Great Western Coffee Shop

Years ago, I remember a press release trying to drum up excitement about the fact that a new consortium of insurance companies trading as The Mall Company had bought The Galleries shopping centre in Bristol, and that to be consistent with their corporate branding they were going to rename it 'The Mall' - something that would make perfect sense were it not for the fact that there was already a well-established and popular shopping centre called 'The Mall' some 11.5km to the north. They were adamant that this would not cause confusion. It did. The name only reverted to 'The Galleries' when they flogged the property to HSBC a few years later.

On their website (https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/passengers/station-improvements/new-stations-fund/), NR are referring to the new Portway P&R station as 'Portway Parkway'. Please tell me this name isn't going to stick! Apart from the fact that it's somewhat tonguetwistular, it is within 15km of another popular Parkway station. This way lies madness.

An acquaintance used to make weekly journeys between Doncaster (or thereabouts) and Exeter. Being a Yorkshireman who'd never encountered the Parkway concept, he always misheard it as "Bristol Partway". Which is how I think of it now! Though it is, AFAIK, the original Parkway station, taking its name from the M32 which was under construction at the same time, rather than any connection to Park & Ride.

Yes, it was the original parkway station. In my opinion the subsequent use of parkway has been somewhat devalued, where the only station in a town is given the Parkway treatment purely because it happens to have a big car park and is used by motorists as a railhead (Port Talbot and Didcot being the obvious examples).

After all, Kemble has just had a big expansion to its car park, and I suspect the majority of passengers don't hail from Kemble, so why not call that Kemble Parkway too?

Or take a lead from Ryanair and call it Cirencester Parkway!

Wouldn't Ryanair just call it Cirencester though?

No, it would be Kemble-London.

I've never really understood the sense of "parkway". Take the former Bodmin Road. Driving to Bodmin Parkway and catching the train to Bodmin wasn't possible because when the station was renamed, there was no service into Bodmin. Encouraging people to take the car from Bodmin and surroundings to Bodmin Parkway for travel elsewhere implies a big car park à la Tiverton Parkway.... which there isn't. Besides, if they want to catch the train, they have no choice, anyway.
 ::)

 
 

Much easier to name it Avonside Park&Ride Station.

To my mind that makes sense, though the good burghers of Kemble might feel somewhat slighted.

I think 'Parkway' is actually a pretty good brand for a big out-of-town station, though as a concept (and notwithstanding the apparant car-bias of the current Western Super Mayor) its days are almost certainly numbered. With over-use, it becomes more like the (real) GWR's amusing habit of calling a station nowhere near the place it purports to serve '...Road', as in 'Bodmin Road'. What's that called these days? Oh.

Was the parking at Bristol Parkway actually free when it first open as part of the attraction of using it?

Don't think it matters what they call the station unless they manage to massively increase both frequency and reliability on the line, considering Shirehampton station is so close (10 minute walk) and how much more frequent and reliable the P&R bus service is, the station could well end up being a disaster anyway.

Confused by also naming stations 'Something Road' because they're on 'Something Road', like Stapleton Rd and St Andrew's Rd. Has anyone ever ended up at the latter expecting a Scottish university or a round of golf?

Certainly was. I knew at least one person who used it as a handy place to store untaxed cars - which was fine for three months or so, and then BR would come along and tow them away.

Bristol Parkway is so named because the M32 was, at the time of construction known as "The Bristol Parkway"  http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_7767000/7767453.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_7767000/7767453.stm).  The station is named after the road and its name has nothing to do with car parking.  "Parkway" was originally an American term applied to scenic roads designed from the outset for motorcars and placed through parkland or countryside which could be driven on for pleasure.  When it came to the UK, the term lost some of the scenic connotations, but retained the idea of being a new road cut through the countryside into the city.  Only later did the surfix "parkway" come to mean either a station with a large car park (what we would call Park and Ride today) or alternatively a station which is some distance from the town it serves (not the case with Didcot)

If this was Wikipedia, I'd put one of those irritating {{citation needed}} tags next to that... do you think it possible that the folks who named it realised that 'park' can mean more than one thing?

As an aside: Why do we drive on parkways, but park on driveways?

If "parkway stations" had to be named after the town they served, wouldn't they nearly all have to be named London Parkway?  Be a bit confusing on the way back... :)

Paul

I think there's a difference between parkway and park & ride, in that a parkway station is mostly used to take passengers away from one town to another, whereas a park & ride is used to take them into the centre of an urban area. A parkway disperses, a park & ride collects and concentrates. It's quite possible I imagined the difference in order to explain the different names before I knew of the M32 origins of parkway, but even after learning that (I think I only learned it earlier this year), I still like to try to see this difference, aware that I'm partly kidding myself. Though I also think that the way we use park & ride stations might have changed over the last decade or so.

That's a very Metropolitan centred comment if I may say so. 

Us out in the 'provinces' do go to other places by train you know.

There's no reason why a word can't evolve in meaning a bit at a time, from what Parkway meant, via a single example at Bristol, to become a recognisable marker for a station outside a town, suitable for people arriving by car, so they don't need to flog their way into the town centre. Now, I get the mental image from it of parkland (green fields) and a car park. The "way" bit does nothing to the meaning, but in Parkway as a label it needs to be there because Park is already in use for stations - you wouldn't like to confuse Worcester Parkway with Worcester Park.

