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Friday 22 May 2009

MORE CAR PARKING SPACES AT OXENHOLME STATION

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A new car park has been completed at Oxenholme The Lake District station where 46 additional parking spaces bring the total to 129.

There is an additional car park on the west side of the station and there have been changes made to the layout of the original car park on the east side. For the safety and security of users, the car park also has CCTV throughout with 24-hour recording.

All-day parking at Oxenholme will shortly increase in cost to £8, up from the previous £6 a day – the first increase in parking charges at the station since November 2005 and only the second in a decade.

To encourage leisure travellers at weekends, the daily rate for a Saturday or Sunday will be reduced to just £2.

Monthly, quarterly, six-monthly and annual season tickets are also available, which will also increase pro-rata with the new daily rate.

The new monthly ticket costs £98, effectively offering daily parking, based on 20 days use a month, at just £4.90 a day. The annual ticket is priced at £980 and if used for just 45 weeks a year offers an equivalent daily parking rate of just £4.36 a day.

Virgin Trains Station Manager at Oxenholme Stephen Reynolds said: “Over the past ten years demand for rail travel has continued to grow, bringing increased pressure on the car park at Oxenholme. The extra spaces should make it much easier to find a parking space. The new bargain rate at weekends is designed to appeal to families travelling on a budget.”

He added that passengers who do not want to drive to Oxenholme can use Lakes Line trains from Windermere, Staveley, Burneside and Kendal or local buses to connect with the main line.

The work at Oxenholme is part of a joint project between Virgin Trains and Network Rail to improve car parking at all 17 stations on the West Coast route which are managed by Virgin Trains. The other stations are: Lancaster, Penrith, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Carlisle, Runcorn, Preston, Crewe, Stockport, Macclesfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Stafford, Wolverhampton, Birmingham International, Coventry and Rugby.

David Golding, Network Rail's Route Enhancements Manager said: "More passengers are now travelling by train than ever before and the demand for rail travel is set to continue to rise. We predict that a large proportion of these extra passengers will drive to the station, putting more strain on the car park. We need to increase the number of parking spaces to cater for this demand so, working with Virgin Trains, we have committed £90 million to transform parking at many of the stations on the West Coast Main Line."