Bristol Temple Meads - station, facilities, incidents and events (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[trainer]

If you will indulge this flight of fancy a little further, it strikes me that it would be fantastic to have a glass wall between the Brunel part of the Old Station (the bit where they hold the Beer Festival) and the extension. This would allow passengers could see the old hammerbeam roof from the new platforms, and conference-goers could see out into the station.

Good suggestion RS, although I'm not sure how practical glass and diesel exhaust is in close proximity (I know electric will be partially substituting in due course).  There are glass screens some distance from the ends of the platforms at Paddington which seem to fare well. Anything to show off that wonderful space to as many people as possible and of course to display the continuing transport use at Temple Meads is worth considering.

Some of those hiring out the space may not want the great unwashed looking in on their conferences or exhibitions which they are charging a hefty whack for, so a partial glass screen could show off the heritage assets while maintaining some privacy for the exhibition area.

[TonyK]

I accept that it is not going to get a Reading-style track expansion (is it a bottleneck?), but I think it is reasonable to expect that they do a decent job on the building.

I think the northbound exit should be Four Track, Now! The forthcoming revamp of Dr Days Junction, with the two extra tracks, will present more opportunities, not just at Temple Meads, but at all the stations prior to Filton Abbey Wood. At present, it is a bottleneck. I often walk over the road bridge above Dr Days, and see one or more trains waiting for a platform. That said, they're not usually there long.

There will obviously be changes, as the old Digby Wyatt shed is brought back into use for the London via Parkway IEPs^▸ (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.). Whether it will be deemed useful to services to readjust the other platforms remains to be seen. I would like to think a bay platform 2 could be reopened for Portishead services at the same time.

[John R]

I would like to think a bay platform 2 could be reopened for Portishead services at the same time.

Isn't the idea to have through services to destinations north of Temple Meads? That would be much more useful than spending money reinstating a bay and forcing people to change. And more productive in terms of rolling stock use.

Edited to fix quotes - bobm

[Red Squirrel]

I would like to think a bay platform 2 could be reopened for Portishead services at the same time.

Isn't the idea to have through services to destinations north of Temple Meads? That would be much more useful than spending money reinstating a bay and forcing people to change. And more productive in terms of rolling stock use.

Edited to fix quotes - bobm

Yes, my understanding is that Portishead trains will go on to Severn Beach. The alternate Severn Beach trains will go on to Bath - requiring a reversal presumably - though I suppose that doesn't necessitate a bay.

[TonyK]

AIUI^▸ (as I understand it), the plan is for a Portishead to Severn Beach train hourly, and a Portishead - Temple Meads hourly. The latter could use a bay platform, which surely would cost little to reinstate, and leave room for anything else to get past. I would really like to see platform 2 leading on to a tram-train track in Temple Meads approach, thence around Cabot Circus and the centre before heading up the Friary to rejoin by platform 1.

[SandTEngineer]

I have been told that a new bay platform is not (currently) included in the Bristol Area Resignalling project.  However, mid-platform signals are, so plenty of room for properly done platform sharing instead (get your photographs of the unique mid-platform X signs soon ).

[Red Squirrel]

Oh well; maybe the Severn Beach - Bath and the Portishead - Temple Meads trains will kiss at SandTEngineer's big X on Platform 3! It would seem sensible to make these services connect if possible.

[TonyK]

Is that the big X between platforms 3 and 4?

[ReWind]

Having up freight traffic cross the throat to access the Up Filton would seriously limit capacity as well.

It's surprising that there isn't some sort of freight "by pass" around the Temple Meads area with the ever increasing freight traffic that now passes through the station.

Portbury Docks are chucking out more freight than ever, including a car train I see most evenings on my way home that's too big to fit on the through line without fouling the points at the west end.   The container terminal at Parson Street is growing all the time too, with an understanding that Freightliner want to continue growing and increasing services out of there but can't due to both limited capacity within the terminal and limited paths through Temple Meads.  Fairwater Yard at Taunton continues to chuck our regular engineers trains up to Bristol and the Midlands, including the High Output Ballast Cleaner (HOBC^▸ (High Output Ballast Cleaner)) trains which again, are too big to fit into the loop.  There is also Nuclear trains from Bridgwater, fuel trains to SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) and Laira, China Clay trains to the South West, Scrap Metal to Exeter and numerous light engine movements around the station.

