CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
"Breich earmarked for first Scottish station closure in 31 years"
(38 posts)-
Posted 7 years ago #
-
Ah, first they make it a request stop then they close it
Posted 7 years ago # -
£1.3 million to replace a footbridge? Really?
I'm in the wrong jobPosted 7 years ago # -
I have cycled to very close to breich on the back road out of addiewell. Surface has deteriorated and a bit busy on Saturday mornings with football, but Sunday deserted. You then get to a t junction where heading south would take you to the road to Lanark (very different from the Lanark road) going north takes you to the home of someone who must own ten chip shops. It is quite a palace. Turn left there and you are in fauldhouse. Amazingly, fauldhouse could be a great cycling destination, you can take the slow train there and hang up your bike. You can then Cycle the col de Climpy heading west and south or the fala hill over to harthill to the north then the slamaanan plateaus and down to avonbridge.
If you do this, you won't see many other cyclists, a hardy few.
The slow train also cheapest way to get to Glasgow by train. Whereas the new line via Coatbridge is the dearest.
Posted 7 years ago # -
NetworkRail prices...
Posted 7 years ago # -
There are two level crossings on this exact line right next to us (Donkey lane and a bit further out) so surely they could just let people cross the track at the station and save £1.4m?
Or can you only cross the track not-at-a-station for obscure reasons, bridges only at stations?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Or can you only cross the track not-at-a-station for obscure reasons, bridges only at stations?
Not sure but the above stations I know have non bridge crossings, Blair Athol's level crossing is the offical non stair crossing.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"£1.3 million to replace a footbridge? Really?
I'm in the wrong job"Definitely. Should be in motorway construction. That money will build about 69 metres of motorway.
That's the same length as a three car Turbostar train.
Posted 7 years ago # -
West Calder is apparently getting a new footbridge with lifts. Perhaps they have taken the cost of that. I can't imagine even a EA compliant bridge would come in at more than a few 100K.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Briech is a dead station that doesn't even serve the two dozen houses a kilometre away.
If you live in Briech, you need a car. There's no shops. You probably already drive to Fauldhouse to go to the shops. Even if you get the train regularly, you probably don't use Briech station as there is no parking there.
I hope this closure passes uneventfully, everyone gets a better service when stops like this go away.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I have used the Shotts line for years to travel to meetings in Glasgow. I have never ever seen anyone get on or off at Breich.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Unlike roads authorities, Network Rail aim for zero casualties on their network and so are gradually removing every level crossing they can. They wouldn't ignore this to build another one for a dead station like Briech. I'm not 100% sure whether they're actually considered accessible, either.
Posted 7 years ago # -
"lower Tyndrum
Blair Athol
Not sure but the above stations I know have non bridge crossings, Blair Athol's level crossing is the offical non stair crossing. "
Those level crossings are not really for station users to cross the track though (Lower Tyndrum only has one track so no need to cross and Blair Atholl has a footbridge - although wheelchair users might be expected to go round by the road?)
Kingsknowe in Edinburgh does use the road and level crossing for getting to the other platform however.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Arriving in the remote Lairg station with a fully laden bike, I was the only one to leave the train, the guard gestured firmly toward the footbridge as the way out.
Not happy about de-luggaging the entire bike and lifting things over separately, I hesitated for a moment, contemplating crossing the track after the train was out of sight (no one else was at the station).
The "good boy" won in the end and I lifted the whole bike, luggage and all, over the footbridge. Pretty sure that was an order of magnitude above manual handling limits. Plus the risk of dropping the whole thing down the stairs...
Posted 7 years ago # -
Achnashellach has a LC but only one platform.
Strathcarron has 2 lines/platforms and a FB with a road LC at the end of the platforms.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I spent a holiday in a cottage in Dalwhinnie. Vehicular access was a track which crossed the railway by way of a gated level crossing - you had to call the signalman from the track-side phone before crossing and again once safely across - the novelty had definitely worn off by the end of the week.
Looking at the map it may now be gone, with a new track into the house from the north.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Blair Atholl has a footbridge
Blair Athol's level crossing is the offical non stair crossing.Posted 7 years ago # -
There's a gated LC east of Haggerston, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, that crosses the ECML.
'Gated', in the sense of opening the first gate, running across the main line to open the second gate, running back to your vehicle, driving across the main line, running back across to close the first gate, then running back across to close the second gate, each time STOPping, LOOKing and LISTENing to ensure the line is clear.
I think the crossing has a siren, and is signed as not for use by members of the public, though I presume the nearby farmer uses it.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Barrhill (South Ayrshire) also lacks a footbridge - passengers just walk across the line to reach the other side using a sort of level crossing.
It's on the Glasgow - Stranraer line and has a positively bustling six stops by services going each way.
Posted 7 years ago # -
kirknewton has no bridge near the station, although this does seem silly as many stations with far less passengers have a bridge
Posted 7 years ago # -
Sometimes wheel my bike across the line on to old newmills road, a great sledging hill ending in the railway. Bit like arellcat's haggerston one but only two tracks and a train once or twice an hour (this is the one Dave mentions as further out)
Breich does sound an unlikely place to have a station though I think I knew of a boy who lived there and came on the train with his bike and cycled up from curriehill
Fauldhouse station has a very big driveway. It is at the north lanark end of fauldhouse so breich might be nearer addiewell station?
Someone died at the level crossing in kirknewton when they trapped the heel of their shoe in the line.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I see in google kirknewton crossing is notorious, people killed in cars, woman losing all limbs when hit by train, pedestrian killed and people being hit by the barrier. It does seems silly that there is no bridge. I suppose they should build a bridge or cap the train speed at 20 mph to make it easier to notice.
Posted 7 years ago # -
After waiting 35 minutes scotrail cancel the train at breich 5 minutes before it's meant to arrive
Posted 7 years ago # -
"
Transform Scotland has prepared a briefing paper in response to the Network Rail proposals for closure of Breich Station in West Lothian.
"
"
The Shotts Line and Breich Station – Options and Opportunities Transform Scotland briefing 25 July 2017
"
Posted 7 years ago # -
"A station with three passengers is saved from closure"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-42011593
Posted 7 years ago # -
It's really hard to close a station
Posted 7 years ago # -
Maybe an overreaction in the opposite direction to the 1960s/70s mass closure of entire lines, stations, etc.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Well not really surprising not many passengers, seems to be only one train per day (to Edinburgh) and one back.
Plenty not stopping.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Is this a good thing?
If it leads to more people using the train, I suppose so.
If it leads to higher journey times for others with passenger numbers staying steady, not so much.
I wonder how many of the consultation respondents have ever been to the station?
If passenger numbers don't go up in 5 years, will they reconsider? Perhaps it be irrelevant, given that the bridge will already have been built.
Posted 7 years ago #
Reply »
You must log in to post.
posts
