Welcome and introduction

Thank you for visiting the TAG blog site.

With the exception of this introduction and the sketch map of the railway triangle of land, the posts in this blog are arranged chronologically.


The TAG Group hope that you will be convinced of the need to protect at least the north east side of the triangle area of land for future rail use as a mainline station serving the key areas of South Wales, Bristol and Birmingham.

Sketch map of one possible new station site within the triangle

Letter to The Citizen, 31 October 2011

 

TO THE EDITOR (letters page) GLOUCESTER CITIZEN

                                                                                                  31 October 2011

The citizens of Gloucester have been let down by the MP, Gloucester County Council and Gloucester City Council by not promoting Gloucester as a tourist destination. Gloucester is the capital city of Gloucestershire with 110,000 population but it is only served as a branch line on a north/south route.

When Virgin Railway decided to abandon Gloucester as a main line station people were forced to extend their journey time, an example being—going north you have to leave Gloucester at 0601hrs to connect with the 0712hrs Cross Country service at Cheltenham. There are many other instances North and South where passengers have a long wait at Cheltenham. First Great Western is the exception with their service from Gloucester to London.

As it is now possible for MPs to debate on an electronic survey, the citizens of Gloucester should be listened to as well.

Our MP, Gloucestershire County Council and Gloucester City Council should take note of the public opinion that there is a demand for a better rail service north/ south for the citizens of this city.

If a rail station was built on the triangle the city would be well served in all directions. Network Rail have pulled the wool over the aforementioned authorities eyes by stating there was insufficient running time to serve passengers when it is a fact that there is allotted recovery time (spare time) at Bristol Temple Meads and Birmingham New Street. Also trains are diverted via Wakefield and Leeds incorporating additional running time.

As ex train drivers with over 85 years' experience in total on the railway it is obvious to us that Gloucester could have a far better train service than it has now.

INCIDENTLY, HAS ANYONE THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO HAVE A SUPERMARKET (IF WE MUST) AND A STATION ON THE TRIANGLE.

Colin Rosser

David Bush

Gloucester

Letter to The Citizen, 30 October 2011

                                                                                            30  October   2011
Mr Ian Mean,
The Editor,
The Citizen,
6 – 8 The Oxebode,
Gloucester
GL4 1RZ.


Dear Mr Mean,


Let us go ahead with a Citizen campaign for a new railway station


I write in support of John Allison (The Citizen, Oct 28) advocating a Citizen led campaign to have a new railway station built within the railway triangle.  Your newspaper has championed many excellent causes, and I would suggest that the need for a new station now deserves such attention.

As Mr Eeles (The Citizen, Oct 27) points out, although there are welcome improvements being done to our existing station, it does not alter the fact that the station is not on the mainline route for Birmingham - Bristol trains.    Gloucester is therefore a sideline station.

Gloucester’s city planners and its councillors are about to face extremely important decisions with regards to the triangle’s development. If the current planning proposals are agreed, we would see the building of retail units in the north east side of the triangle which would foreclose any possibility to construct a new mainline station serving direct trains north and south. The planning application should therefore be rejected.

The cost of a new station at, say, £30 million would be about a quarter of the annual revenue brought in by tourists. The additional tourists would generate far more income for the city than a supermarket. A new station would also serve the expected future expansion of populations around Quedgeley and Churchdown.   More details can be found on http://glosrailway.blogspot.com/

A Citizen led campaign would take the case from the people of Gloucester to Government and Network Rail to advance the very justifiable case that our city, as the county capital, should have the mainline station it rightly deserves.


Yours sincerely,

Nick Edwards


Copies:-
Cllr Paul James, Leader of the Conservative Group and Leader of the Council, Gloucester City Council

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, Gloucester City Council

Cllr Kate Haigh, Leader of the Labour Group, Gloucester City Council

Letter to The Citizen, 26 October 2011

---

From: John Allison
Sent: 26 October 2011 11:57
To: ' citizenletters@glosmedia.co.uk '
Subject: The new railway station.

Ian Mean Esq,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               25/10/11

Dear Mr Mean,

                           Firstly I would like to thank you for your excellent support and campaign to have the docks and the canal properly dredged. To me it is very important on a personal note in that my great grandfather who was a shipwright came to Gloucester docks from Monkwearmouth near Sunderland between 1851-1861 with Messrs Pickersgill and Miller. The reason being the Canal Company at Gloucester were having  problems  and needed the skills for an efficient ship-repairing  service which resulted in Pickersgill and Miller coming here. . It appears some stayed at Gloucester but  at least one family  returned to Sunderland . My grandfather followed on working at the docks until he retired as a shipwright too... So very many thanks as I have spent very many hours enjoying the docks right down to Sharpness. So thank you very much for a very successful campaign.

                          Following on from this I have been reading the articles and letters to the editor about the railway triangle .which definitely needs attending too.  My thoughts are that as we are in recession any new supermarket will create some jobs but sadly this will decrease business on the existing ones. The  resulting  reduced  turnover on existing supermarkets and other shops will need less staff and hence cause more unemployment. I refer to the new Morrisons, larger Tescos and a new one at Kingsway etc. This will cause smaller takings in existing supermarkets and private shops too. We have too many empty shops at present.

                          There have been   many excellent articles and letters to the editor in the Citizen regarding the railway triangle and a new railway station. I am hopeful that you may consider a campaign similar to the docks and canal regarding the possibility of a new railway station.  This  would  be helpful to residents from Gloucester and its surrounding area wishing to travel  north and south  without the need to travel to Cheltenham . 