The Portway half is not so very different. I understand Bristol Portway is recent, and was built for access to the new port facilities at he mouth of the Avon. The name Portway is old, and (while Wikipedia is uncharacteristically silent of the subject) I'm sure it comes from "port" as in portage, porterage, and porter - a road or route used for goods. Mind you that fits for the Bristol one too.

I was taught at school that Portway meant the way (Anglo Saxon word meaning road) to the market (town).  There is a Portway along the bottom of the escarpment of the Berkshire Downs - that is nowhere near the sea! 

Judging by the squeals of the wheels on the Class 166's, the name Porkway Partway is very apt. Perhaps it could be marketed as the Oink, Oink, Stuffing and Crackling railway ??

I think you've missed Bmblbzzz's point - Bristol Parkway was never "a station outside a town, suitable for people arriving by car, so they don't need to flog their way into the town centre"; rather, it was and is a station where Bristol (or should I say 'West of England' - pah!) people catch trains to other faraway places. So quite the reverse of a park-and-ride. As to the etymology of 'Parkway', I think it is at least in part a portmanteau of Park (as in 'ditch the tinwork') + Railway.

Bristol Parkway was the winning name in a competition held jointly by BR and the Bristol Evening Post to name the new station when it was being built. The winning entrants comment was he chose the name to reflect the fact that you would drive your car to the station car park and use the railway. It was, as has been stated, the first of the Parkway stations, the next one being Mansfield and Alfreton Parkway.

It was built on part of the former Stoke Gifford marshalling yard.

At one time I was told that the farebox take at the station exceeded that of Temple Meads.

Tiverton and Bodmin Parkway strike me as being the modern equivalent of adding "Road" onto the end of a station name, to indicate that it's not an easy walk to the town centre, and with the added "flag" that it's easy for private car use. Others such as Warwick Parkway and Thame Parkway fall into the same camp.

Others such as Didcot Parkway are actually close by the town that they serve, but have a significant car to / from rail role - and we can add Wilton Parkway to that at soe stage.

Perhaps some other "Road" stations could be renamed? There are 50 stations with "Road" in their names, but many of those are named after a specific road - such as Navigation Road, London Road, Ferry Road, Victoria Road.  However, there's a ring to potential names like "Clarbeston Parkway", "Morchard Parkway" and "Llanbister Parkway", isn't there?

And I think you've missed my points - that the word's meaning has changed from what is was initially (before Bristol had one), via the first examples, to what it is now. And also (though I didn't make this as clear as I might have) that without Wherever Parkway, the alternative station was in a town centre (Wherever or somewhere else), and that's where drivers would have to go to get a train.

For fear of a quibble too far, 'before Bristol had one' points to a time when the word had no rail-related meaning. But I do indeed take your point that whilst there was once a clear distinction between a Parkway station (for people leaving Wherever) and a Park and Ride (for people travelling into Wherever), that distinction has become blurred. Which is a shame, because it was a useful one.

Portway Parkway sounds too rolled off the current station naming machine conveyor belt. Plain 'Portway' would probably be better. Surely there must be a more inspiring name for a new stop on the line that carries the majesty of the Severn Riviera Express at the gateway to the Avon Gorge?

Gadarene Gorge or Gadarene Gate might do. One might have a  problem deciding who the swine are ...the passengers or the TOC staff ! They will all be asked to avoid phrases like 'chop chop', 'I could murder a bacon roll', or 'we were crammed in like sausages' to so not to offend the aural sensibilties of our porcine neighbours.

Any reason this topic is headed Partway and not Parkway?

Just a bit of fun swapping the t and k around. Rumour has it that the latest train crew are called Harris & Walls, Richmond & Bowyer !

Yes. I thought it was funnier.

I get it now, don't mind me, I was getting confused with all the pork related discussion.

For some reason I rather fancy a fry up, that might wake me up a bit.

Crackling idea, Gromit !

Don't gorge yourself!

Now if they every brought the railway back to Calne...

Calne Pork and Rind?
Calne Inter-rashernal?

Found a Parkway new to me, Bishops Parkway - Wells.

Doesn't count if there's a space between 'park' and 'way' (https://goo.gl/maps/28Qo89P4tYs)!

Please cure yourself of these puns, you silly sausage

Is RS 'nuts' or just simply ir-rasher-nal ?

I think it was Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways who suggested building the Park and Ride next to Shirehampton station all those years ago. Nonsense, said the powers that be. The car park isn't currently very busy. I'm not sure that the station will change that enormously.

Could this catch on in Cornwall? We could have the Parkandillack Parkway Park and Ride.

There is apparently a sort-of plan by Wokingham Borough Council to clear the site of Twyford station for development, and create a new Twyford Parkway a bit to the east (but only as far away as Ruscombe). This has only come to light in a leaked ITT for doing a "masterplan", so the details are a bit sketchy. The Wokingham Paper reports did mention a guide figure of £100M for a new station, plus £30M more to "move the Henley branch line" (!).

It's not even clear at this stage whether the "Parkway" label was picked by WBC, to make it an attractive feature of the new Ruscombe development proposal, or by the opponents as a dismissive "making it like ..." tag. And if so, like where? Is Didcot (the nearest example) so undesirable, seen from Twyford?

Hadn't picked up on that in the plans. I'd assumed they were talking about a Park and Ride to the current Twyford station. Considering WBCs plans would double the size of Twyford moving the station seems a minor point.

