I’ve got my trainspotter hat back on with the fantastic news that Reading Green Park Station has opened to the public.
This is Reading’s first new station for over a century – since Reading West in July 1906 – so it’s a landmark moment for our town to celebrate.
I had the pleasure of a trip on the very first train to stop at the station last week, and it was great to see the shiny new destination in all its glory.
A new station at Green Park is something that has been talked about for a couple of decades and has been delayed on more than one occasion for matters outside of the Council’s control… so it was gratifying to see it finally come to fruition.
Green Park Station now sits proudly on the Reading to Basingstoke line and served by a half-hourly service in each direction through the day. It has two platforms, disabled access, and an interchange with a surface-level car park, taxi rank, and cycle parking. It will serve well-established communities in Whitley and the relatively new community at Green Park Village, as well as local businesses in the south of the borough and the expanding Green Park Business Park.
The station, built by Reading Borough Council working alongside our partners Network Rail and GWR to bring it into operation, will now help to alleviate queues along the busy A33 by offering an alternative sustainable mode of travel – a truly strategic approach to changing travel behaviours and creating a cleaner and greener Reading.
It’s also another contribution to our net zero carbon by 2030 ambitions, to go with new segregated cycle and pedestrian routes across the borough, including the recent Shinfield Road scheme and another to come on Bath Road later this year.
I’m also pleased that Reading (and away) fans can enjoy their matchday experience even more when travelling to matches. Loyal Royals don’t need me to tell them that the scramble for parking on matchday is always a challenge (although Cambridge United fans might), so I’m thrilled they now have another option to leave the car at home and travel by train instead.
Fans travelling to Reading Women’s Super League match against Chelsea on Saturday, May 27, (the official station opening day) were among the first to benefit from the new station.
Green Park’s arrival comes as two other major rail projects are underway in Reading. Improvements at Reading West are nearing completion and there are exciting plans for an upgrade at Tilehurst Station, where I’m pleased to say all platforms will be fully accessible for the first time as lifts and walkways are installed.
At Reading West, we have a real community station for the Oxford Road and its environs where we’ll soon have a new station building and ticket hall.
The refurbished Reading West will boast new ticket gates at the Tilehurst Road and Oxford Road entrances, meaning you can only get on the platforms if you have a ticket, unlike now.
This is combined with the new ticket office, new toilets, and a retail facility. Safety and security will be significantly improved in an environment which, as local residents will know, is no stranger to anti-social behaviour.
GWR’s latest estimate for completion is the end of the summer. All being well, it which means by the autumn both stations will be open to the travelling public. It really is a case now of letting the train take the strain in Reading.
Cllr Jason Brock is the leader of Reading Borough Council and ward member for Southcote
