An update from the Portishead Railway group

Dear Member,

It's a couple of months since our last update, so we thought that you would like to know our current understanding of what is going on.

The Treasury spending review, of which the Portishead & Pill line reopening is one small part, is still under way and will continue until March or April next year.

We have been consulting carefully with many sources to understand what that means and we have been able to establish the following:
PRG’s Public Petition, presented in Parliament by Sadik al Hassan MP^▸ (Member of Parliament), was very well and widely received in Whitehall.
The Treasury review will conclude in March/April, presumably in time for the next budget.
The mood in Whitehall about reopening the Portishead line is still positive.
The final decision will be a financial one about spending across the whole of government. The Portishead line will be just a tiny part of that. This could be good or bad news.
No one, including our MP, will know what that decision is until the Treasury review outcome is made public.
What we do know is that the reopening project is still live and that work by the MetroWest team is continuing.
The budget has been reduced (to an undisclosed figure) with the aim of delivering a minimum specification solution.
If funding is secured, the reopened line will still have two stations – Pill and Portishead – as intended.
‘Minimum specification solution’ means things like platforms will be designed for five-car trains, but built to accommodate 3-car trains initially.
There is much discussion about why the cost of repairing existing bridges and tunnels along the line should be borne by the Reopening project, rather than by Network Rail’s maintenance budget for the existing freight line.
The much-delayed Northumberland line to Ashington reopened on 15th December 2024, having followed a remarkably similar path of delays, bureaucracy and constantly inflating costs. It finally cost £298 million to reopen for passengers 18 miles of post-Beeching track that was still entirely in use for freight.
This leaves Portishead as the only other railway reopening project in the country that is currently under way and at an advanced stage of development.
A positive decision on funding next Spring would allow the project to be completed before the next General Election in 2029.
Regards,
Peter
 
Peter Maliphant
Membership Secretary
Portishead Railway Group

Living at the top end of Nore Road, Portishead, would I love to see a tram train from the old station, come up Nore Road, turn right, along the coast road, go through a tunnel at Walton on Gordano, (running across the golf course!), into East Clevedon, along Old Street, Old Church, to Salthouse Fields and on into Weston along the route of the WC^▸ (Wiltshire Council (Unitary Authority))&P.
I think Santa may have other ideas.

Wot, no Finn foto ??!

You have reminded me that the garage that usurped the 1954 station in Portishead had an absolutely huge stuffed Tony the tiger on the forecourt roof back in the 70s. I think there was a huge row...shouldn't that be ROAAAAR.... about planning permission....!

Dare I suggest that Portishead has now moved to the top of the Dft list...I await with bated breath....

Must be Frostie time !

And stop building on flood plains. The clues in the name....

With the star over Melksham,we can be sure that it is indicating the beaded wise man from the east has arrived.
Only one question remains...where/who are the other two?

Portishead Railway Group
 
From:
portisheadrail@183601974.mailchimpapp.com
To:
pbmusician@aol.com

Mon, 4 Nov at 11:55


Dear Member,

Last week's budget contained news of the three big rail projects - HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)), Northern Powerhouse Rail and EastWest Rail to Cambridge - but nothing about smaller projects like Portishead & Pill. This wasn't surprising, nor does it mean bad news.

We understand that MetroWest Phase One – the Portishead & Pill railway reopening - forms part of the ongoing review, which was mentioned by Rachel Reeves in her October 30th Budget speech.
 
We also believe that the Full Business Case is to be submitted soon, which seems to be a positive sign. More news is expected over the next month or so.

Regards,
Peter
 
Peter Maliphant
Membership Secretary
Portishead Railway Group

My recollection of the joke was that the official was a policeman and she hit him over the head with her umbrella.....readers of a certain age may see Giles' Grandma from the Express in their minds eye.....

I like the unintentional pun in Wixons kink. I knew about the diversion around the shop but never knew it dealt in feminine intimate apparel !

Were all the vulgaris beating up the carolinesis on that trip too ?

Dan Norris quietly confident Portishead will happen....

“There is cost stability now of around £150 million and we are in a strong position to proceed with that, but it’s not a guarantee because that’s a decision that’s being made against other projects up and down the land.

“But what I am confident about saying is that I would argue our Portishead line is so close to starting that it puts it in a good position to go forward.

“They were clearing the trackside of trees and various other foliage with a view to doing significant things in the spring and getting on with the tracks.

“We’ve very close to doing it. That puts us in a strong position because we’re literally at the point of putting shovels in the ground.

“Economically it makes a lot of sense compared to the other lines that are in contention against us.”

He said the government would make a priority list of railway projects currently under threat of not happening.

Mr Norris, also MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for North East Somerset & Hanham, said: “Nothing is done until it’s done.

“You think you’ve got it and then somehow it slips out of grasp but we’re very close and I’m quietly confident.”

Wemyss Bay...seeing how much they like their flowers...!

Sadik al Hassan presented the petition the day before, on Wednesday 11th September.