No thank you. I'm not sure Clarbeston Road station even has a car park (I've been dropped there to catch a train once, and can't recall noticing a car park). Also, a number of houses have been built around the station over the years so that, looking at it on Google Earth, 'Clarbeston Road' now seems to be a bigger village/hamlet than 'Clarbeston' itself. I think I've seen an address for a property in Clarbeston that gives it as Clarbeston, Clarbeston Road as well.

Source: Bristol 24/7

Nice of them to credit FoSBR for the photo..!

The original plan, costing £400,000 and opening in 2013, seems nearly as long ago and far away as FoSBR's suggestion to build the park and ride by Shirehampton station.

In other news, still no sign of Glenn Miller...

This in today from WECA.https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/seven-projects-share-13-7m-as-the-west-of-england-gets-building/.

There's something of the Trump about that Western super Mayor. That's a lot of spin on not very much.

I thought the PP station was already fully funded even before the recent announcement of funding or is it a blinder to mask the inflation since the last funding package was announced. How much of the present funding package will WECA/Mayor Bowles actually sign cheques for since the project has already been through the GRIP process. Mayor Bowles has to me an irritating habit of being foted at the completion of projects many of which were conceived before WECA existed.

In today's Bristles local daily there is an article on the PP Station which cites MP Darren Jones commenting on the very subject of the funding being re-cycling of old funding as new money, this saga goes on, why does it take so long for anything to get done in Bristol where a public body is involved ?

This one breaks new records, then, having been announced for the first time by the LibDem administration and/or the LEP as long ago as 2010, then again at regular intervals thereafter.

Now, last I heard, shovels are supposed to be in ground next month.  I'm wondering what odds a competent bookie would put on that actually happening.

Wasn't WRECA supposed to get rid of all this inertia in transport projects. At this rate, Ashley Down will still be at the announcement stage at the beginning of the next century.

I am posting this as a news article, though there seems very little new in this news. From the BBC (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-53664639)

That is absolutely ridiculous. Either the station was designed without lighting, walkways and shelters, and the drainage somehow didn't matter until the station was built, or somebody is finding excuses for the cost going up, when the probable reason is the delay. Even for WRECA, £1 million seems a bit steep for a couple of bus shelters and a light.

Piss up and brewery spring to mind ...

Report in todays Bristles local daily of another delay to this project but confirms that the project is now fully funded. Yes fully funded at todays costs but how about the inflation that will occur between yesterdays projected completion date and the now newly delayed completion date together with the revelation that design work for the project has not been started yet. Let me put another damper on this project, do they know if they own the land on which the platform will be sited.    😗

Full story is here: https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristols-new-train-station-delayed-4405716

But the article claims Filton Abbey Wood was the last station opened in the city when it is in fact in South Gloucestershire.

In the city but not the City. Or to quote Grahame Reading General, "the leech-like suburbs".  :D

Edited to correct attribution (see below!).

Hey ... those are NOT my words.   Used by member Reading General ((here)) (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=22464.msg276185#msg276185) last November referred back to by three other members, but never my words and probably not wording I would re-use or concur with!

I did think that sounded less diplomatic than the grahame I know..!

Sorry. For some reason I remembered it as being your phrase.

Not sure if we've heard this news ... I think I may have heard similar before?


from Bristol Live (https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristols-new-train-station-delayed-4405716) this morning


Oh ... scrolling down ... think it's a retelling of a story from a few years days back ...

Maybe you read it here?  ;D

By means that I am unable to fully divulge, I can say with reasonable confidence that the name of the new station will be:

Portway Park and Ride

...which would seem like a very sensible choice!

Ah - you have been to the GBR Signmakers  ;D

(http://modern.wellho.net/demo/totemnew.php?main=PORTWAY+PARK+%26+RIDE&region=26&font=britrln_.ttf&above=&below=)

I can't say... 8)

Just feeling my way around this most informative website. I am from the Cheshire East area. There was a discussion earlier in this thread about the use of the word "parkway" and in the south of Manchester, very many years ago, was a good quality road with the name of Princess Parkway, which in its later stages passed through parkland-type areas. That road now where it passes over the River Mersey now becomes the M56 which passes near to Manchester Airport.

Back on the subject of this thread, which I see has been given a "play on words" thread name, the last month that I heard as a possible railway station opening was December 2021.

The "pork" in the title is also a reference to the creatures we tend to see flying by whenever an opening date is mentioned - I was around on the campaigning scene when they were hoping to get it open by the end of the 2010s  ;D

The full 20-year saga is here: https://fosbr.org.uk/timelines/portway-station/

This is to be a single-platform station, on straight and level track. You might very well think it should have been pretty straightforward to build it, XenophonPCDGS, but then you're not from around here!

'Portway Parkway' was mooted as the new station's name for a while. Aside from the obvious tongue-twister, there was also potential for confusing it with Bristol Parkway. 'Portway Station' was also mooted as a name, but given that many Bristolians refer to nearby Bristol Parkway as simply 'Parkway' (it's the original!) that too would have been confusing.

The only thing the new station really serves is the long-established Portway Park and Ride facility. It seems surprising it's taken the powers that be so long to reach the conclusion that it would make sense to name it after that...

