Place Norton Winter 2018 Due to open | Grid reference SO890508 Number of platforms 3 | |
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Similar Thornhill (Dumfries) railway st, Marsh Barton railway st, Chipping Sodbury railway st, Long Ashton railway st | ||
Worcestershire Parkway Regional Interchange is a proposed new railway station to be built at a rural junction where the Cotswold and Cross Country lines cross near Norton, Worcester, England. A new station on this site was first suggested in the 1970s, but it was rejected because of cost, estimated in 2015 to be £22 million.
Contents
Key Priorities
Funding
Worcestershire County Council set aside £3 million for park and ride facilities at the station in 2007, while in June 2008 it was announced that the station was unlikely to be built for many years. Following this, in October 2008 an e-petition was set up on the No 10 website calling for a Worcestershire Parkway.
The Third Worcestershire Local Transport Plan (LTP3) cites Worcestershire Parkway Regional Interchange as the top transport priority for Worcestershire. It is also listed in the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy as a Sub Regional Priority, and features in Policy T6 - Strategic Park and Ride. Worcestershire County Council is currently coordinating the development of the business case. An outline business case was developed by Laing Rail in March 2006, which concluded in favour of the development of Worcestershire Parkway Regional Interchange. The revised business case was submitted to the Department for Transport's Rail Office, who gave their formal support to the project in 2012.
In February 2013, Worcestershire County Council submitted a bid to the Network Rail managed New Stations Fund for £7 million to fund the first phase of development of Worcestershire Parkway. This application was turned down in July 2013.
In July 2014 the station was given funding as part of a government infrastructure fund distributed to local enterprise partnerships. The leader or Worcestershire County Council has said that he hopes the project will be completed by 2017.
Progress
New artist impressions were released on 9 February 2015 and the council have said that planning application has been submitted, with a decision due to have been made during the summer of 2015. If all goes to schedule work was due to have begun by the spring of 2016 and the station was on track to open in summer 2017, the county council said.
On 21 February 2015 Worcestershire County Council advertised for contractors for the construction of the railway station to include platforms, station building, passenger footbridge and lifts with a commencement date of late September 2015 with completion in May 2017. On 25 August 2015 planning permission was granted, with work expected to have started in 2016.
A potential legal battle between Worcester County Council and Norton Parkway Developments, who currently own the land, started in 2016. Norton Parkway Developments has refused to hand over the land to the council as they feel that they are in a position to complete the development themselves.
In January 2017, WCC's plans for Worcestershire Parkway were approved by the DfT. The council can now formally award a contract for the construction of the station. Construction due to start Autumn 2017. The station will open in Winter 2018/19.
On 21 February 2017, Worcestershire County Council appointed Buckingham Group Contracting to develop the site as part of a design and build deal. They are now finalising design plans, preparing the land for construction which will commence in September 2017. Site clearance is underway.
Construction Phases
Phase 1 involves building a platform on the Cotswold Line, a station building, interchange facilities, a 300 space car park, highway access and infrastructure for phase 2 construction. The station will then be served by Worcester - Oxford/London services, the aim is also to run trains to get to London in 2 hours or less.
Phase 2 involves building two new platforms on the Birmingham - Bristol Main Line and on top of that an additional 200 car parking places. The station will then be served by all Nottingham - Cardiff services. Phase 2 will provide a new footbridge on the Birmingham - Bristol main line to replace an existing footpath crossing.
Phase 3 will involve getting additional Cross-Country trains to call at the station.
Concerns
Concerns were raised that the construction of Worcester Parkway would reduce services at Worcester Foregate Street. However, reduced services to Foregate Street and other stations have been rejected by Councillor Simon Geraghty "There has been no risk identified by Network Rail to existing railway stations."