Bristol connections: Metro, Bus Rapid Transit, PTE, ITA and local councils - discussion

[whole diary]

[chuffed]

FTN, you brighten my day with such eye popping and incongruous turns of phrase! This latest one will linger long in the memory....think he might have needed a Hindenburg to keep him aloft ....oh just a minute, didn't his reputataion fall to earth in a heap of flames too....

[TonyK]

....oh just a minute, didn't his reputataion fall to earth in a heap of flames too....

And so it did. I still hold him in higher regard than WEP, though. Only Hitler did more damage, imho.

Better news reaches me via Cllr Mark Bradshaw's twitter feed:

Mark Bradshaw @mark_bradshaw

working with officers to put finishing touches to a rail event to promote #4track at Filton Bank

Someone is still trying for Four Track, Now!

[Red Squirrel]

Mark Bradshaw @mark_bradshaw

working with officers to put finishing touches to a rail event to promote #4track at Filton Bank

Someone is still trying for Four Track, Now!

I know it's been referred to before, but I am amused by the #4track hashtag. Is that generated automagically, or have I been labouring under a misapprehension when I assumed that four-tracking and requadrification were the same thing? If I have been, then can someone explain how opening a recording studio using old technology on Ashley Bank will help improve public transport in Bristol?

[TonyK]

I know it's been referred to before, but I am amused by the #4track hashtag. Is that generated automagically, or have I been labouring under a misapprehension when I assumed that four-tracking and requadrification were the same thing? If I have been, then can someone explain how opening a recording studio using old technology on Ashley Bank will help improve public transport in Bristol?

I know, and I've sent a message. Hashtags are not generated by Twitter, but by the user. Although I am not an expert, I have realised that they are meaningless unless used thoughtfully. The clever bit is to think of something snappy, yet unique, and get as many people to use it as possible. #StopBRT2 is a good example, and the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) now routinely suggests hashtags to use when commenting on programmes.

Similar confusion arose elsewhere with the new "power-from-the-wheelie-bin" plant at Avonmouth. Everything else with the hashtag "#NewEarth" was either religious, whacky, or both. And if whilst in Molland, in Devon, you enjoy as I have done a fine lunch or dinner in the Blackcock Inn, think twice before using Twitter to share the experience with a wider audience.

[Red Squirrel]

#4tracknow would work. Actually, that's quite snappy - surprising no-one's thought of it!

[TonyK]

#4tracknow would work. Actually, that's quite snappy - surprising no-one's thought of it!

Bit cheeky, but I like it! I thought of that myself, but even I thought it was a bit, well, just wrong.

In the end, though (smug grin coming up) we have an answer:

Mark Bradshaw @mark_bradshaw

Backing extra rail tracks at Filton Bank & other improvements pls use #Bristol4track @BristolCouncil @networkrail @transportgovuk

Please, all you Twitterati, take note. You can tweet links to this forum with relative ease, and target the high and mighty with you impassioned, yet well informed, arguments for rail locally.

#4TN FTN (sorry!)

[TonyK]

Squeaky bum time, people! According to SW Transport Development, via their twitter site, the decision on Filton Bank four-tracking is due tomorrow.

SWtransportdevCIC @SWtransportdev

announcement due to tomorrow about 4 tracking for Filton bank

[paul7575]

Only in so much as tomorrow (or sometime this week) is when the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) is supposed to be announcing their decision on the ability of NR^» (Network Rail - home page) to do the work specified in the whole CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) HLOS^▸ (High Level Output Specification - the DfT's High Level Output Specification, which has specified to Network Rail the outputs that need to be delivered within a Control Period (CP)).

Filton Bank may not even register on the national scale...

Paul

[chuffed]

Bristol Post on the this is Bristol website reporting ' Four Track certain ...it's in the bag !

[Red Squirrel]

I think this is the first time we've heard this from the horse's mouth:

A Network Rail spokesman told the Bristol Post: "We are doing preparatory work and as far as we are concerned, it will be going ahead..."

However, perhaps we should leave the Freixenet in the fridge for now:

"...We expect funding to be confirmed in October."

[paul7575]

Confirmation in October will probably be in accordance with the normal Railways Act timescales for the way the HLOS^▸ (High Level Output Specification - the DfT's High Level Output Specification, which has specified to Network Rail the outputs that need to be delivered within a Control Period (CP)) is reviewed and confirmed by DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about),  DfT again, etc etc.  I'm pretty sure the expected events on the calendar will happen at about the right time, because as seen in the lead up to CP4^▸ (Control Period 4 - the five year period between 2009 and 2014), the timetable for decisions and reviews has statutory backing.

PS Here's the overall timetable according to ORR:
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/pr13/about/key-dates.php

So it looks very like  'in October' means the 31st...

Paul

[TonyK]

Yep, another damp squib. The big announcement turned out to be yet another definite possible, or so the Bristol Post reckons.

[Red Squirrel]

So it looks very like  'in October' means the 31st...

...and then there's the review process. Here at Squirrel Towers, we'll uncork the bubbly when the JCBs arrive.

[chuffed]

Reckon Four Track, Now ! needs to become... Four Track Fobbed Off! Never in the field of transport announcements has so much been promised, for so long, for so little tangible result.

[TonyK]

Tempting, chuffed, but I think I'll keep the faith for the time being! Someone has to.

Interesting to hear the calls for four-tracking to be extended to Parson Street. There are three tracks already, and room for a fourth:



AAUI, the junction at Parson Street is due to be remodelled at the time of resignalling. At present, the goods siding at South Liberty Lane connects only to the up relief, and the junction from Portbury is a single lead. I understand the junction will become double, and the goods line will connect to the up main, so making it easier to have passenger traffic in the future, and easing some of the problems with goods traffic from Portbury now.

What the Post has failed to push so far is the complete interdependence of so many of the rail improvement projects. So electrification will not provide the greatest benefit without four-tracking, which in turn needs new signalling, which will be essential anyway for the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.) trains. Sit down and cost every desirable improvement to the rail network around Bristol, and you would end up with a number almost as large as what West of England Partnership wants to blow on Bust Rabid Transit, but at least it would be the whole truth.