Ooops on my part there - I actually meant to say "I was around on the campaigning scene when they were hoping to get it open by the end of the 2000s"  ;D

One of the reasons that the naming process became such a saga was that the station was originally partly mooted as a replacement for the existing Shirehampton station, and a number of years passed with several variations of "Shirehampton and..." before that notion was wisely dropped.

You Johnny-come-lately! I was there when the Lib Dem cabinet member with the transport portfolio Tim Kent announced that it would be open by 2013 at a cost of £400,000. That confident asserrtion must have been made before the Lib Dems lost power in 2011.

I refer the honourable gentleman to the correction i made some posts ago  ;D

I am obliged to my learned/noble/gallant* friend!

(*delete as appropriate)

FoSBR is told that work hasn't started yet at Portway Park and Ride station because of 'some additional delays' in getting GRIP5 (detailed design) completed.

Bristol City Council are now waiting for Network Rail to inform them when they will start on site. With an estimated 20 week build, the station 'should be complete by the end of March 2022'.

Sorry Team Reading Green Park, but I did say that Porkway Partway wouldn't give up their "longest time taken to open a railway station" lead easily!

I am sure I recall the sitting council cabinet member with responsibility for transport at the time (about 2010) saying it would be up and running by 2013, at a total cost of £400,000, right after MetroBust started running and paying back the cost through the charges on bus companies using it.

We've all passed a lot of water under the bridge since then.

Matthew 8:26

Genesis 7 (https://www.everyday.org.uk/blog/2020/11/12/if-you-build-it-they-will-come)

I take it that's not a trick of a tail then!....

Or The Lamb Lies Down On Broadmead...

In the case of MetroBust, designed to overcome the problems of buses getting stuck in traffic, Proverbs 26:11 seems appropriate.

For some reason, a few lines from Act I, Scene III of The Merchant of Venice spring to mind...

Most kind. Antonio is indeed a good man.

Anyway enough of this gay banter:

Source: Network Rail, Bristol railway work update, December 2021

Hurrah, just as I beginning to find Father Christmas more believable than the notion of Portway ever opening!
I shall raise a little glass to the news later.

I shall keep the bubbly on ice for now, although now that Network rail are involved, it does look more likely than not that it will happen.

 ;D  ;D

With Red Squirrel's talk of "gay banter" I thought the station had been renamed, Portway Park and Pride.

But it will always be Porkway Partway in our hearts! Good news from Network Rail, whatever they call it.

Some signs of activity here. A site compound has been established on the left (mostly out of shot!), and a blue track safety barrier has been erected alongside running line:

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/portway_p_and_r_scaled.jpg)

That's saved me a journey tomorrow. 
The blue safety barrier was there last week when I took a peek.  I think it's been there a while as it was also on a couple of pictures on other sites previously.
The compound definitely was not there last week.  When arriving that day, I noticed a number of people in high viz tabards but these turned out to be staff at the Covid if testing centre in the car park.
Perhaps significantly, the train I took down to Avonmouth to have a look there came to a brief halt just shy of the site of the new station.  I also noticed the following service slowing down on it's approach.
I was quite amused by a house, just the other side of the A4 Portway opposite the station site.  It had a "Portway" station totem on a post in the front garden and at the time, an illuminated Christmas train on the garage roof! ☺

Hmm, well now. These plastic barriers are presumably associated with the COVID test centre, but the site safes etc just visible on the left (and the dumper truck) are presumably for the station... I'll admit it's not as exciting as you might hope.

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/pway2.jpg)

The compound picture looks new to me (from last week).  I wonder who the contractors are?  If they are the same ones who've just finished replacing the Ocean Railway Bridge at Stonehouse, then it should take long!

Edit to correct last sentence to give opposite meaning. My misspelling, sory!

Good to see that work is getting underway on the new station but I notice that they are building it at the Shirehampton end of the site. Apologies if this is a dumb question (I don't recall having seen the plans) but what is planned to be the route to enable pedestrians (either commuters for the nearby industrial units on West Town Lane and Portview Road or local residents) to get to & from the new station for commuting purposes? Will there be a footpath from West Town Lane or will such users simply have to walk through the same gate as that used by road traffic?

(Come to think of it is there still a live link to the plans for the new station?)

Dave

Perhaps not exciting, but at least that's the first million quid spent.


Whilst I didn't expect pedestrians to be considered in a plan for a park and ride, the initial plans do show segregated access from the bus stop within the site. I remember once walking into there to catch the bus, after dropping my car at a nearby garage for some reason, and I don't recall feeling trepidation, so I suppose there must be a footpath going in. The application number is 18/03830/F if this hyperlink (https://pa.bristol.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=PC097NDNG3E00) doesn't work.

TonyK - I’ve never managed to link to a planning application like that (it works!). How did you do it?

In my experience only a minority of planning websites allow the use of links that bypass their front end search system.  On some sites that I’ve used even if links happen to work for a few hours they time out very quickly.

Paul

Thanks for that link Tony. I imagine that they may find people walking the vehicular access from West Town Lane to get to / from the industrial units over the other side of the level crossing as a means of convenience: the existing stations at Shirehampton and Avonmouth are not convenient stations for employees there. The Officers Report on those documents also does acknowledge that they anticipate that "a high proportion of foot traffic will come from the local area". Let us hope that the new station proves to be well used by Park & Ride customers and local residents alike.

Dave

I'm not sure I did anything you wouldn't have tried already, but I copied the link for the documents list rather than the details page. If it isn't that, then it must be my wrist action.


