0000169282 00000 n Constantly flitting between either side of the bonkers/brilliant diagonal like no other engineer of his time (and very few since) many of Brunels ideas were as bizarre as others were sublime. Yet it shares with London Bridge many design ideas and the same impressive experience for passengers. 0000179895 00000 n Resent to me directly, it says: Ive not used the new Reading station but I expected exactly what Iain has described when I first saw photos of the finished building. 0000004830 00000 n Another busy station that also has only partialy enclosed glazed sides is Blackfriars, across the Thames. They had a Great Western country junction feel on a grand scale. 4JaM(jt:m A new transport interchange was opened this month with the aim of making travelling easier for people living north of the railway station. Biddle, Gordon & Nock O. S. (1983):Railway Heritage of Britain, The. 0000168904 00000 n Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Reading East MP Rob Wilson highlighted the problems facing frustrated commuters who were held at the top of the escalators because the platform was too busy. Shows passengers waiting on platform 10, Paris Tuileries metro underground railway station platform man reading wall display of historical events of 1940, Subway station, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Grand railway termini might have tall trainsheds, but that height is ultimately outshone by their length as the horizontal becomes their most distinctive feature. Historic England thinks it is actually a modification by Great Western Railway chief engineer Michael Lane of the original 1840 Brunel-designed station building, but most other sources (for instance Biddle & Nock (1983) and Parissien (2014)) think it was constructed new. 1900-1909: photograph by Walton Adams. 0000611837 00000 n NFC=a7nm|-"WFAx*Ri[wQ]3:\Gmtn ;zL-m |Ur|).tc&LP$ XA>[6BiDgx*LXy:)%&/,O@8&}UT,/+ 1ydW~10$)X::\IO0/GT6fg`Bt&ox|1=0e+gDlcNx+JPOh*m !Sc|$-_ S3qpj"Ib#&%QA;kT>i pN&!/S YGMA[YMnkC!BN Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. So is a walk up the stairs; Ive done it, but you have to be feeling fit. The escalators may dramatically descend to the platforms, but the swept up canopies mean that all the adjacent platform sections now have zero weather protection, with large effective gaps in the canopies. A High Speed Intercity train passes through Reading West Railway Station without stopping. View from the London end of the new station being built at Reading with new tracks and platforms workers, cranes and equipment, New building construction for Readings new Railway station in the center of town showing the North entrance being built. Not too far from the new station entrances, the old subway between the platforms has been repurposed as a pedestrian link between both sides of the station, its access to the platforms blocked up and its entrances now outside the station proper. 0000189154 00000 n Escalators, stairs and lifts give access to the platforms and there is a ticket office and ticket machines at the new north entrance. getreading helps you find your way among the 15 new platforms and the new northern interchange, Sign up to our newsletter for daily updates and breaking news delivered direct to your inbox. 0000189506 00000 n The bottleneck nature of the station brought problems with performance and knock-on delays as one late train held up another, which in turn held up yet another, and so on. 0000100853 00000 n 0000188424 00000 n Reading stations entrances, however, are all about vertical energy. 0001039008 00000 n But platforms 12 to 15, for stopping services to Paddington and towards Didcot and cross country Trains, on the northern side of the station went live on April 2. Lifts are also provided between platforms and the transfer deck, positioned between the distinctive concrete columns which support it. The electrification of the route attracted the headlines, but the rebuilding of Reading would be equally as important in unlocking the potential of the Great Western Main Line. However, they have recently undergone a mini-renaissance (as local initiatives rather than because Network Rail is corporately committed to their wholesale national reinstatement) and Reading has gained a logo of its own, based on the architecture of the staircases up to the stations transfer deck. Z|"p=ap)BGc bTY,+:RLwHK.&f9H%V$i(.!q{3&+ Two trains waiting at platforms 2 and 3 in Reading Station. A memorial to a special traveller who frequented Maidenhead station for many years and usually sat here reading ! Internally, the feeling of local leisure centre atrium persists, somehow gloomy despite the glass roof. How on earth was it approved by Network Rail? Curiously, the 1860s building complements the new Grimshaw station far better, perhaps because of the greater gap in ages and style. 