HomeGeneral InterestReston gets its station back

Reston gets its station back

Listen to this article

The new Reston station saw its first train when the 05:29 TransPennine Express service from Edinburgh to Newcastle arrived at 06:16 on 23 May. This was almost 60 years since the original station closed in 1964.

Contractors BAM Nuttall started building the station in March 2021. It has two 270-metre-long, 4-metre-wide platforms on an embankment over an underpass and culvert. It required 251 precast slabs and 108 piles of which 60 were for the footbridge. This is a novel ribbon footbridge which was conceived by Arup, the station designer, and Knight Architects. It incorporates lift shafts on either side with the 17-metre-high north shaft serving three levels, the interchange (ground level), the north platform, and the bridge crossing.

Project engineer Jonathan Long advised that the work had to be done within the constraints of short rules of route possessions which required the footbridge to be erected in 12 lifts. There was one 54-hour disruptive for overhead line work which involved replacing five sets of single-track cantilever structures with portals and using this opportunity for overhead wires renewals. There was also a requirement to move one signal.

Reston is a small village of about 200 houses in the Scottish Borders, 47 miles from Edinburgh and 10 miles north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, close to several settlements including the coastal town of Eyemouth. The 70-space car park has been built in the expectation that the station will be a well-used railhead and so there is passive provision for a further 40 spaces. TransPennine Trains advised that they had advance bookings for 1,000 tickets from Reston.

The station is served by eight trains a day operated by TransPennine Express, except for a LNER service that provides a 07:27 service to London and an evening arrival from London at 21:41.

Scottish Transport Minister, Jenny Gilruth advised Rail Engineer that the £20 million investment provided by the Scottish Government for the new station would open up the area and that there are plans to improve bus links to maximise the benefit that the station will provide to the local community.

Various ceremonies marked the day, including Jenny Gilruth’s visit when she was met by a piper and 49 pupils from Reston Primary School who had been given train tickets by TransPennine Express for a day out in Edinburgh to mark the occasion.

Image credit: David Shirres

David Shirres BSc CEng MIMechE DEM
David Shirres BSc CEng MIMechE DEMhttp://therailengineer.com

SPECIALIST AREAS
Rolling stock, depots, Scottish and Russian railways


David Shirres joined British Rail in 1968 as a scholarship student and graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Sussex University. He has also been awarded a Diploma in Engineering Management by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

His roles in British Rail included Maintenance Assistant at Slade Green, Depot Engineer at Haymarket, Scottish DM&EE Training Engineer and ScotRail Safety Systems Manager.

In 1975, he took a three-year break as a volunteer to manage an irrigation project in Bangladesh.

He retired from Network Rail in 2009 after a 37-year railway career. At that time, he was working on the Airdrie to Bathgate project in a role that included the management of utilities and consents. Prior to that, his roles in the privatised railway included various quality, safety and environmental management posts.

David was appointed Editor of Rail Engineer in January 2017 and, since 2010, has written many articles for the magazine on a wide variety of topics including events in Scotland, rail innovation and Russian Railways. In 2013, the latter gave him an award for being its international journalist of the year.

He is also an active member of the IMechE’s Railway Division, having been Chair and Secretary of its Scottish Centre.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.