New station at Ashley Down, Bristol

[whole diary]

[stuving]

The A-Z, on the other hand, has an index which lists every street. Just the job... except that, oddly, it indicated a Station Road in St Annes Park. A beer to anyone who can tell locate it for me! I concluded that it was a Trap Street.

Since there was a St Anne's Park station, Station Road obviously led to it. It still exists, as a track now leading to a road-rail access point, and gated at the entrance off St Anne's Park Road.

[johnneyw]

The FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) Facebook page have announced that prior planning permission for the station has been granted and that a business plan is being drafted for submission next January.  Still talk of commencement of building next year although fading hopes of a 2023 opening.  Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/582422715176528/posts/5483286268423457/?flite=scwspnss

[Red Squirrel]

This from St Werburghs Community News Facebook page:

Things now seem to be happening around the proposed Ashley Down railway station. Here is a message from the Ashley Down Station Project Partnership

"We are contacting you about progress with the new railway station in Ashley Down, which will improve the public transport service in the area.

Our project partnership includes the West of England Combined Authority working with Bristol City Council, Network Rail, Great Western Railways and contractors BAM Nuttall. Works will be carried out by accredited contractors on behalf of Network Rail and Bristol City Council.

We are in the final stages of securing funding for the project and hope it will be confirmed by the end of January 2023. We will then be able to begin delivering a new railway station at Ashley Down, with construction set to take place between early 2023 and 2024.

This means we expect to start engineering works towards the end of February 2023.

Ahead of work starting, we’ve set up two online meetings in January so we can speak with local residents and stakeholders about the works.

The sessions are a chance for us to answer questions and for the project team to set out what the works will involve. Details of these events are below:

Session 1: Tuesday 31 January 2023 from 6.30pm to 8pm – book now [no link - Red Squirrel - maybe try https://travelwest.info/projects/ashley-down-station. ]

Session 2: Thursday 2 February 2023 from 6.30pm to 8pm – book now [no link - see above]

The construction of the new station, and improvements to public land surrounding the entrance to the station, will involve a temporary closure and diversion of a section of the Concorde Way walking and cycling route.

The new station is being funded by the West of England Combined Authority, in conjunction with Bristol City Council, South Gloucestershire Council and Bath & North-East Somerset Council as part of a wider programme of railway improvements funded by the West of England Combined Authority, known as MetroWest. This aims to improve connectivity, de-carbonise our transport network, and support economic growth across the region.

Following on from the consultation phase in 2020, we are keen to keep lines of communication open with you and local residents – both now as we prepare to start work in your area, and throughout the project.

In the meantime, you can find more information about the project at https://travelwest.info/projects/ashley-down-station.
 
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Transport Engagement at Bristol City Council by emailing transport.engagement@bristol.gov.uk or phoning 0117 903 6449 and leaving a message on the answerphone.

Ashley Down Station Project Partnership"

I have renamed this thread to cover all aspects of the development of this station.

[TonyK]

From the information link, this one had me puzzled:

By 2030 MetroWest 2 is expected to be remove 3 million kilometres from the road network, based on an average petrol car today this is equivalent to 500 tons of C02 each year.

I am surprised to hear that we have 3 million kilometres in the road network now.

But this is all good news and in the right direction, based on an average microwave oven being 750 Watts.

[Red Squirrel]

Construction of new railway station to begin early 2023


Construction work on a new train station in Bristol is due to begin early in 2023.

The station, at Ashley Down, will be between Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood, with services eventually running to the new YTL Arena in Filton.

It will be built on Station Road, just south of the Ashley Down allotments and should be completed in 2024.

The start date for the works should be announced next month at a West of England Combine Authority meeting.

The site used to be home to Ashley Hill Station, which closed in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts, which saw roughly 5,000 miles of track closed and more than 2,300 stations axed in the 1960s, mainly in rural areas.

Ashley Down station is part of the MetroWest Phase 2 project, which will also see new train stations built at North Filton next to the new arena, and at Henbury.

These two stations have been hit by delays and the North Filton station is expected to open in 2026, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.


Ashley Down Station is part of Phase 2 of the MetroWest public transport plan

Bristol mayor, Marvin Rees, said: "This will be the first time in almost 60 years that residents in the Ashley Down area will be able to catch trains locally, helping to better connect people to employment, education and leisure opportunities, while tackling congestion and pollution, and reducing social and economic isolation."

Green councillor, Lily Fitzgibbon, also welcomed the plans, but said a residential parking scheme should be brought in when the station opens.

"People from further out may use the residential streets around the station as a free park-and-ride, and so we will continue to put pressure on the administration for a residents' parking zone," she added.

Source: BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

[Bmblbzzz]

That map shows stations at Portishead and Pill. When I fell asleep on New Year's Eve, did I wake up in 2023 or 2099?

[TonyK]

Will the opening of Ashley Down station signal the start of half-hourly running to Yate and Gloucester, or is that dependent on something else?

[Red Squirrel]

Will the opening of Ashley Down station signal the start of half-hourly running to Yate and Gloucester, or is that dependent on something else?

The official line is that services terminating at Filton Abbey Wood will call here, and that these services will be extended to Brabazon and Henbury when these stations open.

It would seem very sensible for a 2TPH Bristol - Gloucester service to stop at Ashley Down, but no-one is committing to that at the moment. Whether that service goes ahead in May 2023 is another question, what with the funding gap and potential lack of suitable units to run it.

[TonyK]

The official line is that services terminating at Filton Abbey Wood will call here, and that these services will be extended to Brabazon and Henbury when these stations open.

It would seem very sensible for a 2TPH Bristol - Gloucester service to stop at Ashley Down, but no-one is committing to that at the moment. Whether that service goes ahead in May 2023 is another question, what with the funding gap and potential lack of suitable units to run it.

A shame. I have never thought much of the idea of trains terminating at Abbey Wood. I know a lot of the MoD staff get out there, but I am sure there are many who would happily catch a train there from Yate or Glos if only one was available. I would have thought the timing problems would have been sorted out to at least allow trains to terminate at Parkway by now.