296,173,914 stock photos, 360 panoramic images, vectors and videos, Share Alamy images with your team and customers. u Y#c. 0000973419 00000 n The closest analogy I can think of is standing under the approach flightpath to Heathrow Airport and seeing the queue of aircraft with their landing lights on, stretching back into the distance. Beleschenkos column was removed and destroyed in 1999-2001 (one of rail privatisations more philistinic moments) because of an argument over its positioning within the station. Platforms at Reading railway station, England. The great western mainline and the recently electrified wires just outside Reading station, A train arriving in the Tokyo underground, Commuting women keeping busy while waiting for their train, Businessman reading newspaper with subway in background, Charles Sargeant Jagger's The Great Western Railway War Memorial at Paddington Station, Praed Street, Paddington, London, W2, UK, Passenger reads a train timetable at Amsterdam Central Station, Reading, United Kingdom - December 21 2018: The nightime view along platforms 10 and 11 of Reading Station, CHINA, BEIJING: Young Chinese woman studying the chart in the Beijing underground subway station, passengers looking down at phones as train approaches on long platform on the red line cta lake station the longest in north america chicago illinois. Platform 10 in foreground, Reading UK. The new London Bridge station is also marred by platform canopies with wavy parts that reduce protection from the elements for waiting passengers. With a pleasant central cupola (as Historic England puts it) this well-proportioned Italianate sandstone station building now houses a public house, but nevertheless remains very obviously a railway building in the way that railway buildings indefinably do. Because the station was designed with electrification in mind, the equipment for supporting the overhead wires was designed in from the outset and is unobtrusive at platform level, rather than being punched through canopies as has had to be done at some stations which predate electrification. %PDF-1.7 % Lovely to see that original pic. Alongside the bank of escalators, the staircase takes a striking turning form, while the side wall features a decorative (and, I suspect, acoustically dampening) pierced pattern. Until then its most famous British railway works were the international station at Waterloo and The Lawn area with associated works at London Paddington, though apart from extensive use of the colour blue at Waterloo International, there is little obvious similarity between these earlier projects and the new Reading station, which opened in 2014. 0000101034 00000 n Because Reading is one of the key stations in the Cross Country train network it was quite easy for delays there (which were not uncommon) to propagate quickly down to the south coast, south-west of England and the south Midlands, affecting passengers whose journeys took them nowhere near Reading at all. Nightmarishly awkward to navigate for passengers and frequently disruptive to huge swathes of the British railway network, the station has been transformed over the last decade into a stylish, comprehensible and efficient station. A First Great Western train arrives at platform 9. He decided that the ideal design solution for Reading station was a single long platform on the town (south) side of the tracks, divided into two halves; one half for westbound trains, one half for eastbound trains. Shown new canopies and transfer bridge opened in 2013, passengers looking down at phones wait for train on long platform on the red line cta lake station the longest in north america chicago illinois unite, Blonde woman standing and reading tablet on platform as train approaches, Carabanchel metro station , Madrid , Spain, A couple waiting on a platform at London Underground's Earl's Court Station, Earl's Court, London, England, United Kingdom, The museum in the Sirkeci Railway Station in Istanbul, Turkey. Unfortunately the new addition is a good example of style over substance. There have also been changes to Vastern Road to make it easier for buses and pedestrians to access the new area. 0000101211 00000 n The reconstruction has also made strides in addressing the severance caused to Reading by the railway. .qlTt*1L3}100a8 F=vfG Belgrade station with station porter reading paper, passengers looking down at phones as train passes on long platform on the red line cta lake station the longest in north america chicago illinois unit, A freight train pulls into Reading Station. startxref The view from the bridge end to the North is a great one of Caversham, and the only place in town you can see this. KnP+Xa^U7@3IG$FE+j)nIY7^F)*Z0 =S.J#b=g@zNE 27=2^ha],vT@Bfi KHUS$! 0000480659 00000 n So while I freely admit that there must be fans of the InterCity entrance, and it might even be a good example of its type, I think it is ghastly. Network Rails Reading station page, here. Thousands of commuters who have been used to the same routine every weekday also had to cope with changes to their platforms. HWl}#T%!ClC88U%30[Z*oSX%,a-EZ~[.}CX~ruvC/\eUe,U,RDd 17pO-5\s^s+ R[CPkPjX)&5hxQdcXc"yM~LCs1"T=KL Download Foursquare for your smart phone and start exploring the world around you! And the amazing original wide bridge is always (as always) increasingly cluttered with stuff and shops, but that always happens. A view looking over to the new building of the passenger escalators for platform access with the over bridge still being roofed. Reading gained a second station when the South Eastern Railway built its own premises to serve its line from the south-east. A trip up the long escalators is quite the experience, with a vista over the north of Reading revealing itself through the glazed wall as passengers near the top. 0000019882 00000 n Full height glazing allows views down onto the railway tracks below, and in a lovely touch, seating is positioned such that passengers can sit and watch the trains and platforms below. A high lift crane preparing to lift a large steel section up into the new building around a working Railway. )F1] /,|/oZqq%"k5"j=v#=u0K>!5|pR.