STATIONS
Initial costings of the standard station modules put the price beyond the available budget. A value-engineering exercise main- tained a delicate balance between trim- ming 30% off the costs whilst maintaining full political support.
Significant savings were realised by opti- mising the station building. A tenet of the modular concept is that the designs of- fer flexibility for each station to meet the needs of passengers, operators and the community. In this case, the standard 12m by 12m building footprint is provided and the aesthetics remain the same as the other modular stations: distinctive red-tile clad- ding with white louvres above, flanked by full-height glazing.
However, only a single storey is provided rather than the double-height offerings seen, for example, at Corby. Further design work allowed rationalisation both of the interior layout and also the structural ar- rangement with the removal of intermedi- ate columns.
Operation
The station is operated by Northern Rail and is staffed seven days per week.
Lee Wasnidge, area director for Northern Rail, said: “The ticket office is manned from first train to last and there is a waiting area and disabled access to ensure people using the station are well looked after. The new station doesn’t affect the number of trains stopping at Chorley or Leyland, with three trains an hour in each direction stopping at Buckshaw Parkway for most of the day.”
County councillor Mark Perks, ward coun- cillor for the area, added: “It’s been a key milestone for local people and it’s great that we have a direct rail link from Buck- shaw Village to cities such as Manchester.”
All Northern Rail services will stop at Buck- shaw Parkway as well as some, but not all, TransPennine Express services. Manches- ter’s main stations, Piccadilly and Victoria, are reached in 40 to 50 minutes. Blackpool has a similar journey time, and Preston is within 10 minutes.
Typical off-peak routes are Blackpool North to Manchester Victoria, Preston to Hazel Grove and Blackpool North to Man- chester Airport.
This line is well-used and has short journey times between stations, making on-train ticket checks difficult. Revenue protection is accommodated by channelling all pas- sengers through the station building.
28 | rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 12
achieve a true straight alignment and grade prior to constructing the new platforms.
Construction
Contractor Volker Fitzpatrick won the de- sign and build project under competitive tender. Their chosen designer, Tata Steel, was well versed in the possibilities of the modular station, having designed the trial building erected at Ringwood, Hampshire, in 2007. Remediation was carried out pre- viously from 2000 to 2003 by BAE Systems Environmental Ltd when 160 hectares of the brownfield site were treated. Martin Whyatt, Network Rail’s project manager, says: “In comparison to other projects, that meant we could be reasonably confident there was no unexploded ordnance.”
Ground conditions remained challenging, though. Initial investigations showed weak ground and suggested the platforms would need to be piled, dramatically increasing the programme and cost. Additional investiga- tions were undertaken, says Martin Whyatt, and enabled a more straightforward con- crete raft foundation to be justified.
Enabling works
Critical enabling works for the project were incorporated into the West Coast upgrade in the early 2000s. These included capacity improvements by redoubling the link to the main line at Euxton Junction, and revisit- ing the signalling overrun and operational assessments to remove the need to stop at two red signals on the junction approach. Without these interventions it is unlikely that the station would have been viable in the planned location.
With the completion of the West Coast upgrade, the service pattern was radically altered in December 2008. This timetable change also introduced additional dwell time for local services at Chorley station, compensating for the future extra station stop. Importantly, this gave flexibility to open Buckshaw Parkway without needing to coincide with a timetable change.
The station is situated on a fairly straight and level section of track, at the site of the former Royal Ordnance halt. Tweaks of 75mm lift and 25mm slew were needed to
Over 26,000 cubic metres of fill were placed to build up the car parking and access to match the platform level and provide step- free access. The level difference is around 2m between the station entrance and the village link roads. With up to 45 truckloads of fill arriving per day for three months, it was a major environmental credit that this was all recycled material sourced from the Buckshaw development site, and no sur- plus material was sent to landfill.
After contract award in October 2010, the cash-flow had to be tailored to spend the government funding before the financial year-end deadline. With long-lead and high-value items procured, the ground- works were the main focus until around June 2011, before the station proper began to emerge. The most visible symbol of pro- gress was the new footbridge, lifted into place during an overnight possession on Sunday 10 July 2011.
Open to service
The addition of the station is one more step in the transformation of Buckshaw Village from a development site into a fully fledged community. The week before the open- ing, Jo Kaye, Network Rail Route Director, said: “We’re delighted that the station is on schedule and it will be a great addition to the network in Lancashire.”
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