Portishead Line reopening for passengers - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[trainer]

OR - let's get radical here - we could have a tram/train not crossing but running along the road through the town centre right up to Redcliffe Bay.  I know someone who'd be chuffed buy that idea.  I know this is a fantasy, but Clevedon's twin German town of Ettlingen benefits from such a creature and who knows...one day.   

In the mean time, I regret to say that Quays Road is the best practical option.

[TonyK]

OR - let's get radical here - we could have a tram/train not crossing but running along the road through the town centre right up to Redcliffe Bay.  I know someone who'd be chuffed buy that idea.  I know this is a fantasy, but Clevedon's twin German town of Ettlingen benefits from such a creature and who knows...one day.   

In the mean time, I regret to say that Quays Road is the best practical option.

I think it is one possible way forward, too, but not now. Let's have the heavy railway reopened ASAP! We have to go through the formality of the Yorkshire trial before looking at tram-train anywhere, to show that the model that has worked perfectly well in some European cities will work here as well. Without four-tracking from Temple Meads to Filton Bank, and electrification, it would not work economically anywhere in GB^▸ (Great Britain) (Greater Bristol, that is).

That said, Norman Baker, our esteemed transport minister, is all for it. In the foreword to "Green Light for Light Rail" he tacks his colours to the mast. I would say "nailed" were the tenure of a transport minister measurable in decades, rather than months. Norman, or "Social Norm" as he is known to party-goers, sounds like he knows his stuff, but could, in the twinkling of an eye, be left with the brief for overseas development. Maybe we need an ITA^▸ (Integrated Transport Authority) for the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

[chuffed]

Wow.. a tram train running up Nore road and along the coast road completing the loop back through Walton in Gordano through the Gordano valley. What a tourist attraction that would be ! Shades of the old WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority)) and P !!

The idea of a road over rail bridge at Quays Avenue seems more preposterous by the hour. The Railway Inspectorate should be told in no uncertain terms, regardless of their current policy that a level crossing is the only viable solution. It is not as if the trains will be moving much more than 10mph and with good visibilty for drivers either side of the tracks there really should not be a major problem!

[TonyK]

The most uplifting piece of news to date regarding the Portishead line, and therefore the Greater Bristol Metro Railway, reaches me, courtesy of the North Somerset Times (no, I didn't know either, but will sign up).

Track clearance work another ^positive step^

Tracey Fowler, Reporter
 Thursday, March 7, 2013
   
ACTIVITY on land designated for the Portishead to Bristol railway has indicated a positive step forward for the re-opening of the line.

Contractors have started clearance work on an area of the disused section of track close to Trinity Primary School, to give North Somerset Council access to the track bed and to bridges and culverts.



This will allow the authority to establish more details of the scope and estimated costs involved to support the railway project if it proceeds as expected.

Portishead Railway Group vice-chairman Colin Howells said: ^The work that is in progress to clear vegetation from the track from Quays Avenue through to the junction with the existing freight line near Pill, is essential to allow the next phase of the re-opening process to progress.

^Portishead Railway Group sees this as another positive step towards the ultimate goal of trains running on the track between Portishead and Bristol by 2017.^
 

The work could take several weeks to complete and is therefore likely to overlap into the bird nesting season. Because of this, contractors will work under the supervision of a qualified ecologist who will be on-site to ensure any work avoids nesting birds and other protected species.

Four councils have teamed up with local businesses to form the West of England Local Transport Body (LTB).

The body, which is responsible for setting priorities for major transport projects in the west, will meet on March 13 to set out its priorities.

To date, all parties are agreed that the priority should be phase one of the Greater Bristol Metro Project, which includes the Portishead to Bristol railway line.

Funding for much of this will come directly from the Government^s Department of Transport and is anticipated to be available in 2015.

Portishead Railway Group's website has a picture of the cleared bit. This work is presumably to enable the GRIP4  work to be done. It isn't the point of no return yet, but is exactly the step forward I have been looking out for.

