Reading Station 'within budget'

Published 24 Jan 2012 09:30 4 Comments

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NETWORK Rail has insisted its £850m Reading Station redevelopment is within budget and ahead of schedule.

The defiant message follows last night's BBC One Panorama programme, Train Fares: Taken For A Ride, which alleged Network Rail had overspent on a similar improvement project in Rugby.

It also attacked the lack of accountability for Network Rail's use of public money and suggested the Reading Station project would cost more than the headline figure

But company spokeswoman, Eimear Fitzpatrick, told The Chronicle: "Network Rail's Reading Station and Area Redevelopment project is ahead of schedule and within budget.

"As an organisation, we are committed to driving down costs and are on target to deliver savings on the cost of running the railway of 21% in our current funding period (2009-14) - that is over £1bn a year. But as an industry, we must all do better."

Panorama also took issue with the high costs of commuter fares and the poor service many experience in return.

Did you watch the programme? What do you think? Comment below.

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 24 Jan 12

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Jethro
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Jan 24, 15:34
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I don't use trains anymore; too expensive. It is cheaper to drive.

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******
Jan 24, 16:44
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******
Jan 26, 14:05
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Windsorian
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Jan 27, 17:05
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I watched the programme and thought it was a bit dis-jointed - like it had been subject to a late edit.

I thought the comparison of Reading with Rugby was a bit unfair as clearly Panorama were implying because Rugby on the WCML upgrade had over-run expensively, then Reading would also do so. Perhaps it will or perhaps it won't; the real problem on rail infrastructure upgrades is the unknown that cannot be fully quantified before work commences.

Personally I am terrifically impressed at Network Rail's Reading performance so far, and the Caversham Rd and Cow Lane works have been seriously impressive; the project has another 3 years to run due to the phased nature of the works required to keep the trains running.

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CommonSense Party
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Feb 8, 21:33
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Like Windsorian I am impressed by what I have seen. The main bit of the scheme is still to come and with it presumably the bulk of the spend. This is the rail ' viaduct ' where one train will go up and over the other to cross tracks, the high point being around Cow Lane. Bearing in mind that the Caversham Rd bridge was about £3million we have yet to see the bulk of the money spent so comments about budget are a bit premature!

And like you Jethro , I drive, its cheaper and more convenient.

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Tom_Ainsworth
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Feb 14, 11:24
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Panorama way off-base. Network Rail has its flaws, but so far the Reading project isn't one of them - 'guilt by association' with Rugby does not count as journalism. Everything seems to be on schedule, and the scheme's won quite a few engineering awards, and a nod from Passenger Focus that it should be used as a case study ahead of the Olympics.

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