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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