Great Western Coffee Shop

First GWR train services to run as part of MetroWest December timetable changes

The first in a series of improvements for the West of England will see rail services on the Severn Beach line increase to half-hourly as GWR begins to realise MetroWest ambitions in its December timetable change.

From Monday 13 December GWR will double services on the Severn Beach Line, from hourly to half-hourly, throughout the course of the day. These mark the first step in providing thousands of additional seats, alongside plans for new stations through the MetroWest initiative backed by the West of England Combined Authority.

West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris, who plans to travel on one of the first trains, said:

“I’m delighted to be travelling on one of the first new services from Temple Meads to Severn Beach.

“This is the first important piece in the MetroWest jigsaw. The MetroWest initiative will reopen two lines and up to seven new stations by 2024. It’s going to give 80,000 more people access to train services.

“Having a good public transport network is crucial in helping our region thrive. Helping more people to get about more easily is another good sign that our region is on the up. People want and deserve a great railway in the West. All aboard!”

The next stages of the initiative are planned to include additional services between Bristol and Gloucester, and between Bristol and Westbury via Bath, in future timetable changes subject to approval from the West of England Combined Authority and the Department for Transport.

GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood said:

“Good rail services are key to economic recovery and to decarbonisation.

“We believe that this new timetable, introducing the very first of our planned MetroWest enhancements, will provide our communities with the help and support they need as together we rebuild and renew for the future.”

The new services will deliver over 4,000 more seats for passengers every weekday. Additional services through Bristol form part of the wider Bristol Rail Regeneration programme, delivering new railway tracks and signalling to transform the railway serving the Bristol area.

Network Rail Project Director Jonathan Davies said:

“It is great to see just one of the many positive impacts of our £132m track upgrade work at Bristol East Junction in the summer, with the introduction of half-hourly services on the Severn Beach Line this December.

“The major upgrade of Bristol East Junction earlier this year was a key enabler for supporting the introduction of new suburban services in the future as part of the West of England Combined Authority’s (WECA) MetroWest scheme and providing over 4,000 additional seats on trains every day in the area.

“The doubling of services on the Severn Beach Line marks one of the first realisations of making Bristol Temple Meads a key transport hub in the West of England that will serve millions of passengers each year and support business right across the region.”

This December will also see the region’s train operator restore some train services reduced during the pandemic. Services between Cardiff and Paddington will be restored to half-hourly throughout the day; and Cheltenham to London Paddington restored to hourly direct services.

Better connecting Bristol and Cardiff, the timetable change will introduce all-electric Class 387 services between London Paddington and Cardiff for the first time, providing a low carbon, sustainable way to supplement capacity on the popular route. These will start with a limited service on Saturdays and Sundays, plus an early-morning service on weekdays, but will also mean GWR can in the future provide additional, up to 12 carriage, capacity for events at the Principality Stadium.

More services will also be extended from Cardiff through to Penzance, better connecting the South West with South Wales.

In line with the latest Government advice, GWR is encouraging customers to travel safely. People are reminded to:

Wear a face covering
Wash your hands more regularly
Buy tickets online, on a smart card or by using the GWR app

From January GWR branch lines in London and the Thames Valley will also have their frequency restored to pre-Covid levels: trains between Slough and Windsor will return to three trains an hour; the Greenford branch line will return to a half-hourly service, as will trains between Twyford and Henley. Local services between Didcot and Paddington are also to be restored to a full half-hourly service off peak.

Quick update on the work at Redland Station as shown on a post last week.  The groundwork seems to be done.  It just remains to install the above ground equipment which RS has helpfully (see above) identified as being for a ticket machine. Whether both the concrete bases will support ticket machines  seems doubtful to me given the size of the station but watch this space!

I don't know what happened to the one at Clifton Down before my time, but most times I've tried to use it recently it doesn't work. Either it has nothing on which to print tickets, or it can't get a network connection.

Perhaps when there are a few more machines to service along the line, it will be more worthwhile sending out someone with a roll of blank tickets and some networking knowhow from time to time?

They seem to be installing similar information systems all along the line.

Montpelier is looking almost presentable now it's had a haircut. It's good to see NR took the opportunity to do a lot of maintenance tasks during the half-term possession.

Montpelier is looking almost presentable now it's had a haircut.

New toys ( nearly) at Redland Station.  Here's a couple of pictures from this morning.

Huw Merriman >

...I am happy to confirm that, subject to the provision of the necessary funding by the West of England Combined Authority, services between Bristol and Gloucester will be doubled to two trains per hour from the May 2023 timetable change as part of the wider MetroWest scheme. I thank my hon. Friend for helping make this happen and the West of England Combined Authority, which has worked in partnership with officials in my Department and the operator, Great Western Railway, to make this possible. GWR has identified all the rolling stock that it will need for the extra trains and is confident that it will have all the staff training completed in time to introduce the additional services from May. I hope that that provides the assurance my hon. Friend was looking for, but as always—and in answer to his request—I am happy to meet him to understand any further concerns, and to help him make this happen.

Great Western Railway revealed plans for train services between the two cities to increase to running every hour.

Currently, services between Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Shrub Hill are operating every two hours.

The plans still need to be given the green light by the authority funding the extra services.

From Hansard (https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-01-18/debates/4414182C-7053-4A4A-A2A3-54489D1BC647/TrainServicesSouthGloucestershire#contribution-65CC8F34-EA44-4767-A015-E879051E8657)

Great Western must have found the magic DMU tree.

Also includes hourly to Worcester

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/23264822.gwr-increase-bristol-worcester-trains-hourly/ (https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/23264822.gwr-increase-bristol-worcester-trains-hourly/)


Great Western must have found the magic DMU tree.

The line is effectively doubled up to Narroways Junction (the now four tracked Filton Bank).

Reading the WECA rail plan a few years back, I got the impression that doubling this junction might be all that was needed to get to 3tph to Avonmouth.

It should be possible to extend the loop from just the Bristol side of Sea Mills station almost to the Arches without massive effort, shouldn’t it? Level access to a second platform at Redland shouldn’t be a problem as long as the park’s owners (BCC?) play ball.

Line doubling between Montpelier and Filton.

Wasn't that before the four tracks were completed on Filton Bank.  So it could be read as up from 1 track to 2 from Montpelier to Narrowways Junction, and double the number of tracks (up from 2 to 4) from Narroways / Stapleton Road to Filton.

Line doubling between Montpelier and Filton - in which direction?

Could the tunnels fit double tracks? I know they did pre-1970 and that trains then were much the same size as now, but I would imagine safety margins have increased since.