That seems at first unlikely, especially if your experience of Avonmouth is the bit from the M5 bridge to the M5 roundabout. It is only when you spend time visiting (or occasionally observing) people there, as I did, that you realise (a) how big it is, (b) how many homes there are, (c)how many people live in those homes. I'll leave (d) for now.

Sunny day so I thought why not have a look for any progress at Portway?
There sure is.
Big compound area now cleared with Heras type fencing around it and Portacabins installed plus JCBs on site.  Some of the car parking area adjacent to the station site is also fenced off and you can just make out from one of the pictures below that some uprooted fence posts have been stored there.
No one visible on site but it was lunch time when I took the pictures.

Although it was all quiet in the car park compound, this JCB was busy moving around just the other side of the railway line.  I have no idea if it was connected to the station build.

And finally.

I took the attached photo to help address the question asked earlier by DaveHarries regarding pedestrian access to the station.  These are the steps from the bus stops down to the car park and from where I was standing the station site perimeter was perhaps 20 metres away across the car parking area.  From the bus stop zone itself, access to the A4 Portway was easy although I didn't think to take a picture of it.

FoSBR's Carol Durrant was up on the M5 Avon Bridge earlier, and took some pictures. It's really happening, Lee! The light was failing, and she's had to hand-hold while zooming in on a bouncing bridge deck.

This shows what appears to be a new construction compound, to the south-west of the railway. This, I think, is for flood defence works in the area. The station site is at the top of the frame:
(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/portway_p_and_r_2_20220127.jpg)

...and this gives a closer view of the station itself. The single platform will be to the left, i.e. north-east, of the railway:
(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/portway_p_and_r_1_20220127.jpg)

It looks like there's definitely been some recent activity.  The dark area in the second picture between the railway line and the car parking area looks newly dug over, very different to how it looked when I was there not long previously.

So... it was all a jolly jape when I started this thread, but I think the joke has run its course. Some might say 'Porkway Partway' stopped being funny a while ago... so I have renamed this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmBVe2gzJy0

Since it is now in progress should it move to the Bristol board?

A very good idea. Done!

Source: Bristol Live

Item on Radio Bristol this morning. Scroll forward to 2:20:00

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bgq9t8

That's 2 hours 20 minutes, not 2 minutes 20 seconds as I initially read it.

Good point. I have edited my post to clarify.

The FoSBR chap was very good.....we should get him on this forum!   ;D

Too many ‘ums’ and ‘you knows’ for my taste…

I thought you came over rather well Tim.

I’m an expert at editing out such foibles. But it’s self defeating.  If everyone thinks those on the radio speak like that they won’t be interviewed! 

Thanks. My children thought I was hilarious!

Went out to Portway Park and Ride to talk to the BBC for next Sunday's Politics West show this morning. The best view of the site is from the train; here's a couple of views:

This is the south end of the site:
(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/portway_1_20220209.jpg)

...and this is the north end. As you can see, the ground is a lot higher here:
(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/portway_2_20220209.jpg)

Note that the Severn Beach line will be closed Saturday 19th to Sunday 27th February inclusive. Part of this is for signalling works in connection with the new Portway Parkway station but NR's website also says that there will be sleeper replacement work between the Bristol Port (Avonmouth Docks) crossing at St. Andrews Road as well as drainage refurb between Montpelier and Sea Mills stations. The Up Relief line will also be under blockade for renewal of signalling equipment at Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill.

Dave

Good thing that is Four Track now.

Indeed. What a relief.

It would have been a downer to block the whole line.

Network Rail have tweeted some images of work in progress at Portway Park and Ride Station

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FThBj9DWUAEgFut?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FThB09LWYAAI7na?format=jpg&name=small)

These concrete blocks, together with the piles laid on side, hold back the ballast:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FThCbhBWYAACwKG?format=jpg&name=small)

Kit of parts ready to assemble:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FThCsFIXwAYBREN?format=jpg&name=small)

And a video:

https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1529130107188785153

This link has Photos from Network Rail Twitter account showing the progress being made

https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1547477187900719105?s=21&t=dDQAqqG87tnRy90LNK-Yzg

FoSBR's Carol Durrant took this photo today, showing progress on Portway P&R station:

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/portway_p_and_r_20220922.jpg)

Do they really need that many lamp columns?

Crikey! It could be open within a few years.

It does look like a lot, doesn't it, even given the foreshortening? It's a 5-car platform, and by my count there's 15 columns - but they won't all be for lighting, there's CCTV and CIS to consider. The lighting design is all laid out in planning app 22/02328/COND on the Bristol City Council planning portal.

Aren’t they going to have to pointlessly rearrange the tactiles a few times yet?  Or is that just Reading Green Park…  ???

Just announced that the Porkway Partway won't open next month as planned.....delayed until the Spring.
Given the Portishead DCO approval in the last 24 hours, I am  tempted to ask...which spring ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-63623487

I think this was pretty predictable. It's an RSCLOF (Railway Story -  Costly, Late, Overspecified and Fun).

Seriously though, most (if not all) construction and infrastructure projects are running late at the moment, due to worldwide supply chain problems. Given its history it was unlikely that this station would be immune.

It's still overtaking Reading Green Park!

I think this complicated set of initials is just setting us up for a future bout of Clof - cutting.

