Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 08:55 28 Mar 2024
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
- Man suffers life-threatening injuries after train stabbing
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1988)
Woman found murdered on Orpington to London train (*)

Train RunningCancelled
06:57 Swansea to London Paddington
07:28 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
07:43 Swansea to London Paddington
08:18 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
08:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
09:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
09:12 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
09:29 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
09:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
10:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
10:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
10:41 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
11:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
11:16 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
11:23 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
11:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
11:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
12:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
12:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
Short Run
05:40 Bristol Temple Meads to Penzance
06:38 Weymouth to Gloucester
06:48 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
06:54 Taunton to London Paddington
07:12 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
08:25 Okehampton to Exeter Central
08:34 Exeter Central to Okehampton
08:38 London Paddington to Westbury
09:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
10:50 Penzance to Cardiff Central
Delayed
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington
05:23 London Paddington to Swansea
05:33 Plymouth to London Paddington
05:55 Plymouth to London Paddington
06:00 London Paddington to Penzance
06:50 Westbury to Weymouth
08:03 London Paddington to Penzance
08:30 Liskeard to Looe
09:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 09:13 Bristol Temple Meads to Gloucester
09:37 London Paddington to Paignton
10:04 London Paddington to Penzance
10:23 London Paddington to Oxford
10:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 09:02:57 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[146] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[117] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[80] Return of the BRUTE?
[63] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[49] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
[27] CrossCountry upgrade will see 25% more rail seats
 
News: A forum for passengers ... with input from rail professionals welcomed too
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: M4 Junction 18A  (Read 2204 times)
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5190


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« on: December 06, 2018, 10:28:04 »

South Glos have made a strong case for a new junction on the M4, just over 2km to the east of the current M32 junction (J19) near where the A432 currently crosses.

There's not really much of a public transport angle to this story; it should take traffic away from the overheated A4174/M32 junction, and one has to assume that the highways engineers have considered the possibility that the traffic jams will just move to the new junction...

The thing that really caught my eye was the cost of this scheme: £428M. Four hundred and twenty-eight million pounds. Goodness me, that would go a long way towards paying for MetroWest...
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2018, 12:23:42 »

Interesting to see that there were so many options/suboptions considered. I'd only heard reference to "Western" and "Eastern" options, but it was more than that.
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5190


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2018, 13:29:38 »

Correction: the proposed junction is at the Westerleigh Road bridge, which is just over 3km east of the M32 junction.

Looking at the documents I see that they plan to shift the M4 north of its current alignment, which goes a little way towards explaining the cost... nonetheless £428M is an astonishing amount of money; just remember that the Borders Railway project came in at around £300M for 30 miles of track; Filton Bank was £33M. Portishead, including its controversial platinum rails, is estimated at £175M...
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
Clan Line
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 858



View Profile
« Reply #3 on: December 07, 2018, 15:23:41 »

Why, in this country, do we seem to be incapable of doing any transport project properly and at the time that it is needed ?? This applies equally to road, rail & air.  This idea was first mooted in the late 90s, along with a flyover/under for the ring road where it crosses the M32.  If it had been done then it would have only cost £42.50 !

£428 million !!  A better idea, buy a purpose built fleet of 5 car (which can be extended to 6 in 10/20 yrs time) dmus with full through corridor, 4 abreast comfortable seating, adequate leg room, a good scattering of fixed tables, fold down tables on the airline seating, working air conditioning and a mini buffet ( Wink) for Cardiff - Portsmouth then save the rest for a Junc 18A scheme when the idea is re-floated in 2038.

Nah ! DfT» (Department for Transport - about) will cascade the 5 car IETs (Intercity Express Train) to that route in 2064 and save billions so they can electrify St Erth to St Ives. (HS7)
Logged
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2018, 17:38:09 »

Looking at the documents I see that they plan to shift the M4 north of its current alignment, which goes a little way towards explaining the cost...
So what will (would) happen to existing carriageways? Is the plan to actually demolish them and return the land to some other use or simply to build an short parallel section of motorway to serve the new junction, leaving the existing section in use as the main alignment, a little like a smaller-scale version of what happened with original M4 when the "new" Severn Bridge was built?
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5190


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: December 07, 2018, 18:09:31 »

I don't think the scheme is fully developed yet. As I understand it though the intention is to demolish most of the old alignment, perhaps using some of it as the basis of a local access road.
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
martyjon
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1941


View Profile
« Reply #6 on: December 07, 2018, 19:07:02 »

When the M4 was built passive provision was made for a service station at Pucklechurch and anyone travelling the M4 in either direction can see the blocked off exit and entry slip roads.

DfT» (Department for Transport - about) or whoever decreed that the service station would not happen but left in limbo that a link to Yate could utilise the infrastructure but were so long winded that any land to make this connection was sold to housing developers and houses were built scuppering that plan. That was the eastern option. A revised eastern option was mooted which would have taken traffic on a circular route round Pucklechurch to join the Ring Road at the Shortwood roundabout but this was rejected fiercely by the Pucklechurch community so this left just the western option.

As this saga has gone on for years land immediately adjoining the M4 itself was sold to, yet again, housing developers. This means that to provide the requisite westbound exit and entry slip roads to be constructed these must use the existing alignment of the M4 so a kink in the motorway proper has to be provided. Authority dithering again.
Logged
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5190


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: December 07, 2018, 19:28:00 »

Yes; you can see the 'passive provision' near Yate here: https://goo.gl/maps/CoUJfga18JA2

...which is not to be confused with the 'road to nowhere', running more or less from 5 o'clock to 11 o'clock in this view: https://goo.gl/maps/quxZWvv2CFq

Isn't the re-alignment more to do with the need to build the new junction without bringing the M4 to a halt for a couple of years, though? Whatever they do it will be necessary to divert traffic around the works, but by building the new junction off the existing line they can presumably minimise the cost of diversions.
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
martyjon
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1941


View Profile
« Reply #8 on: December 07, 2018, 21:04:58 »

Isn't the re-alignment more to do with the need to build the new junction without bringing the M4 to a halt for a couple of years, though? Whatever they do it will be necessary to divert traffic around the works, but by building the new junction off the existing line they can presumably minimise the cost of diversions.

No, the current M4 boundary fence is shared with a massive DPD couriers depot and a massive warehouse building currently under construction leaving nowhere to shoehorn in the westbound M4 exit and entry slip roads as I stated. The Lyde Green housing development then continues and shares the M4 boundary fence with a continuation of the road named Jenner Boulevard beyond with its junction with Willow Herb Road.


Logged
Red Squirrel
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 5190


There are some who call me... Tim


View Profile
« Reply #9 on: December 07, 2018, 22:25:48 »


No, the current M4 boundary fence is shared with a massive DPD couriers depot and a massive warehouse building currently under construction leaving nowhere to shoehorn in the westbound M4 exit and entry slip roads as I stated. The Lyde Green housing development then continues and shares the M4 boundary fence with a continuation of the road named Jenner Boulevard beyond with its junction with Willow Herb Road.


Everything you say is true, but I don't share your conclusion that this is the result of a planning cockup. If you look at the first option in SOBC_Appendix_B_Scheme_Drawings.pdf, you can see that most of the new junction could be constructed with minimal disruption to the current M4. Having had daily experience of the congestion and delay caused by a much simpler scheme to throw the MetroBus bridge over the M32, I see this as preferable.
Logged

Things take longer to happen than you think they will, and then they happen faster than you thought they could.
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page