How about a Spanish Fan, rich warwicker ? And I don't mean the folded paper thingy you wave about to keep cool....

Really don't see how you can increase the frequency on the Bristol Birmingham Derby Sheffield Leeds Newcastle line. It's half hourly as it is. A increase in carriage numbers would be welcome to ease the overcrowding but are there the trains and carriages available to XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) ?

Portishead rail update
Date:
21/01/2016
​Despite comments published to the contrary, North Somerset Council has confirmed that work will begin on the Portishead line in 2018 as previously stated, although the complexities of the construction work may see the opening of the line to rail services moving from May 2019 to around about the year end.

Progress on Metrowest phase 1 ^ which will provide improved services to Bath, Severn Beach and new services on the line to Portishead ^ will be officially reported to the Joint Transport Board next week.

Outline design work is progressing well and is on schedule for completion this April. This work has identified a number of engineering challenges which the team is working through before statutory consultation begins in June.  An application for a Development Consent Order will then be made in November ^ this is required before any construction on the line can begin. It is expected to take up to 18 months for the secretary of state to grant planning consent, after which work on the line can begin.

The outcome of the consultation from last summer has also recently been published. A total of 599 people attended the four manned public exhibition events and 858 consultation responses have been received. A number of responses from statutory bodies (for example Historic England and utility companies) have also been submitted.

The level of support for the project is very high with 95% of responses either supporting entirely or mainly supporting the proposals. The report sets out in detail the level of support for the individual elements of the project and the areas of concern, which generally relate to localised impacts such as parking and traffic impacts and environmental impacts.

Officers from North Somerset Council and West of England colleagues are feeding the consultation responses into the outline engineering design and following any necessary modifications stage 2 of the consultation process is expected in June.  This will provide an opportunity for people to make final comments on the proposals before the submission of the Development Consent Order planning application.

Cllr Elfan Ap Rees, North Somerset Council deputy leader who also holds the transport portfolio, said: "I am encouraged about the progress of the project, which we believe is the largest rail scheme in the country being locally funded. It is not a simple re-opening project but well worth waiting for.

"The new half-hourly service to Portishead will be far better than was ever available in the 1960s, so  is not a like for like replacement of previous infrastructure and we need to make sure that the existing freight services to the port are not adversely affected. While the project is on track to begin construction in 2018 as planned, we need to co-ordinate the work with the improvements planned by Network Rail to deliver electrification and other enhancements in the Bristol area and as always on projects of this scale and complexity, timescales are kept under review and we continue to explore opportunities to accelerate delivery."

Work on the outline engineering design began last summer and is scheduled to be completed this spring. There are three distinct engineering design elements of MetroWest Phase 1:
^       The disused line Portishead to Pill
^       Upgrading the freight line and its connection onto the main line (Parson Street Junction), and
^       Other engineering enhancement works beyond the Portishead branch line.

The engineering design must provide sufficient railway line capacity to operate both the existing freight trains and our proposed passenger train service.

There have been major land use and demographic changes along the line, since scheduled passenger trains last operated in the 1960s.  Royal Portbury Dock makes an important contribution to the local and regional economy and moving large volumes of freight by rail (that otherwise would go onto our roads), has economic and environmental benefits.  While only a few freight trains operate on any typical day at the moment, allowances have to be made for one freight train per hour in each direction, in the engineering design. The proposed passenger train service includes operating considerably more passenger trains than operated on the line in the 1960s.  The proposed half-hourly passenger train service (day time) will result in approximately 30 trains per day (Monday to Saturday) in each direction.

Providing sufficient line capacity for these freight train and passenger train presents some challenges. The four (single bore) tunnels through Avon Gorge mean the five kilometre section of track from below the Clifton Suspension Bridge to Ham Green will remain single track. This section of single track also has some environmental challenges due to the various national and European environmental designations.

So it will be necessary for the freight line speed to be increased and for the remaining sections of single track to be upgraded to double track, along with complete replacement of the signalling system. These requirements and constraints complicate the engineering design, which means the project is not about putting back the track and related infrastructure that existed in the 1960s; it's about re-building the disused line to modern engineering standards and upgrading/modernising the freight line.

