Second entrance to the platforms is being considered

Putney Station is busier than the stations of several major northern cities according to figures that were produced at a recent Putney Society meeting.

The meeting on Thursday entitled 'The Future for Putney’s Stations' was well attended and produced some interesting facts that may or may not surprise then most seasoned commuter.

In 2012 Putney station was the 32nd most busy station in the UK with 10.8m users, Gatwick Airport (correction of earlier error) ranked 25th with only 4m more passengers. Cities around the UK that have fewer passengers include Newcastle, York, Sheffield & Nottingham:



Wandsworth Council’s Senior Transport Planner, John Slaughter, spoke about the report that the council has commissioned on the options for better access to Putney Station.

There are four options:
* an Oxford Road entrance (on railway owned land, estimated cost £3m),
* and three options at various entry points (on privately owned land) along the Upper Richmond Road (cost ca £1.5m + land purchase). A bridge would have to be built across the eastern end of the platforms to connect them to a ramp to a new entrance. Works would take an estimated 76 weeks. Assuming an unmanned entrance, the cost benefit ratio would be 1:7, if manned about 1:3 but Network Rail/South West Trains have not agreed to man a second entrance - they believe that although money is available to construct the entrances the costs are underestimated. Meetings will take place soon between the council and Network Rail.

Rosemary Torrington, chairman of the Wandsworth Passenger Transport Liaison Group, told PutneySw15.com, ".we are keen to ease congestion at Putney station and to make it quicker for residents to get to and from the station and this is why we are working with Network Rail and South West Trains to create a second entrance to the station."

Representatives from SW Trains and Network Rail confirmed that they are considering the request for a second entrance. The final draft of the report commissioned by Wandsworth Council, has been issued for review, they will be looking at demand, construction cost, impact and operational costs. Projects are ranked for priority and as yet these decisions have not been made.

In addition they are also looking at:
+ removing the existing kiosk that blocks the central arch at the present entrance,
+ running longer trains on Sundays and for special events.

The speaker confirmed that 10 carriage trains will commence service later this year on 20 of the 30 trains on the Windsor line, the remaining 4 carriage trains will become five carriage services. Any further lengthening of trains would be dependent on extension work at Waterloo Station.

The meeting also covered East Putney Station, which in 2012 had over 5.2 million passengers enter and exit through its gates. The spokesman for TfL agreed that the station was in poor condition & that lifts should be installed , however it would not be before 2016 as the station is not ranked as a priority project. On weekday journeys from Earls Court to Wimbledon East Putney is one of the least busy stations with under 20,000 passengers.



The Putney Society voiced concerns for future volume of commuters from both stations as 489 units of housing will appear on the Upper Richmond Rd plus a further 161 are also planned on surrounding streets:

October 5, 2013