Paul

How late is a matter of conjecture, and where you start the clock running. Or very long calendar, in this case. I have had a quick look for evidence to back up my somewhat haphazard memory, but so far without success. The Post's old website doesn't work any more, and WECA's minutes have supplanted the WEP's. It's out there somewhere, and when I have time, I might look harder. BUT I am quite sure that I recall Councillor Tim Kent, then transport supremo in the Lib Dem administration, announce that the Portway station would be a revolutionary modular affair, costing only £400,000, and would be open by 2013 without fail. This must have been before 2012, when George Ferguson assumed despotic powers, and I think it was most likely just after the funding for the then BRT scheme was confirmed in the 2011 budget. Whenever it was, that firm prediction hasn't aged well. Nor, for that matter did George Ferguson's reign. Or the mayoral project for that matter.

FoSBR's best effort at a timeline is here: https://fosbr.org.uk/timelines/portway-station/

Your memories of the early days may be a bit less sketchy than ours!

Snap!  I also recall reading about this and, dismissing any weird telepathy based explanation , it looks like this must have been so.

Perhaps so-but getting rid of the last four letters might prove to be a pain in the RS.....

Dave

Things are progressing at Portway Park & Ride:

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20221219_portway-1-scaled.jpg)
(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20221219_portway-6-scaled.jpg)

Apropos of nothing. A journey from Portway Park & Ride to Clarkston brings up an interesting combination of 3 letter station codes.

You can't say that here - there are children watching! ;D

For a moment I thought you were referring to Jeremy Clarkston. And then I realised you were.

FoSBR's spies are told that the accessible path between Portway Park and Ride station and the Portway has been delayed due to ground stabilisation issues. It is expected that this will be completed in April (this year!). Here's how it looked today:

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/portway_pandr_20230227.jpg)

Does that mean under accessibility laws that the station opening has to wait? Is this what is holding it up?

It'll be an accessible path according to regulations no doubt but with that sharp bend, it's not going to be easy navigation for all.

Blinkin' flip, more delays!  Now it's not even a spring opening but some unspecified time in summer.


https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/new-bristol-train-station-open-8196307?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

GWR is offering me tickets from Portway parkway to Temple Meads on Sat 3rd June .... so can we assume this is the opening day ???

There's an alert on the GWR app regarding possible industrial action on the 3rd June with the possibility of service cancellations... not exactly the sort of PR opportunity that Marv, WECA and GWR were likely dreaming off.

Looking at train times from the 3rd June onwards, the services starting from Temple Meads are all direct while most of the services back to Temple Meads require changing at Avonmouth and passing back through Portway again.  I wasn't aware that this was how it was going to be done....unless it's only a temporary measure.  It certainly adds to the Temple Meads bound journey times.

Looks like testing and training - an hourly call in the middle of the day in one direction, and just a couple of odd services the other way.

Indeed. The printed GWR timetable available online has a half-hourly service both ways.
https://www.gwr.com/-/media/gwr-sc-website/files/plan-journey/timetables/2023/Train-times-21-May-to-9-December-2023/B9-train-times-21-May-to-9-December-2023.pdf

Dave

Does anyone know if the abovementioned commencement of limited services to and from Portway Park and Ride did actually happen yesterday?
I'm just on my way back from a couple of weeks in South Devon so I didn't get the chance to look for myself.
If there were some services running with real passengers then it's a really downplayed start to such a significant transport development for the city.

Real Time Trains is reporting all services timetabled to stop there "Portway Park And Ride [PRI] - Service stop unadvertised" but then flagging up "No Report" when the calling time passes.  One logical way of opening is to have all services calling but without the nuisance of customers for a few days so they can do a big Hurrah! and know it will work operationally for when there are people there to use it.

The first bookable journey I can find is in the direction of BRI at  07.14 on 17th June 2023. I find it rather odd that PRI isn't yet visible on the National Rail booking app.

With which RealTimeTrains would concur. The schedules for the 16th June still say unadvertised stop but not for the 17th. However it seems that the calling pattern will only be one service per hour which I doubt will encourage usage of the new station.

Dave

That 07.14 journey from PRI tomorrow is no longer bookable on The Trainline. I note that PRI still isn't available on National Rail website.

I note that it is now appearing (as Portway Park and Rise!) in GWR’s “Live times” app - as the only station on the branch with no platform number.

Portway Park and Rise – for the early morning commuter!

I paid a quick visit to Portway Park & Ride station on Sunday 18th June. It looks very ready for passengers, but the gate is resolutely locked:

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pri_20230618_scaled.jpg)

...and I think this says it's good to go. So what's the delay?

https://www.orr.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-06/portway-park-and-ride-station-orr-authorisation-letter-2023-06-02.pdf

That's dated June 2nd, so not long ago was it approved.

Are the stops already in the timetable, but just 'hidden'/suppressed?

Then maybe just awaiting the funders & operators to agree an Opening Date....

Are there any upcoming dates on the local political calender when such an announcement may be expedient?

Don't forget that GWR have two stations to open in quick succession - this one and Marsh Barton.  A lot of the same people will be working on the arrangements for both so there is a bit of an issue with scheduling.  I am sure it won't be long now before everything becomes clear.

It would seem rather apt if the station with the longest wait, should open on the longest day.... ::)

It seems the Exeter lot have stolen a Marsh (sic) on us. That's Portway Parkway chances of being first, gone for a Barton (sic).....

They’re waiting to open it and Ashley Down on the same day!