Of course, there is always a step backwards in this area. (Network Rail - home page)/rdonlyres/8FE5A326-64A7-4580-8681-D2FFC886F0B7/0/CNP_Emerging_proposals_leaflet.pdf" target="_blank">North Somerset Council is asking for views on the site of the station. The intention was always that it would be close to the site of the former station, behind the car park next to Lidl. Quays Avenue was built across the alignment:



with the tracks still in situ either side of the road, right by the roundabout sign. Houses were built, then level crossings fell out of fashion. So the council has identified three options:
1) Build in the originally preferred site in Harbour Road, with a humpty-back bridge over the track at Quays Avenue.
2) Build the station immediately by Quays Avenue, with a car park on the opposite side of Quays Avenue
3) Build the station to the north of Moor Farm, with a car park accessible from Sheepway

Each has its own problems. For option 1, there is the cost of the bridge and the physical intrusion of the structure, plus some rather tricky traffic management issues, like having a roundabout very close to the end of a bridge. For options 2 and 3, there is the distance from the town centre. The further that gets, the less likely passengers are to arrive on foot, or even to arrive at all. To my mind, the railway will achieve its aims more fully with a station at option 1, despite the extra outlay. I would like to think that a strong case could be made for a level crossing across Quays Avenue. Trains will not be overly frequent - half hourly each way to begin with - will not take long to pass, and will be running slowly, being so close to a dead-end station. Failing that, closure of Quays Avenue, with a footbridge over for pedestrians and cyclists, should be looked at. The diversion for motorists would not be excessive. Or if a bridge must be built, why not  take it off the Quays Avenue roundabout at an angle, and behind the small trading estate, rather than close to houses?

Google Maps is helpful.

[TonyK]

I've realised that I have posted in this and the Bristol Connections threads, each of which is beginning to head in the same direction. Is there a case for asking the mods to merge the two?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm. 

I'm rather more inclined, for the time being at least, to simply move your post and merge it here, as it relates specifically to the Portishead Line reopening. 

[trainer]

To be fair, Dr Liam Fox MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) has been a far more active and consistent supporter of the Portishead Line reopening campaign than certain members of North Somerset Council ... 

I wonder how Dr Fox's pronouncement today about cutting all public expenditure for five years would affect the re-opening of this line if the Chancellor did as he advised.  I agree he has said a lot of good things about this subject and even attended the proposed station site unveiling.  However, consistency also includes having policies that actually enable what you say you want to do.  It's a hard thing to be a good local MP while having eyes on the prize of becoming PM one day, methinks.

[TonyK]

I wonder how Dr Fox's pronouncement today about cutting all public expenditure for five years would affect the re-opening of this line if the Chancellor did as he advised. 

Surely, it would put it back for at least another 5 years. I can't see that he would have said it had he thought there was the slightest chance of the PM and Chancellor agreeing with him - it sounds more like "Hello! Remember me?" after Theresa May's non-election broadcasts of the past few days. I'm no John Maynard Keynes, but I would have thought a recession, with wages and interest rates low, would be the perfect time for an infrastructure project.

Dirty job, politics, but someone has to do it.

[chuffed]

There are more photos of the track clearance on the Portishead railway group website. It looks as if this may well be updated on an almost daily basis.

[chuffed]

Just before you get to the Portbury railway bridge, on the other side of the old station (now in private hands)  there is a platelayers brick hut hidden underneath about 20 years of brambles I should think. It will be interesting to see what emerges from the undergrowth.

[TonyK]

I took a picture from the Sheepway bridge last summer:



By kind permission of Portishead Railway Group, here is a view from the same vantage point now:

[IndustryInsider]

Hopefully in five or so years time that same vantage point will afford the view of a shiny Class 165 Turbo passing underneath the bridge...

[Chris from Nailsea]

Indeed, IndustryInsider! 

Purely for the historic record, then: a few of my own pictures, taken from that very same vantage point, on the road bridge over the line at the old Portbury Station, a couple of years ago:

[anthony215]

Hopefully in five or so years time that same vantage point will afford the view of a shiny Class 165 Turbo passing underneath the bridge...

And in 15-20 years time we might see some overheard wiring and  a class 317/321 emu

[grahame]

Discussion about use of what will then be 50 year old EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) continues at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12144.0 - separated off because it takes a more general look that just Portishead.