Shrop
Established Member
- Joined
- 6 Aug 2019
- Messages
- 1,350
While out walking today I passed Yorton station and noted that the northbound platform is temporarily closed, which made me wonder what is being done to assist passengers during the closure period.
By way of background, Yorton is a lightly used station in Shropshire, sufficiently so that all trains are request only. For a period of over a month (18 Nov to 20 Dec) the northbound platform is closed for the purpose of installing a more "accessible" platform. Trains run (roughly) every two hours between 05.37 and 00.20, and catering for passengers is by providing a replacement coach between Yorton and Wem. Northbound passengers joining at Yorton are directed to use the coach to Wem and join the train there, while alighting passengers need to travel through to Wem, and then board the coach back to Yorton. A couple of things about this situation seem a little troubling, and I wonder if anyone could shed any light on them?
1. This is now the end of Day 10 since the work started, but so far as I can see there is no reason why the platform couldn't have stayed in use for the last 10 days. The photo shows the platform at 4.00pm today, I wonder what is the reason why its needed to be out of use for the last 10 days?
2. I don't know what is the cost of hiring a coach for a day to cover the period of at least 19 hours a day, but if the platform could have been used for the last 10 days, that must be a sizeable unnecessary outlay?
3. Unless I missed something, I couldn't see anything at the station telling passengers that the coach to Wem departs 15 minutes earlier than the train they might have been wanting to catch. This could potentially be very inconvenient for anyone who just misses the replacement coach, especially if they had taken the trouble to look at the available information at the station a day or two earlier.
By way of background, Yorton is a lightly used station in Shropshire, sufficiently so that all trains are request only. For a period of over a month (18 Nov to 20 Dec) the northbound platform is closed for the purpose of installing a more "accessible" platform. Trains run (roughly) every two hours between 05.37 and 00.20, and catering for passengers is by providing a replacement coach between Yorton and Wem. Northbound passengers joining at Yorton are directed to use the coach to Wem and join the train there, while alighting passengers need to travel through to Wem, and then board the coach back to Yorton. A couple of things about this situation seem a little troubling, and I wonder if anyone could shed any light on them?
1. This is now the end of Day 10 since the work started, but so far as I can see there is no reason why the platform couldn't have stayed in use for the last 10 days. The photo shows the platform at 4.00pm today, I wonder what is the reason why its needed to be out of use for the last 10 days?
2. I don't know what is the cost of hiring a coach for a day to cover the period of at least 19 hours a day, but if the platform could have been used for the last 10 days, that must be a sizeable unnecessary outlay?
3. Unless I missed something, I couldn't see anything at the station telling passengers that the coach to Wem departs 15 minutes earlier than the train they might have been wanting to catch. This could potentially be very inconvenient for anyone who just misses the replacement coach, especially if they had taken the trouble to look at the available information at the station a day or two earlier.