Rail
The Joint Local Transport Plan (JLTP) Rail Action Plan recognises the significant role the West of England’s rail network has to play in reducing congestion.
Read on for details of the West of England's rail activities.
 |
The development of the rail network is part of the West of England’s Travel+ package of projects that together aim to tackle congestion, improve air quality, ensure that alternatives to the car are a realistic first choice for the majority of trips, offer real travel choices - affordable, safe, secure, reliable simple to use and available to all - and meet both rural and urban needs. |
Campaign For Portishead and Henbury Reopening
Access for All Small Station Schemes
Cardiff to Portsmouth New Trains Bid
Severnside Community Rail Partnership
Visit to Tom Harris, Minister for Rail
Office of Rail Regulation Consultation 2008
Campaign for Portishead and Henbury Reopening
(See also Portishead rail corridor information)
In October 2008 the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways (FOSBR) launched a postcard campaign calling upon the West of England Partnership to include reopening the Henbury and Portishead lines to passengers in their Regional Funding Allocation transport bid to the South West Regional Assembly.
To date over 1,200 postcards have been sent to the West of England Partnership. With around 3,000 postcards handed out this is a very respectable response rate. Given that people had to provide their own stamp it is also an indication of the depth of support for improving rail services. A general summary of the sort of comments made is given below:
- Support for re-opening the Portishead line - majority of all comments and not just people from Portishead
- Lack of road access to and from Portishead and the need for a rail line
- Concern that development in Portishead in recent years not matched by access improvements
- Portishead line would reduce journey times, ease congestion on the A369 and promote tourism
- Limited comments on Henbury, with services linked to development in the North Fringe, Cribbs Causeway and Bristol Zoo's proposals
- General comments about the train as a sustainable, environmentally friendly option.
The postcards come from across the West of England area as shown in Figures One and Two (updated February 2009).
|
Figure One
|
Figure Two
|
Support is strongest from Portishead at 22%. In contrast only 2% of all support came from Henbury. This may reflect that not many cards were distributed in the Henbury area or that demand for a reopened Henbury railway line is not high compared to Portishead.
For more information on the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways go to www.fosbr.org.uk.
Access for all small stations schemes
Two successful bids have been made to the Department for Transport’s “Access for All Small Station Schemes” funding in 2008/09.
The first bid for £86,000 involved improving access at eleven stations (ten on the Severn Beach line plus Patchway) during 2008/09. Measures now implemented include signs, lighting, refurbished shelters, seats, steps, handrails and a new clock.
 |
 |
 |
 |
The second bid for £110,000 was for real time information at eight stations on the Severn Beach line including Clifton Down station. The first information point has now gone in on Clifton Down station.
Both bids were match funded by the local councils with First Great Western acting as project manager.
Cardiff to Portsmouth New Trains Bid
First Great Western, were in discussion with the Department for Transport for re-equipping the Cardiff to Portsmouth (via Bristol and Bath) service with a new fleet of 11 four-carriage trains. These new trains, similar to Class 170 design, would have added significant capacity, improve the quality and performance of services and be a major step towards delivering a ‘Greater Bristol Metro’ network. It was hoped that the 11 four carriage trains would form part of the Department for Transport's advance order for 200 new units.
Following the announcement of the electrification of the Great Western mainline, the order for 200 new units was cancelled. Whilst in the short and medium term this cancellation is disappointing, electrification does open the longer term possibility of local train services being provided by electric trains.
To view the first letter click here.
A second letter was sent on 7th April 2009 and a reply received from Lord Adonis, Minister of State for Transport, on 28th April 2009. Unfortunately Lord Adonis was unable to shed any light on when any new trains will reach the West of England.
Rail Action Plan Progress
| Action | Progress/Future actions |
| Short term | |
| Local station improvements | Successful bids for “Access for All Small Station scheme” funding 2008/09. Severnside Community Rail Partnership schemes. |
| Third platform at Bristol Parkway | Opened by Network Rail in 2007. |
| Longer platforms and improved facilities at Worle | Study identifying costed options is now complete. Bid for facilities in Weston Package. |
| Half hourly cross Bristol train services | Rail Project Group and evidence submitted to Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS). |
| Introduction of JLTP area bus/rail Travelcard | First Great Western introduced new Freedom Travelpass in 2007. |
| Support Severnside Community Rail Partnership | Ongoing support from the four councils. |
| Medium term | |
| Half hourly service Bristol to Avonmouth | 3 trains every 2 hours service introduced May 2008. Half hourly service included in RUS evidence. |
| Dualling line to Weston-super-Mare | Included in RUS evidence. Network Rail has now dropped the scheme as performance benefits already achieved |
| Fourth platform at Bristol Parkway | Included in Network Rail’s Business Plan (April 2008) for implementation 2009/10. Network Rail has now dropped the scheme as performance benefits already achieved. |
| Yate turnback and half hourly services to Weston-super-Mare | Rail Project Group identified costs of £2.75m for Yate turnback and £2.95m for Weston-super-Mare bay platform. Included in Network Rail Business Plan (April 2008) for implementation in 2011/12, subject to third party funding. Included in RUS evidence and tested as part of the Great Western RUS - Draft for Consultation, September 2009. |
| Long Term | |
| Re-introduction of Portishead passenger services | North Somerset Council study (June 2008) identified ways forward. Re-opening costs £7.5m – £15m, with an annual subsidy of £0.4m - £0.9m. North Somerset Council is purchasing 3 miles of disused trackbed to safeguard the alignment and commisioned Network Rail to take the project up to GRIP Stage 2 Option Selection. |
| Resignalling Bristol Temple Meads | Included in RUS evidence. |
| Re-introduction of passenger services between Avonmouth and Filton | Included in RUS evidence. |
| New stations at Charfield and Corsham | Included in RUS evidence. Corsham considered in Transport Innovation Fund work. |
Rail Project Group
A Rail Project Group was formed in March 2007 involving the four councils, the Government Office for the South West, Network Rail, the Department for Transport, First Great Western and the Severnside Community Rail Partnership.
