This has been discussed a bit at the 'people falling off by the taxi rank' thread, but in view of Council's new proposals to 'reduce the problem' a new thread is desirable.
Especially because of this VERY interesting contribution from Ewan Jeffrey who 'looks after' railway issues for Spokes.
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Network Rail, Scotrail and Transport Scotland continually cite that it is impossible to use Distillery Lane because it is in highly fragmented ownership, thereby making Compulsory Purchase difficult. I think that the real reason for their reluctance is Revenue Control.
However, rather than using Distillery Lane, it would be perfectly straightforward to achieve access from the south by using the Dalry Road over-bridge, either by a major decking over (see below), by a cantilevered walkway behind Ryrie's Bar. (There will be new staircases installed shortly from the Dalry Road bridge down to platforms 2,3 and 4 as part of the current scheme, but these will be Emergency Exits only.)
The current rebuild is much more modest than it could have been, which is down to lack of imagination by Scotrail which was resposible initially . When responsibility was passed to Network Rail it was made a bit more ambitious, but is still too modest. Although much wider that the existing over-bridge, I think that it wont be long before they wished that it had been made even wider.
The opportunity could have been taken to deck over the tracks right up to the Dalry Road Bridge - thereby creating an enormous circulation area. This would have transformed the area and solved at a stroke all the current space constraints for pedestrian circulation, taxi ranks and bike parking.
It was reported at last weeks Scotrail Cycle Forum that the ownership of the pavement space in front of the historic station building is to be passed from Network rail to CEC. This presumably also passes cost responsibility thereon from NR to CEC and might be a significant setback to getting improved cycle parking provision, as that's where the bike parking is. Sustrans are leading the discussions on this with NR/CEC about how there might be a purpose designed shelter in the space between Starbucks and the historic (listed) building, but I cant see that that will be quick. I suggested to the TS representatives at the Forum that the old pedestrian bridge could be saved from demolition and reused as covered bike parking and this was noted, but I'm not at all confident that that will be taken up. I suspect that the enlarged station will open in December with just the existing small number of Sheffield racks moved back against the wall.
Ewan Jeffrey
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