Great Western Coffee Shop

First I've heard about this extended track maintenance program at Bedminster Station.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/rail-works-bedminster-overnight-station-2210738

I witnessed chaos on my service home last night too

1H31 was cancelled from Paddington to WSM, so the usual 1613 commuter train from Temple Meads down to WSM didn't run

This meant that 2Y24 Filton Abbey Wood to WSM was going to be very overcrowded.

Last night it was one of the Castle HST sets, but oddly only three carriages as coach B was missing

Anyway every seat taken, standing all the way through the train and cramped in the vestibules

On arrival into Bedminster the train Manager announces that only the door in the front carriage will be open at Bedminster and Parson Street, which didn't help because on this set, the first door on Coach A was for the bikes storage.
So all the passengers for Bedminster and Parson Street had to disembark from one door !

Queue chaos with people struggling to get through a jam packed service and one couple not able to get through in time so had to travel down to Nailsea and then back up again

No idea why the three carriages could not have been used at both stations, as they adequately take 3/4 coaches normally and certainly not helped by the fact that it was nigh on impossible to actually move about the train

Bedminster Station is a bit of a bleak place, but its fortunes may be about to improve. A new development at Bedminster Green will bring 3,000 more people within a short walk of the station; trains to Portishead will stop there and there is talk of re-quadrifying the lines.

But access is not good; there is a single subway entrance on the wrong side of the tracks for the main shopping area and Bedminster Green, leading to ramps which are too steep. In 2019 a development framework (https://news.bristol.gov.uk/resources/bedminster-green-framework-framework-document) was produced for the area which proposed building a new entrance building on a plot of council-owned land between the station and Whitehouse Lane. The subway would be extended under the track to connect to this.

Further study showed that this would be difficult because the up relief line, under which the subway would have to pass, is lower than the other lines. This makes everything that much more complicated, i.e. expensive!

Bristol Civic Society and FoSBR have both responded to a recent consultation on transport links in the area, in the hope that even if funding cannot be found immediately the site will be retained so that access can be improved at some future date. Their responses are here:

https://www.bristolcivicsociety.org.uk/bedminster-green-river-restoration-and-transport-consultation/

https://fosbr.org.uk/bedminster-station/

Something I missed earlier was that WECA's Strategic Rail Plan contains plans to reinstate four tracks through Bedminster Station (see https://bit.ly/3eonMn2, P.46):

Under 'New schemes to be developed in the 10 Year Rail Delivery Plan and delivered 2030 to 2045', we have:


When Filton Bank was re-quadrified, Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill Stations (which had had four-platforms) were reconfigured as two-platform stations on the new relief lines, with the main lines bypassing them.

It has been proven more than once(!) that it's above my pay grade to try to second-guess Network Rail, but does it not seem likely that both Bedminster and Parson Street stations might get rejigged in a similar way, with the northern tracks becoming the relief lines and the platforms on the new mains being demolished?

Do any members have a view on this? Have I got the wrong end of the stick?

To be honest,I don't think re-instating the "down slow line" will improve things.
You only get stopped at Bedminster if your booked platform is occupied when your train service has run early.
Can't recall getting delayed heading down towards weston super mare. 

MetroWest will increase the number of stopping trains on this route, so while things may be OK now that may change. Note that the WECA Rail Plan is talking about 10 to 25 years into the future.

Beware - paper exercise ...

a) Heading out towards Weston, I suspect trains are held back at Temple Meads if an express needs to go first, rather than out on the line.

b) Would it be an idea to signal what is currently the inbound relief for bidirectional running of passenger carrying trains?  My thought is that outbound Portishead trains use that line, with inbound on the inbound main for the most part.  Avoids conflicting moves of down Portishead trains over the up main.   Add to this - reinstate a direct line from the Weston direction into Platform 2; I know most trains are planned to run through, but that extra flexibility ...

BCC have published the results of their consultation on transport at Bedminster. Very pleased to see this:

Rail

Improve accessibility to Bedminster station

We’ve now prioritised improving accessibility to the station and we’ll be working with stakeholders on this. We hope to have a proposal that improves access to the station, particularly for those on the north side of the railway line, in the near future.

