Reading station upgrade completion date

[Railperf]

Does anyone know the date that the current station layout at Reading was completed and fully operational for traffic at current linespeeds?

 

[swt_passenger]

IIRC the main flyover routes opened Jan 2015, but speed restrictions were in place for most of that year while work continued track side, and the main and relief feeder routes were finished.

I think there was a Network Change Notice (NCN) at the time that dealt with the final line speeds becoming available; finding it on Network Rails useless website could take ages though...

PS. From another forum I found it was NCN Stage Q of the upgrade, to bring in the final line speeds through the station, that was supposed to have happened by early Sept 2015 (possibly after the August bank holiday). I can’t be sure of the exact dates.

 

[Mark J]

Despite the promises that more platforms and a flying junction would reduce the wait outside of the station for crossing trains and for platform availability, it still happens...

Was stuck on a train outside of Reading the weekend before last, waiting for "a platform to become available", err aren't there now nine through platforms?

 

[FGW_DID]

REDUCE being the operative word there, not eliminate!

 

[Railperf]

Despite the promises that more platforms and a flying junction would reduce the wait outside of the station for crossing trains and for platform availability, it still happens...

Was stuck on a train outside of Reading the weekend before last, waiting for "a platform to become available", err aren't there now nine through platforms?

The problem we now have is that the Class 800's are capable of running into Reading at several minutes faster than the scheduled journey times - but with headway to the train in front of only 3 minutes. Trains are catching each other up, and there doesn't seem to be any operational flexibility to resolve it. Hopefully the revised timetable - most likely in 2019 - will address this issue. Probably the timetable cannot be realistically introduced until there is an all 800/ 387 fleet. Presently 90mph turbos are being sent down the main line - reducing capacity.