Network Rail asked to reign in costs for Imperial Wharf station

http://www.builderandengineer.co.uk/...ation-880.html

Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Hammersmith and Fulham Council is calling on Network Rail to rein in
its spiralling costs to oversee the construction of the long awaited
station at Imperial Wharf in Fulham.
The council wants Network Rail to pay the £1.4m shortfall out of its
contingency finds.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council (H&F) working with Kensington & Chelsea
Council, Tfl and developers St.George, had a funding package agreed in
the summer that would have meant the station got a green light but
just as progress looked likely Network Rail's construction and project
management fees increased. The total cost of building the station is
now £7.93m - more than four times the original £1.75m cost which was
first mooted in the late 1990s.
H&F Council deputy leader and cabinet member for Environment, Cllr
Nicholas Botterill, said: "We have gone as far as we can in terms of
financing the building of this station and we are asking Network Rail
to pay for the last £1.4m of this £8m project. Failure is not an
option as local business, residents and commuters are desperate for
the station to be completed as soon as possible."
The proposed station will be built north of the West London Line
railway bridge over the River Thames. The station will serve the
Townmead Road and Lots Road areas of Fulham and Chelsea, with the
recent and proposed developments of Imperial Wharf, Chelsea Harbour
and Lots Road Power Station.
Originally scheduled to open last month, it is now not known when the
station will be completed
unquote

On Oct 18, 9:29�am, Mwmbwls wrote:
Network Rail asked to reign in costs for Imperial Wharf station

http://www.builderandengineer.co.uk/...k-rail-asked-t...

Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Hammersmith and Fulham Council is calling on Network Rail to rein in
its spiralling costs to oversee the construction of the long awaited
station at Imperial Wharf in Fulham.
The council wants Network Rail to pay the £1.4m shortfall out of its
contingency finds.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council (H&F) working with Kensington & Chelsea
Council, Tfl and developers St.George, had a funding package agreed in
the summer that would have meant the station got a green light but
just as progress looked likely Network Rail's construction and project
management fees increased. The total cost of building the station is
now £7.93m - more than four times the original £1.75m cost which was
first mooted in the late 1990s.
H&F Council deputy leader and cabinet member for Environment, Cllr
Nicholas Botterill, said: "We have gone as far as we can in terms of
financing the building of this station and we are asking Network Rail
to pay for the last £1.4m of this £8m project. Failure is not an
option as local business, residents and commuters are desperate for
the station to be completed as soon as possible."
The proposed station will be built north of the West London Line
railway bridge over the River Thames. The station will serve the
Townmead Road and Lots Road areas of Fulham and Chelsea, with the
recent and proposed developments of Imperial Wharf, Chelsea Harbour
and Lots Road Power Station.
Originally scheduled to open last month, it is now not known when the
station will be completed
unquote

The local newspaper in Fulham stated, a few months ago, that the St.
George developers of Imperial Wharf (on the Western side of the
railway) had breached planning consent by building many more
apartments than had been agreed. Consequently, London Borough of
Hammersmith & Fulham felt it was in a strong position to screw out of
them the "extra" money needed to build the much-fabled railway
station.

Needless to say the moronic Tory Council (which I admit to having
voted for - only in the hope of getting rid of the thoroughly
incompetent and dishonest Labour lot, last year) is too busy closing
the borough best primary school (Peterborough School, of which I am an
Old Boy and former Governor) to try and extract the money for the
station that was PROMISED by the developers many years ago. In fact,
the then Council had, as I recall, a condition that the station would
have to be up and running before Phase II of Imperial Wharf could
begin!

It seems that a combination of dishonest money-making developers,
dishonest and incompetent local government and total indifference by
Railtrack and the train operators will ensure that this station
remains a pipe-dream. As I stated it would when I addressed the local
residents' meeting on the subject all those years ago.

Marc.