Full details on the consultation can be found in the 'Report on DCO^▸ (Driver Controlled Operation) Stage 1 Consultation' at: http://travelwest.info/projects/metrowest/metrowest-phase-1

- See more at: http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/News/Pages/Portishead-rail-update.aspx#sthash.sojK4mr6.dpuf

Not only international flights. I am flying Easyjet from Bristol to Newcastle on Sunday evening and back on Friday lunchtime (hour in the air) for the princely sum of ^23 each way....as opposed to ^150 return and 6 hours each way on the train. Much as I like train travel, the money saved and time saved makes this a no brainer.
And next week flying Bristol to Dublin with Ryanair for ^9 each way giving me 14 hours in the Irish capital. Didn't even begin to look up the train and ferry equivalent !

Dear Member,
 
You will probably have been as surprised and disappointed as we were, about the sudden news this week of substantial delays to the Bristol-Portishead line project. Some of what was reported did not make sense with other information we (and you) have been given and I^m pleased to say that a lot more information has now become available, which describes things in a clearer and somewhat less negative light.
 
I^ve extracted below the key pieces that were published this afternoon on the West of England Joint Transport Board website. You can find and read all the document here www.westofenglandlep.co.uk/meetings/joint-transport-board using the link to ^29 Jan 2016 Agenda and Papers^
 
In summary, completion has been delayed by up to a year. There are a number of issues causing delays that are outside the scope of the Portishead project itself, as well as some that are within. The entire ^100 million funding for the project ^ Phase 1 and Phase 2 - is now entirely in place. The delay allows GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) 4 to actually be brought forward, so improving the quality of the DCO^▸ (Driver Controlled Operation) submission in late 2016. So it^s not all bad news.
 
MetroWest Phase 1 Update from West of England Joint Transport Board

5. Two critical issues have emerged which are likely to have a significant impact on both the cost and programme of the MetroWest Phase 1 project:

^         Operation and Deliverability of upgraded Level Crossing in Ashton Vale (Ashton Vale Road). Following a number of technical issues which have arisen in relation to the operation of the level crossing and opposition from businesses in the Ashton Vale industrial estate, alternative access arrangements need to be provided and these are under active consideration. Consultation on potential options including provision of a new link via the Ashton Vale park & ride junction and/or changes to the junction on Winterstoke Road will take place in February/ March 2016.

^         Construction access and construction issues associated with the line to Portishead including Pill Station and its immediate environs, Pill Tunnel and the existing freight line between Pill station and Bower Ashton through the Avon Gorge. Full details will be available by April 2016, when the outline engineering design due to be completed. It is, however, likely to report a number of constructability, cost and programme challenges.

6. The issues above have resulted in a delay to the start of the Stage 2 (Section 42) Development Consent Order (DCO) consultation. This was planned for January 2016 but is now likely to be June 2016. The proposed submission date of the DCO application will also be delayed from June 2016 to November 2016 with subsequent delay to all further stages of the project.

7. A further programme pressure and one outside of the control of Phase 1 is Sir Peter Hendy^s report to the Secretary of State for Transport on the replanning of Network Rail^s investment Programme (see paragraph 18). Its implications are not yet fully understood as the report did not include ^renewals^ such as BASRE^▸ (Bristol Area Signalling Renewal and Enhancement) (Bristol area re-signalling) and Bristol East Junction. MetroWest Phase 1 cannot be implemented without BASRE being implemented first whilst Phase 2 requires Bristol East Junction for Henbury services. Furthermore the Phase 1 programme will have to take account of Network Rail^s standard 6 month embargo on further network/signalling changes from completion of the BASRE works.

8. The combined impact of constructability issues and the Hendy report is pushing the opening date for MetroWest Phase 1 into late 2019 or the first half of 2020.

9. The revised timescales, however, provide an opportunity to bring forward GRIP 4 (Single Option Development) and complete it by July 2016 (originally October 2016) and feed the output into the DCO application. This will increase the robustness of the DCO application and help to de-risk the programme.

 
Obviously any delay is disappointing, but as has been said previously, ^this is not a show-stopper^.  We will continue to question, to monitor progress and to inform you and the wider public of what^s actually going on.
 
Regards,
 
Peter
 
Peter Maliphant
Membership Secretary
Portishead Railway Group
 

Opening of Portishead rail line delayed by up to a year
By H_Pickstock  |  Posted: January 20, 2016


THE long awaited opening of Portishead's defunct railway line could be delayed by up to a year ^ due to technical and construction issues.It had initially been hoped the three mile section of the line would be open in early 2019, but this could now be pushed back to early 2020.