Can't wait to see the details!

just wish Parson Street could have step free access installed

Actually I now realise I was confused; this is a document from a year ago before BCC got the experts in to look at what was possible.

We have the same aspiration for Nailsea & Backwell - but, unfortunately, it's a similar £1m plus that would be needed to achieve that.  ::)

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/network-rail-warns-neighbours-months-5455939

I was at Parson street train station on Monday 7th February and their was a lot of building material at the top of the steps.
Construction workers in attendance,not sure what its all about,any one know?

I'm back in Bristol in a few days and my train from Totnes will take me through there.  I'll keep my eyes open and report accordingly.

Tuesday 8th February noticed that opposite the former Malago Vale sidings where the new house's are.

That a couple of workers were "shoring up" the red sand stone cliff/rock face.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=26003.0;topicseen

A pain for getting home from the football this evening

Residents living alongside an overgrown railway embankment in South Bristol have said they are concerned after house-builders finally won a seven-year battle to develop the unusual site - and began work to clear the undergrowth this week.
The arrival of contractors to begin clearing some of the embankment in Ashton Vale and start work preparing the ground for what Bristol City Council described as a ‘major’ application back in 2015, was the first sign many residents living nearby had that the long saga was reaching its conclusion.
Residents and environmental campaigners have called on the developers to do more to save a range of specially protected species that they say live on the embankment.
But a couple who bought the embankment years ago have fought with council planners since the end of 2015 - and have now cleared the final hurdle to be able to completely transform the long, narrow site.
The embankment once carried railway tracks that connected the main Bristol to Weston line with the Portishead line - enabling trains to go directly from Weston to Portishead and vice-versa, without changing direction at nearby Parson Street station. The short curving line was closed decades ago and ever since, the embankment and the railway bridge over South Liberty Lane in Ashton Vale has been left overgrown and out of bounds.
Back in 2015, the owners of the land, a Aidan and Kevin Berkely, applied to Bristol City Council for permission to develop the site. The plan is to dismantle and remove the railway bridge over South Liberty Lane and level the embankment down to a similar level as the backs of the homes on Swiss Drive and the industrial estate on the other side. Once the embankment has been levelled and the bridge removed, the developers plan to build 17 new houses and a block of three flats - mainly three-bed homes, of which six would be affordable.
But the unusual application was not backed by city council planners. It was eventually refused in April 2018 by the council, who said the proposed access road to the new homes was not acceptable. The plan is to have a new road to serve the line of new homes connected to South Liberty Lane where the railway bridge is now - and council highway chiefs said that would not be safe enough.
The couple who own the land appeal to a planning inspector and in 2019, the Government inspector overturned the refusal, and granted them planning permission - but only if the issues of road access and other ‘conditions’ could be sorted out between the developers and the council.
They weren’t sorted out for another two years, and so eventually the applicants went back to appeal to the Government planning inspector again - with three different applicants to remove the conditions being imposed by the council.
Finally, at the end of April 2022 - almost seven years after the first application was submitted to the council, a Government planning inspector ruled in the developers’ favour after the council officers dropped their objections ahead of an appeal hearing - and even ordered that the council should pay the costs of the appeals.
Now, there is nothing stopping work on the site from going ahead - and the developers now have to come up with a schedule for removing the railway bridge, levelling the land and building the homes.
A bird's eye view of Ashton Vale. The green strip of land is the old railway embankment, with the homes of Swiss Drive below and an industrial estate above. The bridge over South Liberty Lane is in the bottom right of the picture. The developers want to remove the bridge, level the embankment and build 17 homes and three flats on the land, with a new road to that line of new homes connecting to South Liberty Lane where the bridge is now. Ashton Vale's Sainsbury's supermarket is in the top left of the picture, on the other side of the existing Portishead railway line - which is along the line of trees (Image: Google Earth)
For the residents of Swiss Drive, whose homes back onto what for them has been a green oasis of flora and fauna for decades, the arrival of contractors and machinery has come as a shock, given the seven year saga they didn’t know had ended.
“Work started today - we’ve had no notice from the developers at any point in the process, we’ve had no real contact from them,” said Jay Breitnauer, a local resident. She and other residents are also critical of the council's handling of the application.
“Residents have been fighting this for eight years - it was initially turned down by Bristol City Council multiple times. An appeal was meant to take place in March and a group of local residents were set to attend to have their concerns heard - but just hours before it was meant to happen, the meeting was cancelled,” she added.
She and local councillor Tessa Fitzjohn (Green, Bedminster) got in touch with the planning inspector, asking them to hear their case. “When he did come back, he said that planning share residents’ very valid concerns about the development, but that the highways team had had a meeting with the developer and discharged the conditions.
“The key issues are that local people have never been consulted on this development, have been ignored by the Government planning inspectorate and our final chance to have a say has been removed from us. We have had no information about what is happening now, and zero contact from the developer - we don’t even know who they are,” added Ms Breitnauer.
The arrival of workmen on the site - who erected a fence on Tuesday on the lane that runs along the back of the homes - has caused fear among residents that the land is being cleared.
“The land is home to a wide and diverse array of wildlife including slow worms, shrews, bats, a family of foxes and many nesting birds. This wildlife is now being put at risk by the actions of the developer,” Ms Breitnauer said. “We need an urgent halt called to activity on the site and local residents need to know what is happening. We need our voices heard.
“Over the back here there are slow worms, there are bats, dormice and shrews - all protected species. The ecology report hasn’t got any mitigation in there for them. We’re just really sad this has gone ahead without any real consultation with local residents, without any real consideration of the environmental impact,” she claimed.

