BusAndTrainUser Verify

Tuesday 19th December 2023

Welcome back to my occasional blog series which fact checks the veracity of headline grabbing negative claims about buses and trains so beloved of modern main stream and social media channels.

This time I’m investigating a story that appeared across most newspapers back in August reporting a new car park had opened at Manea railway station at a cost of £1 million but just three cars used it in its first week.

Could this be one of those famous newspaper stories in what’s known as the summer silly season when hard news takes a holiday, or was there something in it? Are three cars the norm and had the car park really cost £1 million?

I decided to pay a visit to Manea to find out. I choose a non-strike Wednesday earlier this month to ensure I experienced a typical commuter travelling day.

Manea is located on the Ely to Peterborough line via March. The station is located a mile north of the village where 2,650 people live.

It has two short (too short) platforms each with a waiting shelter.

There’s one ticket machine, a cycle stand….

… and an information board including train times.

There’s also a staffed signal box controlling the level crossing.

Although a small rural station serving a sparse population, Manea enjoys a decent train service with both Cross Country and Greater Anglia trains providing links to a range of destinations with Ely and Peterborough (twelve direct trains to each) probably the most popular, but there are many other stations directly served too.

Commuter journeys to Ely are at 07:40 and 08:17 with return times from there at 17:00 and 18:15 and to Peterborough at 06:23, 07:09 and 08:26 with return times at 17:16, 17:50 and 18:13 giving a range of options for motorists leaving their cars in the new free to use car park.

The new car park was one of those much delayed projects that seem to bedevil railway infrastructure. It was mooted in the Fenland Railway Station Masterplan for Manea, March and Whittlesea stations drawn up by Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (under previous Mayor James Palmer) along with Fenland District Council.

A budget of £9.5 million was allocated for a range of improvements which for Manea included the famed car park as well as lengthened platforms to facilitate three coach trains (at the moment passengers have to alight/board in the rear coach westbound and front two coaches eastbound), new shelters and cycle parking facilities.

The full programme will take a few years to implement but the car park at Manea is the first major improvement along with one of the promised two new wooden shelters installed on platform 1 towards Peterborough as can be seen in the photographs above.

Although platform 2 has yet to receive its new shelter, it does have a rather cosy shed in which passengers can wait for a train in the dry.

And so to the car park at the centre of the media storm.

Problems with connecting its cctv to Cambridgeshire Police caused continuing delays to the opening of the car park, originally due to open in December 2020, but the gate finally opened on 7th August this year.

It’s been difficult to verify the reported £1 million cost as the individual finances for each part of the overall Masterplan don’t seem to be in the public domain but the quality of construction is to a high standard and, being in the Fens, I suspect there were costly drainage issues to resolve. It’s likely the land had to be acquired too.

There’s an electronic barrier/gate at the entrance/exit which automatically opens at 05:30 and closes at 22:30 with an intercom installed in case you’re trapped inside when the gate is closed.

There are covered spaces for 16 cycles plus some more in the open

The 112 spaces for cars (106 plus 6 for Blue Badge holders) are clearly marked out…

… and there’s a designated one way circulation for cars looking for that elusive space.

But as you can see from the photographs that’s not an issue four months on from opening.

Coincidentally there were just three cars parked during my Wednesday lunch time visit.

I got excited when a fourth car entered the car park while I was there …

… only for it to leave again having used it as a turn around.

My conclusion is reports of £1 million spent to accommodate three cars are true.

Furthermore, there are a small number of houses just by the railway station, south of the level crossing, and three cars were parked there too, which is closer to the station.

Although one looked as though it hadn’t moved for quite a while.

There’s no direct access from the new car park to the platforms. It involves a very short walk along Fodder Fen Road …

… which is probably because the small piece of land in between the two is privately owned with “no public right of way” across it, and there’s a ditch on it too.

And something I really don’t understand at all is the online Just Park company offers the bizarre deal of up to £11.10 to park in someone’s drive (I assume) for four hours and a 13 minute walk away.

Why?!

I suspect the construction of this car park was something the previous Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority was keen to put his name to as it’s a high profile piece of infrastructure and more impressive than a few waiting shelters and cycle racks. But time and again these things don’t seem to be thought through as to whether there really is a demand for such things, and if so how much that demand is likely to be.

A dozen or 20 spaces for a station the size and stature of Manea would seem about right, but over 100 with all the associated supporting infrastructure such as cctv, lighting, automatic gates and the ongoing upkeep and maintenance makes for a significant commitment.

And I do hope there’ll be a little bit of money left at the end of the Masterplan’s implementation to install a new totem sign.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS with a Christmas Eve Blog Special this Su

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