Yup very true.  Shame we don't have our own version of Tfl like London, or even better create a 'Western Powerhouse' to start getting some major investment over this way...  tho am sure a lot would argue we're already getting that with the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) mainline upgrade.  That's great for those commuting thru the Thames valley, but still doesn't solve the commuter problem of Bristol itself (at least until we finally get some progress on Metrowest) and it constantly being voted as one of the most congested cities in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)!  Of course we do have our Metro Mayor now, but from someone who lives literally a few hundred metres outside of the city limits thereby falling into S Gloucs territory, the only voice we seem to hear with regards to anything transport related is from Mr Rees - multi billion pound underground system anyone?!   

It's just a constant bug bear with so many new multi million pound feasibility studies and consultations that lead nowhere other than the obvious for this that and the other, when we have a perfectly (almost intact) rail corridor still here!  Just running it on it's old alignment as far as Mangotsfield would be great, and need hardly any alterations.  With a new viaduct it could span the ring road across to Emersons and pick up all of that new traffic which is basically a whole town now, and onwards to join the still intact Westerleigh line to Yate.  Another viaduct could take it onto Warmley and thus to Bath, the easiest way being to connect it to the existing main line just past Saltford and run thru to Bath Spa to avoid the need to dig up all the way to Green Park

And absolutely ideally for the days when I worked at Aztec West which was a commuter nightmare from here, a south to west spur at Westerleigh Junction to connect to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains), PWY and AZT - yes the already mentioned possible station at Aztec - I remember the endless frustrating afternoons dreading the hour long drive home when we could literally hear the railway at our office, as it was the large one right at the bottom corner next to the line itself

Still, we can dream.  Metrowest phase 4?!   

For those of us who live in the Staple Hill / Downend / Mangotsfield area, there's no end of us who hold onto the idea of the cycle path someday returning to rail use (albeit single track so the cycle / pedestrian path can remain alongside). We even have one of the old brown signs pointing to the 'Old Railway Line' at the bottom of Teewell hill just down the road taunting us!   

Appreciate this has caused many a long and heated debate over the years, but those of us in the North East of the Greater Bristol Area who don't have the ability to cycle are currently - and have been for a very long time - reliant on either our cars, or even worse our bus service, both of which can take anything up to an hour to reach the centre in rush hour!

We were promised Metrobust in the early stages and have gone through years of disruption with traffic diversions etc while the new bus lanes were built on the ring road, only to find out later that the whole Downend area is now being bypassed completely with the new buses (if they ever run) running straight along the ring road, with our nearest stops being Hambrook or Emersons Green.  Of course, they've concentrated everything on Emersons due to available parking, but what about those of us who've lived here for longer than Emersons even existed?!  And as we now know even more money is having to be ploughed into it as the roads to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) aren't wide enough for the new buses to access!

Our buses to BPW have been halved in number, and we have no direct bus services to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), and yet hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent to provide Metrobust which will serve Emersons very nicely, but leave a huge portion of NE Bristol (Staple Hill, Soundwell, Downend, Fishponds, Mangotsfield etc etc etc) still without a decent - and more importanly accessible without a 30 minute hike to the nearest stop - public transport system

So it's no wonder that we often look so longingly at the cycle path and dream of a direct rail service to escape the daily jams on Fishponds Road... and with our dreaming hats on even more so if we hadn't lost the 13 arches viaduct and could hop on a train directly to Clifton!   

P1 certainly came into it's own the Saturday before last due to the cabling theft between Newport & Cardiff.  There was an 800 to Cardiff stuck in P2 for ages with indefinite delays, The WSM service waiting to depart from P4, so they were running XC into P1 and my GWR N/S service to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) into P3.  Would have been a nightmare with trains stacked without it then

Thought it was too good to be true, I should know better!   

Great to see these are still all potentially on the table.  Did wonder about the feasibility of starting the new direct IEP BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)-BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) service supposedly to be introduced in the December 2018 timetable before they sort out Bristol East Junction, along with the long planned re-opening of the Midland Shed with new platforms at BRI, tho obviously none of this will happen by then.  At least now the signalling has finally shifted control to TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about), platform 1 will now be able to be extended back to it's full length once Bristol power box that was supposed to be decommissioned back in 2015 is demolished

And hopefully the decision on the new Ashley Hill / Horfield station will also be made by the time they come to electrify Filton bank!   

That would be great SandTEngineer, thanks so much!

Apologies if i've missed this somewhere, but not been able to find any info on it....

One thing that's been puzzling for a while now is how Filton Junction will be remodelled...  does anyone know please?

Watched the Network Rail youtube clip a couple of years ago which showed the new 4 x 75mph crossovers to transfer stock from the relief to main lines at various points on the southern approach to FIT which would make sense if expresses had to be re-routed onto the relief lines, but will there be crossover provision at Filton Junction itself?

At the moment FIT platform 3 takes all Cardiff bound trains, and the junction itself has crossovers so those returning from Cardiff can transfer to what will be the new main lines to use FIT platform 1, which will no doubt become redundant once all Cardiff trains use both the relief lines at FIT following the introduction of new platform 4?

So will the junction be remodelled - basically switched around the other way - with crossovers from the BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) lines to FIT platforms 3 and 4 so that all local BPW bound trains can use the relief lines all the way down, leaving FIT platforms 1 and 2 free for all the 800 expresses and Cross Country Voyagers / HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s?  The animation vid still basically shows the junction as it currently is which seems weird, plus there's ample room to provide the crossovers the opposite way around

Otherwise, especially seeing as FIT is the only 'local' station currently with scheduled stops on main line services - plus the introduction of 4 new IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.)'s per hour between BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) and BPW - FIT platforms 3 and 4 will literally just see Cardiff services, whilst 1 and 2 will have all express stopping and through services (both GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Cross Country), plus all local BPW services, meaning the famous BPW area bottleneck will just get worse!

Haha nope wasn't me on that one, I was treated to a 'new' 3 coach 166 turbo both ways!   

Great photos!  Good to see it in comparison to the existing lines too.  And yeah amazing just how many of the orange army are on it... I lost count of how many different sites they were working at all the way down between BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) and BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)!

Ah, maybe if I got the youtube settings right!  Let me know if this one works please...

https://youtu.be/UiewgaJl9E4

Been following progress on the four tracking ever since it was first proposed years back, and was great to find lots more info about it on this thread, so finally joined myself!  After much driving around to various vantage points to see what progress was being made, decided to take a quick return trip from Parkway to TM^‡(resolve) about 10 days ago, which is when I saw the first new sleepers laid on what will be the new relief lines that have been photographed earlier in the thread by old Horfield station

Took another trip today and decided to video it from just past old Ashley Down station where the current track slews over from the old relief side to the current 'main' side.  Amazing progress since 10 days ago!  Have uploaded it onto youtube for anyone who's as interested in this project as I am 

Here's the link....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiewgaJl9E4&feature=youtu.be

Also shows the amount of work going on at FAW where I paused, followed by the inevitable wait to get back into Parkway!   

Look forward to returning in a week or so to see how things are progressing then