Bristol Live spoke to the developers’ planning agent, who reassured residents that the work being done was only clearing parts of the site minimally, that an ecologist had deemed was ok to clear. They said an ecologist was monitoring the site and the work being done, and liaising with Bristol City Council regularly.
She added that the bulk of the work to clear and level the site could not be done until later in the year, because of the ecological sensitivities.

Bristol Live approached Bristol City Council about the saga and the work that’s happening now. A spokesperson for the council said: “We understand that developers are carrying out investigations to find out if protected wildlife is present. We don’t believe they’re clearing vegetation. Work has not started on the development.”

Could you please provide details of the source of this article Infoman.

I’m just wondering what this has to do with rail journeys between Bristol, Swindon and London?  ???

Paul 7575
Because its under the forum section of

London to Swindon and Bristol
London to Swindon, Chippenham, Bath, Bristol and Weston super Mare

Westernpathfinder

Here it is, but I think because I use AOL it won't load on some computers
Could be the same gang that cleared the embankment by the up relief platform at Parson Street

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/seven-year-saga-ashton-vales-7091346

If you use either of the two stations.

What improvements would you like to see?

I will start with Parson street,a step free access,and prefer a sloping ramp as opposed to lifts.

I'm a very rare user of both and for me, I might be inclined to use them a little more if they were made a to feel a little less neglected and felt rather busier.... especially at night.

Would there be the space for a slope at Parson St? 5% (1 in 20) is the steepest gradient recommended for wheelchair users.

FoSBR has done some work in this area. We have listed local stations in the West of England and made suggestions on improving access. You can see details of this here: https://fosbr.org.uk/campaigns/better-stations/

Following an event earlier this year where FoSBR drew attention to poorly signed bus/rail interchanges, we have met with WECA and may be making progress with improvements to signage at bus stops https://fosbr.org.uk/interchange-between-buses-and-trains/

As they currently stand, Parson St and Bedminster are both difficult places to install access ramps because of the width and length of the platforms. However if Network Rail's aspiration to reinstate four tracks from Temple Meads to Parson St were to go ahead (see here: https://fosbr.org.uk/weca-strategic-rail-investment-plan/) then both stations could potentially be remodelled. That could lead to access improvements, which might mean ramps or lifts. Given the current economic and political climate, there probably isn't much prospect of this happening soon.

I thought Bedminster's platform was pretty long and quite wide. I've alighted there a few times, and it has always seemed to me one where disabled access ought to be relatively easy to accommodate.

It probably would be possible to extend the ramp at Bedminster to get a bit closer to 1 in 20, (not sure about 'easy'!) but there are other issues here as discussed in this post: https://fosbr.org.uk/bedminster-station-access/

If an excursion wanted to started from Parson Street,I know it could run to Weston and the return

OR

could then "shunt" towards the portishead line.

Would any one any idea of the cost of providing a pilot fdriver from Parson Street to the Portishead shunt point and back to Parson street.