Wilton Station

[Joseph_Pestell]

I'm really not sure where these huge numbers to justify Wilton would come from. The Park & Ride isn't that busy. The new housing estates planned aren't really commuter homes from what I've seen and the existing big estate is local council housing and they are more likely to use the existing buses than rail as they're cheaper.

If the new estates were under way with lots of middle income housing it might work ok but as I understand it, it's a twenty year plan so not exactly imminent. It's likely we will soon see freight back to fill in Quidhampton quarry with spoil but that's going to take years before it's ready for building.

Wilton is so close, literally 4-5 minutes away, from Salisbury I can only see another white elephant in the near future as it's not the right kind of development around it and further west is Warminster. Wylye would make more sense in many ways as it could have large car parks straight off the A303. The road from the west into Wilton isn't great with several 30 and 40 limits in the villages. Wylye at around 12 mins away would serve them without having to fight traffic into the city plus the 303.

You could extend some Salisbury - London terminators or some of the Romsey rounders around the rush hours to Warminster where signalling allows turning back with no extra investment.

One thing I've thought would be to move Salisbury station East towards the tunnel so it was half a mile closer to the city centre and allow the depot to expand into the current site as there's not enough room for all the units as it is. The site is more restricted these days since East yard was sold off for housing which makes it highly unlikely to get agreement but it would have been a better site for the modern city. It could have included the central car park site with an extra top deck for the station parking hidden by a 'plaza' station entrance with retail and a short walk to the historic city Serve that using the existing park and rides too with services to cater for commuters to create a transport hub. Mind you it would need much better traffic management of the Southampton and Amesbury roads to serve it.

 

I think that we have to ignore current usage of the P+R as an indicator of what a station could do. The P+R scheme is fatally flawed (all four sites) because the buses do not offer a good alternative to continuing into the city centre with the car.

 

I know a lot of people in North Dorset who drive into Salisbury to take a train to London. The new Wilton station would work well for them and reduce traffic in the city. It would also work well for many in South West Wiltshire who currently use either Tisbury or Salisbury.

 

Moving Salisbury station is an interesting idea and I agree that a Wylye Parkway station for the A303 could also work well.

[Joseph_Pestell]

For anyone interested in the proposed Wilton Parkway project, there is a meeting next week on 25 October. Being held, I think, at the Baptist Church.

[PaulRhB]

Problem is all the roads around the site are so busy. It would need a major rethink on access as the current road through Harnham and via the racecourse aren't exactly great for higher volumes of traffic than already cram into them. If this was part of a proper bypass scheme with a decent ring road it could work but at present it's just going to add to the gridlock at rush hour and school times as at best it's only going to remove a few from the city centre who it's closer too. If their figures add up then the four existing roads from the South and West are going to be a lot busier and they all pass through narrow windy roads or villages. There's not even a decent plan for the road north that is by far the best of the five.

I wonder if they've talked to FirstMTR?

[Joseph_Pestell]

Problem is all the roads around the site are so busy. It would need a major rethink on access as the current road through Harnham and via the racecourse aren't exactly great for higher volumes of traffic than already cram into them. If this was part of a proper bypass scheme with a decent ring road it could work but at present it's just going to add to the gridlock at rush hour and school times as at best it's only going to remove a few from the city centre who it's closer too. If their figures add up then the four existing roads from the South and West are going to be a lot busier and they all pass through narrow windy roads or villages. There's not even a decent plan for the road north that is by far the best of the five.

I wonder if they've talked to FirstMTR?

 

I am sure that most locals would agree with you. But where to put a workable ring road that won't enrage various pressure groups?

[PaulRhB]

That's the problem they all want it but not past them

[Southernman46]

Grateley is reflection of the Wilton debate - it is effectively Salisbury East Parkway - people drive from distance - especially from the north (Marlborough, etc...) and the extended car park is full by 8am.

 

It could really do with another intermediate station re-opened - Porton maybe

[a98087]

Unlikely that Porton station will ever reopen, the main reason being the stop it will add extra time into each train, and ruin the proposed faster services that are proposed.

 

Also with the new station, you have to wonder if there have considered the signalling side of things, as your going to need a powered crossover as a minimum, maybe a starting signal as well, and they won't be cheap to install

 

Dan

[PaulRhB]

And paying Dan to maintain them

[Southernman46]

Unlikely that Porton station will ever reopen, the main reason being the stop it will add extra time into each train, and ruin the proposed faster services that are proposed.

 

Dan

But then would that matter as SWR only seem to run the Salisbury stoppers as far as Basingstoke anyway most of the time (or so it feels  )

Had an enforced 45min wait at Basing first thing yesterday morning after the 1st WOE service was despatched (yet again) as the late running Weymouth that I was on ran late (AGAIN). This happens a lot. The fact that that 1st WOE is booked to wait at Worting Jn for a freight to clear makes this doubly annoying but at least I got to vent my spleen fuelled by night shift tiredness at the SWR staff regarding the quality of their connections policy , lack of initiative, customer focus and the fact that they weren't providing anything like the service that my £5K season ticket deserves ............ for all the good it does - shiit service !!

Edited October 19, 2017 by Southernman46

[phil-b259]

Unlikely that Porton station will ever reopen, the main reason being the stop it will add extra time into each train, and ruin the proposed faster services that are proposed.

 

Also with the new station, you have to wonder if there have considered the signalling side of things, as your going to need a powered crossover as a minimum, maybe a starting signal as well, and they won't be cheap to install

 

Dan

 

Why would you need a crossover or extra signals?

 

Porton is East of Salisbury - so could be served by the current WOE service (albut with a time penalty) if desired. A couple of platforms and suitable footbridge is all you need - no need to mess round with signals.

 

If the time penalty is too great for WOE services then there are solutions to this though what I might define as the 'ideal' solution of running WOE services fast inwards of Salisbury and introducing a stopping service to cover the gaps might be problematic until extra capacity is created into London Waterloo (Crossrail 2) and overtaking facilities are added back at the likes of Andover.

[PaulRhB]

Dan was talking about Wilton Parkway as the new station

They could redo the ground frame at Wilton Jcn but adding motors to that and the extra signal plus interlocking would be very expensive.

To be honest Porton isn't worth it as improving the facilities at Grateley would be much cheaper and easier and not require major timetable revisions on top.

Edited October 19, 2017 by PaulRhB