\km* yv|WY>:9xM:]e+[3'{S][Hz%F8us&"C endstream endobj 5 0 obj <>/OCGs[6 0 R 7 0 R]>>/Pages 1 0 R/Type/Catalog>> endobj 6 0 obj <> endobj 7 0 obj <> endobj 8 0 obj [/View/Design] endobj 9 0 obj <>>> endobj 10 0 obj [/View/Design] endobj 11 0 obj <>>> endobj 12 0 obj [7 0 R 6 0 R] endobj 13 0 obj <>/Resources<>/ExtGState<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/Properties<>/Shading<>/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/TrimBox[0.0 0.0 1800.0 2880.0]/Type/Page>> endobj 14 0 obj <> endobj 15 0 obj [/Separation/PANTONE#203025#20C/DeviceCMYK<>] endobj 16 0 obj [/Separation/PANTONE#20380#20C/DeviceCMYK<>] endobj 17 0 obj [/Separation/PANTONE#20Process#20Black#20C/DeviceCMYK<>] endobj 18 0 obj [/Separation/PANTONE#202748#20CV/DeviceCMYK<>] endobj 19 0 obj [/DeviceN[/Magenta/Yellow]/DeviceCMYK 36 0 R 38 0 R] endobj 20 0 obj <>stream 0000645474 00000 n The post-privatisation rise in passenger numbers across the British railway network simply exacerbated the problem, and the concourse struggled to cope with the crowds too. 0000000016 00000 n 0000041080 00000 n In contrast to its predecessor it is hard to imagine this footbridge ever becoming inadequate for passenger movements, and so vast is its scale some 30m wide and 135m long that it is usually referred to as a transfer deck rather than a footbridge. For such a busy and elevated station I think it should definitely have had an overall roof over all the platforms in a similar manner to say Waterloo. Oddly a lot of the glazing from the bridge has recently been frosted, so a lot of the views have been lost. It has been all change at Reading railway station this year, with new platforms and new entrances for passengers. ", "Don't wait for trains on the track, it's safer on the platform", "Reading station has an lots of places for food and drink", Created by Alistair17 items 3 followers. 0000188624 00000 n To serve the newly untangled lines, four additional through platforms were built at the station plus one extra bay platform serving trains from the south-east, intrinsically useful in its own right but partly justified also by its ability to serve potential AirTrack services from Heathrow; a triumph of hope over realism (catch me in person and I will tell you the whole sorry story). %%EOF ywA:AxG |O^#|2B=}M5y>9FzIFwV:by>_)fZqidwAn Reading fitted firmly in the first category. Dropping all passengers, those for the town as well as for the station, at the stop for the south entrance as before makes much better sense and gives rail passengers the easy option of visiting the Brunel Arcade should they wish to.. As can be seen in distance, it was very much still the era of steam, which can be seen arising from the platforms. 0000188506 00000 n The inner foyer and departure information board at Euston station in London. It is perhaps the only really clumsy piece of architecture in the new station, and like Bristol Temple Meads is an example of where the accretion of railway history means a disjointed appearance and experience. The old pedestrian bridge which linked the multi-storey car park with the station was closed and demolished in the weeks beforehand and passengers had to use a diversion via the newly refurbished underpass. The Grimshaw station just sort of stops as though unsure quite what to do with itself having encountered the space frame-supported roof of its predecessor, the blue panelling of the new Reading terminating uncomfortably at a single unadorned column, with one last column standing forlornly a little further on. English Heritage: Swindon, Historic Englands listing citation for the 1860s station building, here, Grimshaws project page for Reading station, here. 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Local historian Dave Doe captured an aerial view of the new-look Vastern Road and has dug out a couple of old pictures to demonstrate how the area has changed (see gallery). It looks as though the rebuild was intended to continue here, but money, energy or desire ran out. In Station Hill, the sign of Beecroft and Son, printers, is visible. <]/Prev 1219913>> The outer ends of the transfer deck connect down to new entrances to the station. Not everyone has been a winner as a result of the opening of the pedestrian bridge as it has diverted passengers away from the Brunel Arcade. 0000080381 00000 n 0000002450 00000 n passive provision for a possible future extension of Crossrail services and introduction of AirTrack services to Londons Heathrow Airport. Use daily and whilst yep, the elements from the West hitting the stairs and escalators cause problems, it is a lovely station to use most of the year, the shading is great and the bridge doesnt overheat. In the distance, in Greyfriars Road, the premises of Patience, Son and Company, builders, can be seen on one side of the road, with the Tudor Arms pub (later the Malt House), before its front was cement rendered, on the other side. This lasted until the 1960s when trains from this route were moved into some new platforms at the east end of the main station. 0001104597 00000 n No purpose whatsoever. Charles Sargeant Jagger's The Great Western Railway War Memorial at Paddington Station Praed Street, Paddington, London, W2, UK. %F>U&u,a~,U"}*.o`?sX'|OuHb)sCC= j|'o \&~" Those who find themselves spending ages in the wind and rain waiting for a delayed train (and, contrary to received wisdom, SNCB is very good at delaying trains) dont find it quite so wonderful! Drivers eye view of the new signals and platforms at Reading station with all signals showing Red aspects. a minimum of four additional train paths per hour in each direction, 125% improvement on through line platform capacity. Both feature banks of escalators leading between the transfer deck and platform, under ETFE skylights. However, Caversham resident Jonathan Farmer said the new arrangement means buses take a convoluted route into and out of town. Architecture practice Grimshaw won the job of designing the station. 