The Portishead rail line opening is the first part of the MetroWest project which will see the town's branch line reinstated, a new station built in the town and the Pill station re-opened.

It is understood the delay in the Portishead scheme will not impact other MetroWest project improvements planned across the Bristol area.

The delay is being blamed on a number of technical, construction and access issues which have emerged as the project moves forward.

These include the work needed to the Pill tunnel as well as the fact that Network Rail will also have to change signalling around the Bristol area to cope with the impact of more trains.

The extent and detail of the issues are due to be revealed in a report which will be discussed by the West of England Partnership Joint Transport Board at the end of the month.

The hold-up also follows the publication of the Sir Peter Hendy report to scrutinise Network Rail's future projects across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Network Rail is investing in the biggest programme of railway modernisation since the Victorian era.

The Transport Secretary asked Sir Hendy to develop proposals for how the rail upgrade programme could be put on a realistic and sustainable footing.

All the implications of the report are not yet known.

Work on building a new station in Portishead to serve the railway was due to start next year.

It is not yet known whether that building work will go ahead as planned.

A Metrowest spokesman said: "The combined impact of the constructability issues and the Hendy report is pushing the opening date for MetroWest Phase 1 into late 2019 or the first half of 2020.

"This is a complex project.

" As the project progresses there are technical, construction access and construction issues that have emerged.

" The details will be available in a full report that is going to the Joint Transport Board on January 29.

The news comes at the same time as it was revealed that 95 per cent of people who took part in a consultation backed plans for the re-opening of the Portishead line.

The re-opening the Portishead branch line includes plans for a new Portishead railway station at Quays Avenue, the reopening of Pill railway station, the provision of new footbridges across the line and other work including double tracking through Pill.

The opening of the Portishead line is a key priority of the Metrowest Phase One project being pioneered and funded by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP^» (Local Enterprise Partnership - about)) and is expected to cost up to^58 million.

Passenger services from Portishead to Bristol were cut in 1964, although the line to Portbury Dock reopened in 2002 for freight trains only.

A study in 2010 showed that travel time from Portishead would be 17 minutes compared to an hour by road during peak times.



Read more: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Opening-Portishead-rail-line-delayed-year/story-28570892-detail/story.html#ixzz3xnwQQ3QP
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I hope this is the Post being unduly pessimistic or just plain wrong.

Not sure what was more on tonights episode....Mr P's organ or his hairy legs ! We have to thank Mr William and Sir Rowland Hill for the  unforgettable pairing of sights for sore eyes.
Given the previous clip about the production of the Acme Thunderer, I was surprised he didn't pick up on John Knox's thunderous  comment on the pipe organ as 'a kist o' whistles !'
Think the programme could be summarised as Shrill, Hill, Hill and pill !

Thought you might put Your 'Oare' in.....

 Alas,I fear that even the Blessed Saint Michael of Peccadillo may have had trouble getting through the Paddington gateline with an F4 restriction !

I don't know why, but I was reminded in this time lapse video of the grasshopper type Martians in the ethnic cleansing scenes, seen as ESP, in 'Quatermass and the Pit'. Crossrail 2 watch out !

Who needs trains when you've got two Jags?

Who needs Pauline when you've got Tracy Temple  onboard,in the office...on the desk, on the floor, or indeed anywhere else for that matter......

I think we should lift our eyes to the higher achievements of IKB^▸ (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) and focus rather less on his boobs, er, I mean, less glorious wonders. In these days of electrification, I wonder if IKB may feel more uplifted about underwiring!

With reference to Bob Dylen (sic)

4 words in English but 7 in Welsh !

The answer my friend Yr amserau eu bod yn newid.

The things you learn on here ! That's one of the reasons why I enjoy this forum so much.

Well now, have been into classical music for the last 50 years, playing piano and organ throughout that time, thought I knew a fair bit about music ....but  apart from the Dvorak Humoresque ( which I will never be able to hear again without  'railway announcement' words being put to it! )... the only one I have ever heard of.... is the last one !!
A delightful selection of music that certainly broadened my musical horizons ! Pity they didn't use it at the Big Ben Fireworks last night instead of the dire racket that they did play. The only bit of that, I enjoyed was, ' Mind the gap!'