With the commencement of electrification of the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) and the planned increase in passenger services from Temple Meads, freight growth will be extremely limited around the city due to the limited paths and congestion through Temple Meads without a proper freight only route through the area.

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying acronym

[JayMac]

There is in theory a bypass route, although whether it would solve problems of capacity or add to them I know not.

Freight from west of Temple Meads heading north, and vice versa, could go via Bristol West Junction, past St Phillips Marsh TMD^▸ (Traction Maintenance Depot), North Somerset Junction, the rhubarb curve, Dr Day's Junction and onto the Up Filton.

Whilst this avoids Temple Meads itself there would still be the problem of threading freight services across the various junctions between passenger services.

[ReWind]

There is in theory a bypass route, although whether it would solve problems of capacity or add to them I know not.

Freight from west of Temple Meads heading north, and vice versa, could go via Bristol West Junction, past St Phillips Marsh TMD^▸ (Traction Maintenance Depot), North Somerset Junction, the rhubarb curve, Dr Day's Junction and onto the Up Filton.

Whilst this avoids Temple Meads itself there would still be the problem of threading freight services across the various junctions between passenger services.

I think that's a bit impractical though.  That's asking freight to cross over all lines at Bristol West Junction, head down a single track through a busy, working maintenance depot, cross over all lines at North Somerset Junction and again at Dr Days Junction, all the time never really exceeding 15mph.

Whilst the Bristol area may just be able to cope with the current level of freight traffic mixed in with the proposed level of service after electrification, if freight is indeed to grow in the coming years around the Bristol area, to which I can see a strong case that it could, a solution to take away freight from the Temple Meads area might be needed.

After all, how many cities and stations the size of Bristol Temple Meads have regular heavy freight pass through?

[ReWind]

There is in theory a bypass route, although whether it would solve problems of capacity or add to them I know not.

Freight from west of Temple Meads heading north, and vice versa, could go via Bristol West Junction, past St Phillips Marsh TMD^▸ (Traction Maintenance Depot), North Somerset Junction, the rhubarb curve, Dr Day's Junction and onto the Up Filton.

Whilst this avoids Temple Meads itself there would still be the problem of threading freight services across the various junctions between passenger services.

I think that's a bit impractical though.  That's asking freight to cross over all lines at Bristol West Junction, head down a single track through a busy, working maintenance depot, cross over all lines at North Somerset Junction and again at Dr Days Junction, all the time never really exceeding 15mph.

Whilst the Bristol area may just be able to cope with the current level of freight traffic mixed in with the proposed level of service after electrification, if freight is indeed to grow in the coming years around the Bristol area, to which I can see a strong case that it could, a solution to take away freight from the Temple Meads area might be needed.

After all, how many cities and stations the size of Bristol Temple Meads have regular heavy freight pass through?

[TonyK]

It is a problem that will grow and grow. 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.) depot at Filton / Stoke Gifford will add to the traffic, and the deep sea container port at Avonmout may yet become a reality.

I understand that Parson Street Junction is due for remodelling with the resignalling project. Currently, it is a single lead, but it will be made double. The Freightliner depot currently connects only with the up relief. I believe that will be altered, for greater flexibility, and to take account of Portishead. North of Temple Meads, the only possible answer is Four Track, Now!

[swrural]

Of course one can easily double the (SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot))) Avoiding line.  One can also reconnect the east facing junction at Marsh Pond.  I took a photo of the multiplex cinema area from the ghastly spine road (very brave) and huge grid pylons cross the are between the cinema and the appalling OOT (out of town) shops area (Krispy Kreme etc, you could be in Fort Worth).

I am now going to try to upload it here.

No, it didn't work.  Can BobM or someone, pm me with how to stick a photo in the message please?

Most grateful.

[bobm]

PM duly sent - but for those wanting the same information here is a topic from "Help & Assistance" which may ...er help and assist   

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3398.0