Wondering if Ashley Down is the hare to Portway Parkway's tortoise.....
 ::)

There's mention on the FoSBR Facebook page that the delayed opening could be down to a dispute with who will be running the station.  The poster in question relayed a comment, apparently from a member of GWR, that the station was supposed to be the responsibility of Bristol City Council for the first three years and then become NR's responsibility but that now is being disputed by BCC.
If it's true it really does give little room for optimism in the future for public rail transport in the region (and I've had to exercise great restraint in my wording for this paragraph).
I do so hope this is not true....but I've lived in Bristol for many years.


Edit to correct detail . The handover after three years is apparently to Network Rail rather than GWR.

Well, I suppose if they delay the opening for 3 years…

I drove past today - it looks very nice. For a P&R station anyway.

From discussions at Transport Focus on Wednesday - confirmation that no solid date is yet set.  The nearest a presentation got to telling us was "summer".  A tiny handful of tidy ups to be done; main things awaited are the completion and signing off of paper work - legals and contracts - complicated by the fact that access is not directly off the public realm highway, but through the Park and Ride which is owned /operated by someone else.

You would have thought that, given the original open date of 2013, someone might have looked at all that.

But this is Bristol that we are talking about.   :(

Usually reliable sources suggest an opening day of 1st August

So what are the local councillors diaries looking like for Monday 31st?  ::) ;D

Very reliable, I'd say...

I have been told opening for local dignitaries on the 31st July.   First day of public service the following day.

Yep, hence

I'm sure that it's totally unconnected to any Coffee Shop event today!

I'm back in Bristol by then.... perhaps I should start looking online for a Redland to Portway return ticket for Aug 1st soon.

I was backing you up!

After reports on this forum yesterday, I tried the GWR app for a Portway ticket for the 1st Aug with no success.  Different story this morning though, they seem available from the earliest services.  I'll probably have a ride there on the first day but not, I think, at five something in the morning.

In case anyone has slept through it, GWR have announced the opening date as 1st Aug:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y_QxkRxm5Y

That was quick!

Official opening today - open to the public tomorrow (1st August 2023)

Secretary of State Mark Harper addresses the audinence of invited guests
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/ppr01.jpg)

Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways team
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/ppr02.jpg)

Guests board the first train conveying passengers from a new station in Bristol for 97 years
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/ppr03.jpg)

I'm glad to see a Coffee Shop presence there!

Did the SoS at the last minute, declare it open as.....  Markway Harpway ? ???

Well, it's open now, let's hope it's judged a success as it's a significant step for MetroWest. 
The post COVID world it's been born into is very different to the one it was conceived in and uptake will, I suspect be gradual.  Actually, a steady increase in passenger numbers might be preferable compared to the Beach Line capacity being swamped from early on.
Low take up could be addressed with clever promotion but there's not apparently that much spare rolling stock sitting around to sort out the opposite scenario.
Anyway, my impression was that the opening ceremony today had a justifiably optimistic mood about it and it's great to see a proper car/bus/rail transport hub, purpose built in Bristol.

…and bikes!

Some very good film footage on both ITV West and BBC1 points west on the monday evening news.

An excellent event. There were a very large number of parties involved in getting the station up and running and multiple or many people within each of those, so lots and lots of people from rail and governmental backgrounds there - management, constructional and event-specific.  So although this was for the community and the speeches stressed the community, there were less than a dozen of us - perhaps just half of that and we were outnumbered by the press!  But then the event was very much for them.

A "thank you" to everyone who's worked so hard on the project and brought it to fruition.  Totally good and sensible to do a big "thank you" - in fact in older days we would have sat down for a banquet in the car park, and "thank you"s these days are muted

A way to get the news out to the public. Not so much a publicity "stunt" but a very good way of reaching all the media - BBC, ITV and others there and it made the evening news of both of those major local evening programs.  That's not saying "look at us - we done good" - it's bumping the new station into people's living rooms and helping initial publicity.

A personal "thank you" to friends who invited me to join their group; I really appreciate it.  Over the whole Avonside area - from Avonmouth to Avoncliff, from Weston-s-m to Gloucester and from Pilning to Swindon - and a bit beyond - we help and support each other in the wider region. Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways - thank you.

A way for various parties to network - and that was a fabulous but random yet wonderful opportunity. Looking forward for the wider region. It's the nature of changes in the rail industry that they'e a series of steps rather than a continual development, and we've seen a big step here.  Others have happened before, others will happen in the future; we hope steps up and not steps down. And some ideas were progressed yesterday.

Wonderful to see other Coffee Shop frequent posters there - and other readers and people who come here just occasionally.


I keep coming back to my informal definition of improvement process
1. Get people to know something needs looking at
2. Get it looked at and work out what is appropriate for the future
3. Get it actually done
4. Promote and support it once done to make sure it works

And each of those items is an order of magnitude bigger than the one before it.  

The bigwigs who spoke talked about the Severnside CRP (even if one called it the Severn Beach Line CRP) and the Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways and they are utterly right that the community can now do so much to help make the project work.  You are right Johnney that it may be gradual - DfT evaluations of rail services have been over three years as people change their daily commutes and jobs and friendships.

I arrived by bus.  I left by train.

