)