Portishead Line reopening for passengers - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[John R]

Note the official comment:-

Spokesman for the Highways Agency Robin Miller said: "The problems experienced yesterday morning appear to be the result of the volume of traffic.
"The road out of Portishead is often busy and it is suspected that this traffic and the return of the schools have resulted in the queues.

Well I never. Did nobody think of that? I can understand why the M5 work was delayed until the end of the holidays, but the local closure should have been carried out during the holidays.

Maybe we shouldn't be so critical of the railways, compared with this lot.

[Lee]

Apparently, the Highways Agency still think they are dealing with Railtrack...
http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/2008/09/shropshire-ghosts.html

[bemmy]

Note the official comment:-

Spokesman for the Highways Agency Robin Miller said: "The problems experienced yesterday morning appear to be the result of the volume of traffic.

What's more, global warming is caused by a rise in temperature, the fall in property prices is caused by people paying less money to buy houses, and your train is late because it was delayed.

[Lee]

A company making a documentary about the effect of railway closures in the 1960s have got caught up in the congestion (link below.)
http://thisissomerset.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=147472&command=displayContent&sourceNode=243687&home=yes&more_nodeId1=242222&contentPK=21425434

Meanwhile, North Somerset Council and the Highways Agency appear to blaming eachother (link below.)
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Council-accused-Portishead-traffic-chaos/article-320704-detail/article.html

[Lee]

The next Portishead Railway Group meeting will take place on Tues 18 November 2008, 7:30 pm, Folk Hall, High Street, Portishead.

[Lee]

The main road between Clevedon and Portishead reopened today after three weeks of resurfacing work (link below.)
http://www.thisissomerset.co.uk/news/Clevedon-Portishead-road-reopens/article-341140-detail/article.html

[Chris from Nailsea]

The next Portishead Railway Group meeting will take place on Tues 17 February 2009, 7:30 pm, Folk Hall, High Street, Portishead.

[Lee]

FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) reports that on Friday morning (tomorrow) Radio Bristol will have a phone in about congestion for Portishead commuters from 9-10 am.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Plans to re-connect Portishead in North Somerset to the passenger rail network are due to move a step closer.

Network Rail is to carry out a study into how feasible it would be to put the line back in service and to build a new railway station.

The section under the spotlight is three miles of line from Portbury Docks into Portishead town centre.

It has remained closed since 1964 despite a vociferous local campaign to get it reinstated.

The study, costing some ^164,000, will look at potential engineering problems, any conflicts with the freight-only service which operates along the first part of the route to Portbury Docks and the cost of reopening a full passenger service.

Deputy leader of North Somerset Council Elphin Ap Rees said the study is "an important step forward" towards trying to improve the transport infrastructure of Portishead.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7855254.stm

[thetrout]

Maybe a Direct Service from Portishead to London Paddington 2 or 3 times a day would get people off the buses and roads because they know they can get to the capital city without having to mess around with different tickets for each mode of tranport, changing buses or parking etc.

[devon_metro]

Maybe a Direct Service from Portishead to London Paddington 2 or 3 times a day would get people off the buses and roads because they know they can get to the capital city without having to mess around with different tickets for each mode of tranport, changing buses or parking etc.

Could this be a window for an open access operator?

[IndustryInsider]

Maybe a Direct Service from Portishead to London Paddington 2 or 3 times a day would get people off the buses and roads because they know they can get to the capital city without having to mess around with different tickets for each mode of tranport, changing buses or parking etc.

Could this be a window for an open access operator?

No. There's no paths. Surely the residents of Portishead would be pleased enough with a reasonably frequent rail link to Bristol city centre and the onward half-hourly FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service to London?

[Btline]

I doubt NR^» (Network Rail - home page) will want to build HST^▸ (High Speed Train) length platforms!

Don't get your hopes up about this! The Uckfield to Lewes line was declined after the feasibility study, despite everyone knowing that it needs to be built now!

[FarWestJohn]

I read recently in the press about six years, if lucky, to get the line open for passengers to Portishead.

Perhaps Network Rail should read this and  employ the Thales and Saudi Binladen Group.

The 2 400 km network is expected to be fully operational by 2013 and includes seven stations and 41 sidings and will handle passenger and general freight traffic.

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2009/04/9503/north_south_railway_etcs_contract_placed.html

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Clevedon Mercury:

Boost for Portishead to Bristol passenger railway

The prospect of passenger trains from Portishead to Bristol received support from the rail industry this week.

The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC^» (Association of Train Operating Companies See - here)) has published a report backing the reopening of some branch lines that were closed during the notorious Beeching cuts of the 1960s.

The report, entitled Connecting Communities - Expanding Access To The Rail Network, has specifically recommended 14 towns with populations of more than 15,000 where it feels there is a positive business case to reopen rail routes.

Portishead isn't included on that list, but it is specifically singled out as a case where an updated study reflecting its growing population would very likely tilt the balance in favour of reopening.

Alan Matthews, chairman of the Portishead Railway Group, said he welcomed the report. He said: "It is another step in the right direction. These train operating companies are obviously profit-driven, so the fact they are even looking at the line is a positive sign. In fact, I think Portishead is more viable than some of the others it mentions because most of the track is in place due to the freight line from Royal Portbury Docks."

Michael Roberts, chief executive of ATOC, said: "Many past studies have looked at reopening old railways, but this one looks first at the market, not the map. It starts with people, where they live and where they want to travel." He claimed the identified schemes could benefit an additional one million people not currently well served by rail.

Other towns on the list include Brixham, in Devon, Fleetwood, in Lancashire, and Ringwood, near Bournemouth.

In January North Somerset Council commissioned Network Rail to carry out a ^164,000 technical evaluation of the requirements to reopen the line. That report will be completed later this year, and is considered as stage three of Network Rail's eight-step process to open a rail line.

However, stage six is construction of the line, so the key stages are four and five, at which the government has to commit to the line reopening and funding needs to be allocated.

This latest report gives an outline capital cost of ^29 million, a figure Mr Matthews said is solid and fully takes inflation into account.

According to ATOC, the scheme currently has a benefit to cost ratio (BCR^▸ (Benefit Cost Ratio)) of 0.6, meaning its costs outweigh its benefits. But it admits: "A number of factors mean this scheme requires further analysis with more recent data. In particular, the population has risen from 17,000 at the 2001 census to 21,000 today, with a further 2,000 planned before 2014. Traffic congestion at Junction 19 of the M5 has become chronic. These factors are likely to push the BCR over 1.0, which would justify further evaluation."