0000169229 00000 n document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Michael Joseph Ltd: London, Lawrence, David (2018):British Rail Architecture 1948-97. Thank you for appreciating Reading station! Find the right content for your market. People tend to check in during these times: "Dont forget to stand behind yellow line or you get shouted at! People had already been using the new platforms four, five and six to Guildford, Gatwick and Waterloo in the first phase of the works. To the west of the station, new flyovers separated out different railway lines from one another, eliminating many of the conflicting moves across tracks that caused performance issues. 0000002663 00000 n A local trains sits and waits at the platform at west Reading Railway Station. There are fewer people coming through and the ones who are still coming have to make an extra special effort to come because they have to leave the platform, which can be a fag if you are elderly or have children with you.. Change). The complicated track on the Great Western Mainline and limited platform space formed a bottleneck. 0000002548 00000 n 0000180359 00000 n 0000349481 00000 n Desde aqu salen los, nationalrail.co.uk/stations/RDG/details.html. The rebuilt Reading station focusses on a vast new footbridge linking the through platforms towards their western ends, and replacing the inadequate 1980s footbridge, which was demolished. 0000216335 00000 n The bridge and station has been designed to cope with a predicted doubling of passenger numbers by 2030, so the deck appears spacious for the 14 million passengers currently using the station every year. The oldest remaining part of the station is generally considered to date from between the opening of the station and this rebuild, in the late 1860s. It wasnt just passengers who were finding that the station was too cramped to work well. The main ticket office is still located in the 1980s building and it is still a convenient route for passengers for platforms four, five and six, but there is less passing trade for the shops and cafes. 0000002632 00000 n 0000180275 00000 n Another bus lane has been created under Vastern Road railway bridge, allowing buses travelling north to turn left behind the multi-storey and into the new interchange. Trains to Gatwick airport depart from here!!! Being solid concrete with entrances open to the elements and no heating, the entire new footbridge is absolutely frigid in cold weather. 0000283892 00000 n 0000170249 00000 n One is heading to Basingstoke, one to Birmingham. Where the canopies rise over the escalators and stairs, they are supported by spectacular v-shaped columns. 0000170474 00000 n The south entrance, which abuts Lanes 1860s station building, is impressive enough: The north entrance is arguably even more dramatic, although it is the less busy of the two. And dont leave us in suspensewould love a posting on why Reading/Heathrow Airtrack didnt happen, and what might happen with Crossrail instead. Learn more about how you can collaborate with us. The predominantly level parts of the canopies seem unduly high anyway, and the edges are also set well back from the platform edges. The constituent parts of the project were: Services provided:Programme management, station development including architectural conceptual planning, station planning, @ Copyright 2022 Network Rail Consulting. Some 730 trains every day serve Reading station, taking passengers to destinations across the country. 0000169147 00000 n Remember! *M]P.0P0#S^hc :BMqi6FyN ]}DE=$-[Y]hh~qRC`g=q From the outside it looks like a cut-price local authority-commissioned leisure centre or shopping mall (probably with a name like The Pyramids), and the anonymous inside is little better. The two best things about the inside of the Intercity station were, firstly, a large glass column artwork by Alexander Beleschenko, who would later go on to design the dramatic blue glass wall at Southwark Underground station (The Beauty of Transport (24 April 2013)). The old coach station can be seen in the picture from the 1980s before the Vastern Court Retail Park was built. 0000842241 00000 n There were very few absolute closures, so commuting through it daily for the 3 years of rebuilding was fascinating, way being the immense amount of work that went into it. It used to be a nightmare to use Reading station; it is now for the most part an absolute pleasure. 0000182763 00000 n Despite those inclusions, it has easy and uninterrupted walking routes through its length. 0000907830 00000 n An 19h century iron canopy curves above the platforms and the sunlight falls on the platform. and anything linked to in the text of the article. Each one huge expanses of glazing, maintaining a connection between the station and the outside well. 0000188338 00000 n 0000176607 00000 n xref West Hampstead Thameslink and West Hampstead Overground. Over most of the platforms, the transfer deck has two sets of staircases and escalators linking it to the platforms below, helping reduce the possibility of pedestrian bottlenecks at a single set of stairs.
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