Great Western Coffee Shop

Full report here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58442599 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58442599)

Two points of particular relevance are, firstly to avoid private jets,

And secondly to encourage fans to travel by train. Sounds laudable but I wonder at the practicalities, especially in the West country.
Thinking of the Bristol Arena for example, which was originally proposed to be in a central location with good rail access and limited car parking. But is now being built "out of town" with plenty of parking.
As I commented some time ago, a local political figure was very opposed to the venue "being reliant on the railway" because live events are planned a year or more in advance and the organisers don't know "if the trains will be running" on the proposed date.
They referred to the railway being unable to cope with bank holidays, let alone special events.

I noticed that for the recent Love Saves the Day event in Bristol, a lot of people had clearly arrived by hired e-scooter. There were also two buses parked nearby, presumably laid on specially for the event (they were in normal First Bus colours). But clearly lots of people had also arrived by car (and many on foot from more local areas).

While iylt was mentioned in the general text, one thing not listed in theveecommendations that would improve things the most would be for every venue to run their own sound & lighting kits, thus removing the PA trucks from the roads

The YTL Arena will be served by its own train station.

If an arena had been built next to Temple Meads, there is an argument that large crowds could have effectively shut down the regional transport hub for everyone else. The new location should mean that only those whose trains serve the arena will be affected. There is also the potential that the arena car park could be used as a park and ride to Bristol between events. This car park is actually not huge - it will have 1800 spaces for a 17,000-seater arena - and so there is also talk of shuttling people to the arena site from other park and rides including, possibly, Portway (when the station there opens!) and Bristol Parkway.

Portway Park and Ride is currently supposed to open around 2 years prior to the Arena.

Also talk of Park and Rides in South Wales - not necessarily Severn Tunnel Junction but in that area and that would be a very useful event shuttle.  You could even get people to the venue from Pilining ... problem getting them back at the moment, but I note the post I'm following up only says "to".   We made that mistake in asking for direct weekend trains from Swindon to Weymouth in the morning without adding "and back in the afternoon".

How many days a year will the Arenal be used? If it's going to be something like every weekend, then that could presumably be taken account of in timetabling. If it's more random, as I expect it will be, well, we know the railways aren't very good at flexible.

Indeed, and all the indicators are that work really will start on that station very soon. Stop laughing at the back, I'm serious this time.

But there's little prospect of a timetabled service from there round the Henbury Loop to Brabazon unless and until the Port Company's objection to increased use of the level crossing at the entrance to the docks is solved. I think we'll see Severn Beach to Yate trains via a new curve at Holesmouth Jct before that conundrum is put to bed.

This is not to say that specials couldn't theoretically shuttle round on high days and holy days, but as Bmblbzzz so eloquently put it:

How can you hear me all the way over here?  ;D

I'm curious. What is an arenal? I've seen it mentioned in previous topics but Google doesn't seem to be very helpful unless you want to know about volcanoes.

If the arena station is actually opened BEFORE the arena and if it provides an effective service of full length trains, even at weekends and in the evenings, then this sounds excellent.

I have a cynical suspicion that the arena will open BEFORE the station, with access by road "initially" and the car park being "temporarily" extended.
And that when the station eventually opens, that a limited service of short trains will operate. What is needed is an electric railway with a regular service of 12 car trains for events, and 4 car at other times.

For a venue with a capacity of many thousands, an hourly service of trains with a hundred or so seats wont really help much.

Arenal (Arena) is a Brizzle (Bristol) dialect word.

Usually used, at least on these pages, in self-conscious irony. It refers to the local dialect tendency to add a terminal l to words ending in an unstressed vowel.

I do note that trains sometimes skip the Coventry Arena stop when there's a big event on. This helps reduce overcrowding on the trains that otherwise would not cope, and helps make the railway safer.

Such a policy is hardly going to encourage use of trains though is it. Having a station for an arena but closing it for large events is more farcical than prohibiting the carriage of surfboards to a surfing event.

Surely the train service should be designed to cope with the crowds if we are serious about climate change.

Crowd capacity of Bristol Arena is 17,000 provisionally.
Capacity of 12 car train is about 1,000, my estimate and depending on degree of standing.
Therefore 12 trains, 6 from each direction would be needed, presuming that MOST but not ALL use the train.
6 trains an hour in each direction should be doable with decent signaling.

6 trains an hour... so passengers missing the first hour or standing round for an hour before the show starts?

Or the majority arriving in good time and presumably enjoying food, drink, and retail opportunities.
With good planning, 12,000 people can probably arrive by rail in less time than it takes for 10,000 cars (average 1.2 people in each) to negotiate roads and access routes and for the occupants to then walk from car park to actual venue.

Needs well planed infrastructure to handle 1,000 people from one train in not many minutes before the next train arrives with another 1,000.
Two platforms as a minimum each able to accept at least a 12 car train, 16 car would be better for future proofing. Wide enough walk ways to handle large numbers. Ample toilets, might need as many as 100 for each platform, remembering that after the show that three train loads of homeward bound passengers might be waiting. If drink has been taken, as many as 20% of those waiting may need the toilet. 600 wanting to go, or 6 per toilet to avoid excessive waits.
All this is entirely doable and no harder than huge scale car parking.
But it needs to be planned from the beginning. Platform length and number of platforms are expensive to alter later.