A HistoryPilning Station would have been called "Pilning Road" in times gone by to signify that it's the nearest station to Pilning, though not actually situated within the community who's name it takes. It's where it is for historic reasons - as a former junction station, and also situated on a level section of track before the main line slopes away towards the Severn Tunnel.
The original line to New Passage Pier was the way to Wales in earlier railway days, then a branch from that curved round to Severn Beach, and finally the Severn Tunnel line opened. New Passage Pier closed at around that point, the line to Severn Beach surviving until the Beeching era with several halts including one in the township of Pilning itself. Pilning (High Level - the station on the line to the tunnel) took on a new life as a motorail terminal from the coming of private motor cars, until the first Severn Bridge opened and took that traffic away.
So although developments carried on, including lots more residents and residences even on the old trackbeds, the stations "at" Pilning faded from being a key passenger point into a less used station. It remains important operationally important, with loops to allow faster trains to bypass slower ones - usually the odd freight of works train put into the loops. Those loops are glistening shiny, but yet I've not seen trains stabled there on visits as train after train comes out of or disappears down towards the tunnel on the fast through lines.
So what of Pilning Station? It faded, with services dropping off the timetable from a service through the day to a sparse peak only service (clock-face arrived, but Pilning was not on the clock), and then further dropped to just a token ("Parliamentary") service on Saturdays. Full closure would have resulted in a complex, expensive and unpopular process, and re-instatement of a usable service would have brought the question "Useable for whom?". For sure, there would have been some users but at that time and without other measures away from the railway they would have been sparse. This was not MetroLand where the London Underground network was built with residential estates around the stations to generate the commuter traffic.
A decade ago, Pilning station had two platforms, a footbridge connecting them, and not much else. The eastbound platform was and still is accessed from a large flat parking area, one end away from the approach road being a scrapyard. The Westbound was only accessed by the bridge - an "island" platform on the main line, with the freight loop passing around the back of it. I never saw a level / barrow crossing but I'm sure there must have been one in the past. And this layout was a distinct problem when the time came to electrify the line.
The footbridge to access the westbound island was old (and I don't know what condition it was in - said to be poor?). It was, I understand, too low to run overhead electric cables underneath it. It was certainly not "Accessible for All" - no lift, no slopes, no level or near-level way across. What to do about it?
The next station up the line at Patchway had a similar footbridge and that has been replaced by a higher bridge with lift - but that station has a train each way every hour, not just every week. Stations like Filton Abbey Wood and Stapleton Road have magnificent footbridges and slopes - major engineering pieces that feel like sledgehammers to crack walnuts even in those much busier cases. The question may have briefly been raised about a back access but the freight loop rules that out and people ma have even wondered about a subway under that line of even the main lines. But yet all of these are ridiculous ideas when looked at in relation to their anticipated use. A strong local campaign called for a new footbridge, perhaps re-using a redundant higher bridge taken from several suggested stations; I'm not sure how serious that may have been looked at but it certainly flew in the face of "rules" and requirements for wheelchair access - and help for the rest of the very few who would have heavy luggage, babes in push chars, etc.
The solution adopted has been simply to close the Westbound platform. Trains now only serve Pilning, two trains on a Saturday, and only eastbound towards Bristol. This flies in the face of usability. 90% of rail journeys, I understand, are part of 2 way return trips. Yes, you CAN do it by doubling back. To South Wales there's sign at the station showing you the times. From Bristol, there's no clue as to how you might get back. Almost as if the people who run the station don't actually want to encourage (or even provide information) to have people use it.
Pilning (Station) to Temple Meads in the city of Bristol in 21 minutes is rather good. The bus from Pilning to Bristol Parkway takes 42 minutes; add time to transfer there to the train plus the train time into the city and you're up to over the hour if you're lucky. The difference between being commutable and not.
As an aside - was the solution adopted "correct in the circumstances" and were "all options explored". There were strong suggestions that it was done without proper consultations, with the local communities not being properly informed / taken by surprise. It certainly is NOT one of Network Rail's finest hours, to put it mildly. There are questions raised over the legality of some of how things were done or not, and bigger questions about the moral choices made in the process - it seems that a station was rendered impractical for normal passenger to use - "closed" to them - without going through a closure procedure an consultation that is provided for, and for very good reason, in law. HOWEVER we are where we are, and I don't personally see the best way forward to be raking back over these issues. I am concerned about a precent having been set and indeed I hear mention of Teeside Airport and Polesworth. End of aside.
Pilning Station yesterdayThere's a new barricaded gate at the bottom of the entrance drive - with a passenger entry there. The gate was open; I wonder when it is open, when closed, and how it fits with the advertised "Car Parking Available" claimed by the National Rail website.
The car park / yard is much cleaner than it use to be, though the gate to the platform is far from obvious. There's not the big piles of junk, nor the loose "guard" dog which in practise just woofed a bit. The phone box is gone; there is a help point but no passenger information displays and no
PA▸ system, so nothing to suggest whether your train is running and on time.
Two notice board panels - one telling you how to travel from Pilning but only to Bristol and to South Wales, and nothing about going further, nor about getting back. The other suggesting how useful a business account is for rail travel; not something that I could imagine would be used much here.
The platform is clean enough - a short section has flagstones but much is rough cinders with just a more solid edge. The platform HAS been fitted with tactile edging for its full 5 carriage length. The old station building is shuttered with rusty stutters and even the stumps of the footbridge have gone. Signs tell you to be careful of fishing gear near the overhead electrics.
Checking Open Train Times, I saw the train approaching Severn Tunnel Junction and indeed it rolled in a few minutes later. A five car
IET▸ , described as running through to Penzance and running under electric power. One passenger got off, and I was the only one to join. Perhaps a third of the seats taken; neither quiet nor crowded
Looking forward, our train manager let us know that passengers for Penzance would need to change at Temple Meads, as our train was carrying on as the 16:00 to London (Paddington) ... and so it was that I stayed on the train all the way to Swindon.
So there you go - Pilning yesterday, my first ever experience of leaving there on an electric service, and and first time in my personal knowledge of a through train from Pilning to London.
The future at PilningAnd this section could be even longer than the article so far!
* Our new government is looking for major housebuilding and especially near existing public transport infrastructure. How about somewhere 20 minutes from Bristol, and Newport, and close to Cardiff
* The line through the operational platform at Pilning is signalled for bidirectional operation
* There is no passenger reason for the station to be located where it is, and new platforms off the B road / bus route on the outskirts of the village would look to be slope accessible; to the freight loops, mind.
* Pilning and especially that B road are physically close to the Severnside business area and the new motorway junction recently put in there, and could be engineered without the need to drive through the village
* It's not far from Thornbury and would make a logical railhead and Pilning has expanded (note my earlier comments on trackbed being built on) and merged with Redwick
* The railway is now electric - clean, fast train acceleration, and TfW are proposing a much higher frequency of local trains from Cardiff though to Bristol and additional stations (but only on the Welsh side!!)
* There are local concerns / desires to improve rail services at Pilning, but fear of developments that will bring many more in and change the nature of the place.
* Gapping (dead sections) in overhead electrification, and having cables rise and fall (Steventon / Didcot) that may effect bridge clearance.
Edit to spell check - I have changed a platform of "Rough ciders" into "rough cinders" much though a cider festival there might help draw the crowds!