Its focus has been on improving Bristol services from Weston-super-Mare to Yate. This work has now been expanded to cover a ‘Greater Bristol Metro’ style network of cross Bristol rail services and it now forms part of our evidence submission to the Route Utilisation Strategy process.
Rail Surveys
| Each year the four local authorities in the West of England subregion conduct a survey of rail patronage within the area. The 2008 West of England Rail Survey Report looked at the main trends from the November 2008 survey. |  |
Severn Beach Line
 |
From May 2008 a new three trains every two hours service was introduced on the Severn Beach line. For the first time Sunday services are also running. |
Passenger figures have increased as a result of the innovative work between First Great Western and Bristol City Council. Figures from our annual rail survey show a 22% increase in passengers using the Severn Beach Line since 2006. Also on the Severn Beach line, Network Rail agreed to fund a third of the cost of providing a turnback at Clifton Down station, with Bristol City Council and First Great Western providing the remaining funding. The turnback brings reliability benefits to services and helps to reduce the number of cancelled trains. The turnback came into operation in 2009.
Find out more about what is happening on the Severn Beach Line.
See also Access for All Small Station Schemes and Severnside Community Rail Partnership.
Severnside Community Rail Partnership
| The Severnside Community Rail Partnerships Progress Report, January 2010 has been published. |  |
The Severnside Schools Community Stations Programme has won the Community Engagement Award in the national Network Rail Awards 2009. Joining forces with First Great Western and local schools 11 unstaffed stations in the Bristol region have been transformed with new artwork and environmental improvements.
Find out more about the work of the Severnside Community Rail Partnership.
All aboard for train trip to see Rail Minister (2 April 2008)
Councillors from the West of England Partnership met Tom Harris, Minister for Rail at the House of Commons on 2 April 2008.
Joined by local Members of Parliament, this was a meeting to discuss opportunities for developing rail in the region. Executive Members for transport and officers from the four councils plus the Chair and Vice Chair of the West of England's Planning, Transport and Environment Group (PTEG) all attended.
The meeting was a good opportunity to demonstrate the four councils working together, raising the profile of the West of England and the importance of rail and the growth agenda.
An offer for the West of England to take part in train technology trials was well received by the Department for Transport. The importance of resignalling and transforming Bristol Temple Meads for delivering increased capacity was raised and the Minister gave a commitment to ask Network Rail on their plans for this key national and regional network bottleneck. This was a productive meeting.
In a letter to us on 30 April 2008 Tom Harris said: “I also found our meeting useful. I note what you say about the development of governance arrangements in your organisation in response to future development challenges and your views of the resignalling and transformation of Bristol Temple Meads. In relation to your desire to be considered a potential partner in new rail technology trials, I have ensured that a copy of your letter has been sent to officials in the department working on these issues.”
The West of England looks forward to meeting and working with the Minister again on sub-regional transport priorities.
Office of Rail Regulation Consultation 2008
The Office of the Rail Regulation's (ORR) has been consulting on how much funding Network Rail should have for its Business Plan 2009 to 2014. The ORR proposed cutting a few schemes and reduce the budgets of others.
For the West of England area this only affects proposals to upgrade the line speed from Westerleigh Junction (outside Bristol) to Barnt Green (outside Birmingham) to 110mph. A £30m+ scheme has been reduced to £8m but this still delivers a line speed of 100mph. Network Rail appears to have accepted this.
Reported in the press is the deletion of the scheme to double the line between Swindon and Kemble. As this is not on a direct route to the West of England, it has very little impact on the West of England.
More importantly, Network Rail has a discretionary fund to pay for smaller schemes such as Bristol Parkway 4th platform and Bath Spa resignalling. This remains at £234m nationally and our concern is there will be insufficient funding as schemes compete against each other. As part of the West of England Partnership's response to the ORR consultation, we argued that we would like to see the fund increased. This would allow schemes like the Weston Bay platform and Yate turnback to be funded accelerating delivery of the Greater Bristol Metro.
The Partnership welcomes the announcement that schemes for the fourth platform at Bristol Parkway and resignalling between Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads are to be funded through Network Rail’s discretionary fund.