                         The improvement at the existing railway station is to be welcomed but that is not the answer. The north/ south line from Gloucester is very poor to say the least. At the moment to travelling further than Birmingham or Bristol is almost impossible. The answer is to go by road to Cheltenham Spa and Cross Country then will take you direct to very many places in the South West including Plymouth , Torquay Penzance and obviously stops between these. Travelling north they go to Manchester York ,Glasgow,   Edinburgh  right up to Aberdeen . Here again they stop at many stations on the routes covered. They also add that Cheltenham is an excellent place to change trains especially rather than Birmingham New Street etc which is horrible. The reason being you do not have to struggle with cases since the connecting train is on the same platform…I suggest if you have not seen a   Crosscountry   time table you do look at it in detail. Our city does NOT get one train during the week days operated by Crosscountry..

                       My main concern is that we NEED VISITORS to our city with the Cathedral  and Docks just to mention 2 gems and shops etc This will help the economy of Gloucester. With fuel prices rising, more people are using rail transport .Cheltenham has an increasing number of passengers while Gloucester actually FELL last year!!!!!. This says a lot since this is one of the exceptions where passenger numbers were down. Figures obtained from rail stations on the internet). We need the new railway station. It is vital for people visiting the city. Gloucester and its surrounding  population  is growing and I believe well in excess of Cheltenham . I am not knocking Cheltenham .

                       My wife and I do not use Gloucester railway station at all now owing to trains between Gloucester and the north or the south routes. We go directly to Cheltenham which is extra cost and likewise if we have guests from Scotland they can arrive at Cheltenham where they can be met. This year we had guests from Arbroath (Population about 20,000) which is near Aberdeen which arrived at Cheltenham without a change.

                        Yours sincerely,

                               John Allison              

                               Gloucester .

Letter to The Citizen, 20 October 2011

Mr Ian Mean,

The Editor,

The Citizen,

6 – 8 The Oxebode,

Gloucester

GL4 1RZ.

Dear Mr Mean,

                       

Rail station improvements are welcome, but are not the solution

I read with interest M.P. Richard Graham’s letter (The Citizen, 18 Oct) relating to the improvements which are ongoing or have been completed. Rail passengers will be thankful for these improvements which everybody will agree are long overdue.

Rail travellers will know that although these improvements are very welcome, they do not alter the fact that Gloucester’s station is not situated on the direct line between Bristol and Birmingham and as a result far fewer direct trains to major cities call at Gloucester than Cheltenham.

Gloucester City Council is shortly to decide what is to become of the north-east part of the railway triangle. The current planning proposal to be considered relates to the construction of large retail units on this land. This site is the only area where a new mainline station could be situated to serve Bristol, Birmingham and South Wales, and is therefore of vital strategic importance to the rail network. Building retail units in this area would foreclose the option of constructing a new mainline railway station in the future and leave the present station serving only direct trains to and from South Wales. If such retail construction were permitted, Gloucester would remain a branch-line station for Bristol and Birmingham.

After over seven years of campaigning, the doubling of track between Swindon and Kemble, has been approved and is expected to be completed by 2014. This will improve the London – Cheltenham services.

The other factor which is not trumpeted enough is the value of tourists to our local economy.  Figures for year 2009 show that tourists to Gloucester contributed about £120 million that year to the city’s economy, with around 5% of employment supported by visitors.  Very visible and successful tourist attractions have been the weekend Tall Ships festival and the Cathedral’s Crucible exhibition.  We must do everything to encourage and welcome tourists to our city.  It does not take a great leap of imagination to realise that if a new mainline station were to be constructed, with far more direct trains stopping at Gloucester from the key Bristol – Birmingham route,  there would be far more tourists, business opportunities, etc..   What is needed now is for our elected leaders to recognise these facts and grasp the opportunities which are presented to us.  Our leaders should be vigorously and persistently asking Network Rail and the Department for Transport for the necessary funding.  A look at nearby stations shows the level of railway refurbishment being undertaken (Reading, £515 million, Newport £22 million and Birmingham New Street £600 million, Swindon-Kemble rail track doubling, £42 million), so where necessary, funding can be found.

The City Council’s decision on 30 November will in effect determine whether Gloucester remains for the most part a branch line station, or whether it has the courage to look to the future and ask for a new railway station to be constructed. Nobody is pretending that obtaining finance for such a request will be easy, but a new mainline station in the north east side of the triangle is technically feasible and certainly in Gloucester’s long term interest.  The Triangle Action Group’s view is that the development of this land is of such long term strategic importance for Gloucester’s connection with the national railway network that the Secretary of State for the Environment should call in the application for a public inquiry.

       

Yours sincerely,  

Nick Edwards

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Letter to The Citizen, 12 October 2011

Dear Mr Mean,

                       

The same principles operate for the railways and the docks

Marion Pingriff (The Citizen, 12 Oct) is quite right to ask when Gloucester’s citizens are going to wake up and when its leaders to show foresight in supporting a better railway station in the triangle. Our MP, local leaders and Citizen readers might reflect on the recent words written by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London.

“If you look at the history of London and Britain over the last century, you can see how a failure to invest in transport infrastructure was fatal to long-term growth.  When London lost the docks in the Sixties, there was a collapse of employment and population as the ships went elsewhere. We cannot make the same mistake again.”

There is no difference in principle between docks in Gloucester which are not dredged adequately and a railway station not directly connected to the key mainline stations of Bristol and Birmingham.

The Citizen organized a very commendable and successful campaign to protect the current level of dredging in the docks, now is the time to organize a similar petition to have a new direct line railway station on the triangle.  I suggest that those readers in support should write to you, and those elected representatives who agree should have the courage to say so in public.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Edwards