Place Reading 2017 planned opening | Grid reference SU695702 Number of platforms 2 | |
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Local authority Similar Thornhill (Dumfries) railway st, Chipping Sodbury railway st, Marsh Barton railway st, Long Ashton railway st, Caerleon railway station | ||
Green Park railway station is a proposed railway station in Reading, Berkshire, England. The station is intended to serve the proposed Green Park Village residential development, the existing Green Park Business Park and the Madejski Stadium. It is planned to be on the Reading to Basingstoke Line, south of Southcote Junction. The station has planning permission from Reading Borough Council, is awaiting planning permission from West Berkshire Council and is intended to open in 2017.
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Proposals
Plans were announced in July 2007 and approved by the Office of Rail Regulation in March 2009. Building was originally expected to begin in early 2009, and be completed in early 2010. However, by late November 2010 building had not begun. Submissions were made to extend the planning permission for the station, which were due to expire in late 2010 and early 2011.
It was reported that the extended applications for planning consent contain a clause which, if approved, would ensure the developer of Green Park Village pays a premium of £4.26 million to find an alternative developer for the station if work has not begun on it within two years.
The station is expected to be served by stopping services operated by Great Western Railway between Reading and Basingstoke, with an expected frequency of two trains per hour in each direction. Additional services are expected to be provided on match days. The proposed station has two 5-car long canopied platforms and an interchange with the existing Green Park Park and Ride bus system.
Suspension
On 27 October 2011 the owners of the business park, Prupim, announced that plans for the station had been suspended after a local housing development project had been scaled down.
Resumption
On 3 December 2013 Reading Borough Council stated that it would re-submit planning proposals for the station in 2014. It was reported on 9 July 2014 that a £17 million Government investment in road and rail projects in Berkshire will include a sum for the station, enabling building work to start in 2015–16. In November 2014 the total investment was cited as £21.4 million, and that the station would cost £6.4 million.
In March 2015 this cost was revised to £8 million in planning submissions to Reading Borough Council. The first £6.4 million would be met by the local enterprise partnership and the remaining £1.6 million covered by Reading Borough Council. On 29 April 2015 the council's planning committee renewed planning permission for the station. It is planned to open in 2018, which should have coincided with electrification of the Reading – Basingstoke Line and introduction of new or refurbished trains. However, the electrification of the line is now not due to be started until after 2019.
The station is planned to be built in four phases, with its facilities expanding as the business park and residential development are built. Each phase will be built only when there is the required funding or demand.
Phase One will provide a station with two platforms, each long enough for a five-coach train, platform canopies and a footbridge. There will be an access road and shared cycle and footway to the station. The station will have two bus bays, a cycle hire hub and cycle parking with an unspecified number of spaces.
Phase Two would add a separate footpath to segregate pedestrians from cyclists, a rank for five taxis, and increase the number of bus bays from two to three.
Phase Three would add another section of access road, increase the number of bus bays to six and add a ground-level car park with 103 spaces. If enough funds were forthcoming soon enough, the project could proceed straight from Phase One to Phase Three.
Phase Four would add a 200-space four-storey car park and reduce the ground level car park to 42 spaces.
In July 2016 the Berkshire Local Transport Body (BLTB) awarded an additional £3m to the initial £6.4m contract for Green Park Station after a review concluded "a significant increase in the forecast passenger demand for the station in comparison to the calculations undertaken in 2013". The additional funding would be for additional shelters and improved ticketing facilities.
Proposed service
Great Western Railway Reading — Basingstoke local trains would serve the station. There are generally two trains per hour in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays, and one train per hour on Sundays. The proposed service was discussed at a meeting of Reading Borough Council's strategic environment, planning and transport committee on 24 November 2015. Concern was expressed that delay to the electrification of the railway line between Southcote Junction and Basingstoke could adversely affect the proposed train service.