9 November 2011 - 1 January 0001, 00:00 -

Southern Branch Meeting: Reading Station

Joint with the Institution Of Civil Engineers

Redesign of Reading Station

Venue: Ashburton Hall (Queen Elizabeth II building), The Castle, Hampshire County Council, Winchester, 5.30 for a 6pm start

Speaker: Pat Baxter, Head of Transport, Reading Borough Council

Flyer: Download Flyer- Redesign of Reading Station

Pat manages a  service area covering Traffic Management (including traffic signals), Parking (on and off street), residents parking permits, bus lane enforcement, Transport (Highways) Construction and Maintenance, Drainage, Transport Planning, Transport Development Control, Public Transport Co-Ordination, Concessionary Fares and Road Safety.
 
Working closely with central and regional government on policy, funding bids and other issues such as rail franchising. Representing Reading in European policy and bidding processes and working with residents of Reading and the private sector to ensure Reading’s transport strategy continues to be fully funded and respond to local social and economic needs.
 
The Transport groups at Reading have been involved in several successful major scheme bids and are currently working on the design and construction of a £67m M4J11 improvement scheme and the £851m Reading Station upgrade.
 

Reading Station Highway Works

Reading Station is the largest rail interchange in the southeast; over 360 destinations can be reached by rail from the station, and the second largest in the UK. The redevelopment rail scheme costs are now over £1b and include electrification. See the video here.  Reading Borough Council (RBC) has been involved in the scheme from inception and continues to sit on the DfT delivery group as a full member. This position has allowed the council to ensure that local benefits are retained in what is a nationally significant rail scheme.
The local emphasis on the improvement scheme centres on the continuing interest in development immediately around the station and the ongoing increasing use of public transport for trips in the area. Reading already demonstrates more trips to the centre by public transport than any other mode and this is supported by it also being the highest use station for “plus bus” (rail and bus trip combined) tickets in the UK. To consolidate that sustainability development around the station is predicated on very limited car parking provision and excellent interchange facilities.The Station upgrade includes new entrances at both the north and south sides of the rail transfer bridge. Without a reconfiguration of the transport infrastructure, the areas around the new entrances would not provide a suitable interchange for either the revised station layout or the new development coming forward
RBC has both supported the bid for rail funding and successfully bid for funding for all the associated highway works from several sources and the presentation will cover both the involvement of the council and how the funding was achieved.