Severn Valley - New Station

So visitors still drive there. If there was a public transport market, then surely they'd start these tours at Kidderminster Railway Station.

 

I think you could get it to work commercially if (1) the terminus/turnaround/real destination is Bewdley, which it almost certainly will be and if (2) the Safari Park Station is really code for Park & Ride off the A456 which would possibly capture Stourport customers as well. As to whether that would work operationally is a different question.

 

Whilst the scheme might work commercially for the Safari Park and West Midland Trains, I doubt that it would do so for the SVR. On the basis that the current adult off-peak return fare from Birmingham to Kidderminster is £7.80, it is doubtful if the amount per passenger accruing to the SVR for the Kidderminster - Safari Park/Bewdley portion of the journey would be any more than £1.50. You would need an awful lot of passengers to cover the financial outlay required. In my personal opinion, I cannot see a valid business case for the SVR in respect of this proposal, particularly when the possible consequences to the existing heritage operation are taken into consideration.

 

But Kidderminster Station is already Park & Ride - why introduce another variable?

 

You would have to man both Kidderminster Station and Bewdley South signalboxes to turn trains round at a new halt (which may well fall within Bewdley South station limits), and also Bewdley North box if trains were to run all the way to Bewdley. The plans from WMT last year suggested turning round all their Kidderminster terminators at Safari Park instead - that's a half-hour service frequency. In other words, don't worry about SVR trains having difficulty on gala days - there would be no paths for SVR trains on any days of the week. As for staffing: whatever the service frequency, three signalboxes manned for two shifts a day is 42 shifts per week to fill, which to me suggests a need for 8-10 paid signalmen - so the staffing costs are going to be over £200k as a minimum.

Some posters on Facebook have suggested the pathing issues could be resolved by doubling the line, which makes me wonder if they have ever even visited the railway.

 

Look at it a different way. Why might the SVR consider it?

It would bring external revenue to the railway (track access fees rather than farebox). The SVR has been trying to attract additional commercial revenue (c.f. Northern Belle)
External funding, covering signalling, track and platform for the SVR's eventual benefit
It might find (as it did on the cycleway) pressure from local authorities to do so, providing a public transport link to Foley Park
It may see commercial benefits of working with a well resourced neighbour (the Safari Park) who might, say, sponsor works or contribute via the charity
There may be some farebox revenue from the new housing at Foley Park
They may see it as a potential source of new passengers, people coming to the Safari Park and re-visiting to go to the SVR

There are many impediments set out above and I could add some others. On the face of it I can't see sufficient advantages.

Patrick

 

Patrick, it would more likely bankrupt the SVR than be a commercial success. Track access fees won't amount to much on a three and a half mile railway, and on the down side of that are any delay penalties that might be incurred by trains rejoining the national network out of their timetabled path due to operational glitches.

There is extreme disquiet being expressed about this proposal from many of the experienced operations people on the railway, most of whom hope this scheme will be buried sooner rather than later. As someone who has been an active volunteer on the SVR for over fifty years, I perceive this proposal as putting at risk all that has been achieved since 1965.

 

The issue with providing a public transport link is that people expect it to be available when they need it.

This would lead to a severe financial impact on the SVR because it would effectively mean saying goodbye to Santa trains in their current form and at anything approaching their current capacity. The Santa trains involve running the Kidderminster-Arley end of the line at absolutely maximum capacity. I can't see any public transport service agreeing to conditions like "but your Birmingham trains can't run on Saturdays in December" and *any* additional service to Bewdley on a Santa day would mean removal of trains from the Santa timetable and hence a reduction in income of several thousand pounds per train removed.

 

Because of my limited (Saturdays) experience of traffic into Kidderminster.

 

I've visited several times. Maybe I wasn't very observant, but what exactly would be the issues with re-doubling the line as far as Bewdley (say) and running that section as two separate single lines, one for National Rail and one for the SVR? (Apart from the obvious expense).

Note that I'm not saying I support this scheme or think it necessarily makes sense, just curious.

 

I'm pretty sure the line has always been single track, certainly there is only room for one line through the tunnel!

 

"Re-doubling" is the wrong term to use. The line has, since it was built, only ever been single track. In other words, doubling the line would require considerable widening of the trackbed.

That trackbed includes a few hundred yards of single-bore tunnel, another few hundred yards of single-track-width viaduct; and the majority of it is built-up on both sides, so any trackbed widening would involve buying up and demolishing people's back gardens if not their entire houses.

 

The most you could do without drastic action is a passing loop at Foley Park , but this doesn't gain you much capacity really. Unless WMT/NR/WMSP are paying for doubling of the line, none of this is going to happen.

 

The Kidderminster Station Park & Ride is relatively lightly used on Saturdays - shoppers going to Birmingham. During the week it is full with commuters to Birmingham.

 

The land at Foley Park is needed for the Wagon Storage Shed and PW Depot.

 

Yes but whats it like getting into kidderminster? Hell on Saturdays. Perhaps a Safari Park&Ride would appeal m-f & tourists on Saturday and Sunday.

Still its not going to happen. Network Rail would probably cost a new station at several million.


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Yes but whats it like getting into kidderminster? Hell on Saturdays

You must be talking about a different Kidderminster to the one I whose railway station I regularly visit on Saturdays (and other days of the week) - unless you think that there should be no other vehicles at all on the road when you're out.

Your profile says that you live in Birmingham - you cannot be seriously suggesting that Kidderminster is more congested than Birmingham?

 

Isn't this thread now getting into the realms of fantasy? How many people actually arrive at the Safari Park by public transport? If it's anything like the one near me, Woburn, then it's miniscule, a safari park is a day out either for families in their cars or pensioners by the coachload. You are all talking about spending what could be millions of pounds on a market that I can't really see exists. Certainly nothing the SVR should get involved in and I haven't seen it in either the house magazine or mentioned in the recent share issue literature

 

And in starting this post that really was the point I was getting at - I find it hard to take this idea seriously but it would appear it has been put forward as a serious proposal apparantly by West Midlands Railway, West Midlands Combined Authority, Wolverhampton Council and Transport for West Midlands. And I thought it was only on Nat Pres that we indulged in WIBN

David R