The buses and trains serve different places. The buses to Portway, Hotwells, and into the central area of Bristol itself.  The trains to Clifton, Montperlier, Stapeleton Road, Lawrence Hill and Temple Meads with alternate services on to Bedminster. So whilst I wonder about abstraction, I thing we have two different markets, with the security of a backup mode of transport should there be disruption.

Finally - a big note of appreciation for Jane and Stacey of GWR for both their hard work in organising and pulling off the event yesterday and (and much more long-term important) for their support of the railway and its customers, and the way they give that support.   

A few FoSBR stalwarts got up bright and bushy this morning to catch the first public train to Portway Park & Ride:

(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/pri-tickets.jpg)

Approaching the new station... who's that bloke with the proper camera?
(https://fosbr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/geoff-marshall.jpg)

Youtuber JenOnTheMove has dropped her 'first day' video: https://youtu.be/s5kRSZD6pd8

She was getting on as we got off, but you can see the FoSBR delegation at 5.30 on her vid.

Interesting to see their experience with the ticket machine.

Yes! Aside from the touch-sensitivity (or lack of it), I do find myself wondering if the person who designed these machines was 1.2m tall. I find I have to poke the space below the button I want, to allow for parallax.

Is that to do with being usable by people in wheelchairs, perhaps?

The local news said it cost 5.8 million pounds,that seems a bit on the low side,any one else thinking the same?

Well that's a very good point. I can see that designing something that's vandal-proof (which probably rules out making the screen adjustable), and accommodates people from wheelchair height to 2m tall (me, near enough) is quite a challenge...

His video is now on YouTube. You yellow t-shirted lot feature in the first few seconds. Then an interview with some tall squirrelly FoSBR chap. :P
https://youtu.be/wIwyON6SA-k

Not only difficult to use the ticket machine,but when you manage to select the ticket you require,it won't take payment by card of any sort,connection error by the looks of it ,many people frustrated today.

Not to take anything away from the opening but another new train station was opened on Monday 31 July
 (although the article said it was opened on 31 January 2023 presume predictive text went wrong?)

Thanet Parkway near Ramsgate was due to cost 10 million pounds but actual cost was 35 million pounds

From the film footage,unable to see if there is a footbridge,although I presume it can be accessed easily from both up and down lines.

Over network rails dead body will there ever be a under pass built under railway lines ever again,South Bristol link road is the exception

There's a pre-existing foot subway near the eastern end of the platforms. Not underneath, because there are houses with gardens right up to the embankment on the other side of it preventing the platfroms being any further east.

And that is the access to the up platform, if you look at NRs video...

Meanwhile, back at Portway P&R: https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1686408118094163968

WECA website quotes the £5.8 million figure too.

Speeches, as reported by the Department for Transport Press Release (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-bristol-railway-station-to-connect-communities-and-grow-the-economy)

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:


Marvin Rees Mayor of Bristol said:


Marcus Jones, Network Rail Western Route Director, said:


Metro Mayor Dan Norris said:


Joe Graham, Business Assurance and Strategy Director at Great Western Railway, said:

...and cruise ships!


It's a bit more than the original estimate of £400.000, but for a single platform in an existing car park beside an existing railway, I suppose it's what it costs these days.

Nice words from the politicians who had nothing to do with it.

Would love to see one of the Aida cruise ships docking at Portway park and ride. There are some bollards on the opposite bank from the days of the Pill 'hobblers' which might help !!

Perhaps TonyK would like to adopt a new moniker for this thread ...Four Cruisers Now !

That would be a sight to see. The cruise terminal was, however, just around the corner from the P&R. On checking, I believe ships now dock at Royal Portbury instead of Avonmouth.

Shame there's not a railway there..!

It only required a short detour on my travels today to see how the new station is doing.  Arrived from Redland about 12.10 with 3 people including myself getting off and 5  getting on.
There were also another 5 who boarded the train in the opposite direction a few minutes later but I forgot to check how many got off.  The only other person on the platform was a young chap with a "proper camera".
The car park pictured was fairly full but not occupied as far as the extended bit.  The waiting bus seemed to hold half a dozen passengers, perhaps a few more.

It's not really a scientific survey but for the time of day, this early in it's existence, that seems fairly encouraging usage.

Note:  It did occur to me that early station numbers might be somewhat artificially boosted by visiting rail enthusiasts but these passengers didn't hang around the station and instead appeared to using Portway for other purposes.

Just outside the Park and Ride - photo from Monday

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/outsideppr.jpg)

Past recommendation to cruise passengers arriving they train has been to get a taxi from Temple Meads, but perhaps (*if* they dock at Avonmouth) one could now walk in?

Someone had to do it - race between bus and train journeys to the centre of Bristol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in0zrOCNg5o

The give-away map at the start shows two different routes into different parts of the city - which rather suggests to me that the two services complement rather than compete with each other.  And although it's the symbolic centre, I don't think that many have that bridge as their final destination.

Indeed:

Source: Bristol Rail Campaign (FoSBR) (https://bristolrailcampaign.org.uk/portway-park-ride-bus-or-train/)

Nicely put!

I was taking the Beach Line to Sea Mills today so I thought I'd include a quick look at Portway P&R to see how it's doing.  Three or four people getting on and off at my arrival and about the same on the return train a few minutes later (about 13.18).
There were a handful of cars in the new parking area built nearer the platform indicating that they were for people using the station.  That's infinite % more though than the number parked there from when I took a look shortly after it opened.
Some GWR people in hi-viz there too but I don't know what for.