City fans warned not to use new Ricoh Arena train station!

[dutchman]

Coventry City and Wasps fans are being told not to use the new Ricoh Arena railway station to get to and from matches.



The new station at the stadium is due to open next month as part of a £13.6million project to improve the Nuneaton to Coventry rail line but safety fears mean it will be shut for an hour after the final whistle on matchdays.

That’s because the trains will only be able to carry 75 passengers and operator London Midland will only put on one train an hour.

London Midland are now telling sports fans to stick to existing bus services instead.

Concerns about overcrowding at the unmanned station have led the independent stadium Safety Advisory Group to order the one-hour closure after major events, including sports fixtures and concerts.

London Midland has also said there will be no expansion to the hourly service on matchdays.

A spokesman for the train operator told the Telegraph: “The issue is that the service is one single diesel carriage that has 75 seats. We have been clear about that from the start of the project.

“At the moment there aren’t any more trains available in the country to run that service.

“The main message is that, as soon as the station opens, everybody going to Coventry City or Wasps games simply won’t be able to get the train.

“Our advice is to continue to use the existing bus services to get to and from games.”

He added: “We have been told by the Safety Advisory Group that the station will have to be closed for an hour after matches or events."

London Midland said it was working closely with stadium operators Wasps to come up with other solutions, but added that it did not foresee an obvious or immediate answer to the problem.

The spokesman added: “The big challenge we have at the arena is that we could potentially have 32,000 people attending.

"Technically, we could take up to 10 per cent of that crowd. But we have been told we have to close the station after matches.

“People could potentially be waiting one hour 59 minutes between services at the end of a match.

“In the future, when the line is electrified, all sorts of thing could be possible - but we’re not there yet.”

Coventry City Council will own the new station and has invested heavily in the site which is part of a wider £13.6million investment which also includes platform extensions at Bedworth and Coventry.

[dutchman]

Ricoh Arena rail station NOT a waste of money, insists Coventry City Council

A leading member of Coventry City Council has insisted the multi-million-pound investment in the new Ricoh Arena railway station was not a waste of public money.

Labour Coun Kevin Maton, cabinet member for business, defended the council’s decision to allocate millions to the project despite the news that people have been told the service is not suitable to travel to and from major Coventry City FC and Wasps matches, or other major events at the stadium.

Train operators London Midland has advised fans to stay away from the new station after they said they will only run one service an hour on matchdays, capable of holding just 75 people, with no service for at least an hour after games.

But Coun Maton insisted he was confident the financial commitment made by the council to the Arena station project would reap rewards.

Asked if the council should have been more robust in ensuring a fit for purpose service would be provided by London Midland, before committing funds, he said: “If we hadn’t built the train station there would never be a service.

“It’s a chicken and egg situation. Having a station there allows the train operators to respond to that demand at some point.”

Coun Maton pointed the finger at London Midland for the match day problems, but insisted the £13.6million project to improve the Nuneaton to Coventry rail link was about more than just match days at the Ricoh Arena.

He said: “It is ridiculous that it has taken this long for a rail system to arrive for that route.

“This all comes down to franchising. They are taking the word ‘service’ out of the rail industry.”

He added: “The route was about being able to move people into the city centre and for people to access the shopping facilities at the Ricoh Arena. From our point of view, it works perfectly well for that.”

When questioned about initial plans which clearly stated the new Ricoh Arena station was built with Arena Ricoh matchdays and events in mind, Coun Maton said: “I’m confident, in a period of time I can’t specify, there will be a solution. There’s a willingness between the parties involved to find a solution.

“We have to be a facilitator and allow negotiations that are necessary to happen.”

[Davey]

You can't actually use it to get to or from the Arena, but it's a jolly good thing anyway. Possibly. Can we have our money back ?


http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... ot-9923066

[rebbonk]

I was actually incensed when I read that article Davey.

A station was part and parcel of how the original Ricoh project was sold to us locals, then it was reneged on. Now it seems that we've been let down once again!

I'll tell you what, those involved couldn't run a proverbial in a brewery!

[rebbonk]

Ricoh Arena rail station NOT a waste of money, insists Coventry City Council

Of course it is you plonkers!

Labour Coun Kevin Maton, cabinet member for business, defended...

You can't defend the indefensible

Maton insisted he was confident the financial commitment made by the council to the Arena station project would reap rewards

Asked if the council should have been more robust...

Easy spending other people's money isn't it?

As usual, Maton blames everyone but himself and this pathetic council that we are saddled with.

[dutchman]

Train company says it told Coventry Council FIVE years ago it wouldn't be able to transport Ricoh Arena fans

Train operator London Midland insists it told Coventry City Council and the Ricoh Arena company FIVE years ago that it would not be able to supply adequate trains for fans on matchdays.

Initial timetables - drawn up by Coventry City Council, Warwickshire County Council and Centro - showed trains planned for every 15 minutes when major events were held at the Ricoh Arena.

The plans, from 2011, also showed 30-minute services on weekdays and weekends.

But the Telegraph revealed the diesel service will only run hourly at all times, with a capacity of 75 passengers. London Midland has also been told it cannot operate a service on matchdays until an hour after games, following guidance from the stadium’s independent Safety Advisory Group.

London Midland insists it told stakeholders it was unlikely to be able to meet matchday demand before the timetables were even drawn up.

A spokesman for the train firm said: “We made it clear at the start of this, five years ago, those timetables were seen as an aspiration. We were clear additional stock would be a challenge.

“There are no more diesel trains left in the UK and there are no more being built.”

He added that the operators were working with stadium operators Wasps and Coventry City Council to find a solution.

He said: “We are trying to get our hands on any available trains, we want to enhance the service at the Ricoh Arena.

“We are also looking at other options with charter companies.”

Asked if the train company was pushing Wasps to cough up the funds for additional charter trains, rather than paying for them itself, he said: “We don’t even know if charter trains are a possibility yet.

“Right now we are open to any ideas that can solve the issue. The biggest challenge at the moment is that it’s a diesel service on a branch line and we can’t get the trains.

“We are putting everything we can in to finding a solution with the Ricoh Arena and Coventry City Council.”

Asked if he was confident of a solution being found soon, he said: “I don’t want to raise people’s hopes until we’re confident we’ve found an answer.”

Please note: two threads merged.

[rebbonk]

The Elephant on the council crest should be a white one because it's saddled us with enough of them over the years!

[Davey]

“There are no more diesel trains left in the UK and there are no more being built.”

gasp, splutter, etc...

Somebody must have one ? How about Pete Waterman ? He's a local lad with trains. How about somebody builds one ? More gasps.....

[rebbonk]

Spotted this on the local rag site...



Laugh? I nearly bought a round of drinks!

[dutchman]

Decision to ban Coventry City and Wasps fans from using it signed off by council-headed group

A decision to ban Coventry City and Wasps fans from using the council-owned Ricoh Arena station was signed off by an advisory group chaired by one of the council’s own staff.

It has emerged that the Ricoh Arena Safety Advisory Group (SAG), which made the recommendation to close the station to fans, is chaired by Coventry City Council development officer Barry Butterworth.

The SAG also includes members of the council’s building and licensing teams as well as West Midlands Police, West Midlands Ambulance Service and Ricoh Arena staff.

That means a council-headed group has admitted that the station, which the authority spent four years co-ordinating and millions of pounds producing, is not fit to transport fans on matchdays.