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

[whole diary]

[rower40]

I thought wiring Wootton Basset-Bath-Bristol had been put back to CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024). Are you saying Filton bank wiring has been similarly designated?

No Filton bank is how Electric Trains will first reach Temple Meads

Because, with no wires or juice, they can coast down the bank.
How they LEAVE Temple Meads is another matter...

[TonyK]

Unless I've missed it, there is no grand plan for redevelopment at this time.

There is a grand plan to have a Grand Plan. It has not yet really started life, and is awaited with impatience.

[johnneyw]

Just been made aware of a Bristol Evening Post online article today, "New ticket machine trial at Bristol Temple Meads to end nightmare queues for commuters". Sadly the article in true online post style is both confusing and lacking detail. References to ticket machines and ticket barriers are freely interchanged without much explanation. Might have to look for myself.

[TonyK]

Here is the article from the Bristol Post.

New ticket machine trial at Bristol Temple Meads to end nightmare queues for commuters
By L_Churchill  |  Posted: July 04, 2016

New trials at Bristol Temple Meads could see the end of nightmare queues for commuters.

Network Rail said it is testing additional ticket barriers at the station as part of its upgrade plan.

The company hopes that the new system will see less queues during busy periods at the railway station.

Staff will be on hand next week to direct passengers to the new gate locations, which will operate between 7.30am and 9.30am and 4.30pm to 6.30pm on weekdays from Monday, July 11 for two weeks.

Network rail said it will be monitoring the use of the new barriers to gauge their effectiveness.

Drop in sessions will be taking place on platform three of the station on Friday, July 8 from 7.30am until 9.30am.

Network Rail's scheme sponsor, Lisa Evans, said: "We are always looking at ways to improve the passenger experience at our stations. Bristol Temple Meads is a major transport hub in the South West and can get quite congested during peak travel times.

"We hope by undertaking these trials, we can get a better insight into the passenger flow and can test out other gate line locations within the station, to see where improvement can be made both in the short and long term."

It looks as though it's a new gate line barrier. I hope L_Churchill isn't their transport correspondent.

[brizzlechris]

There's a bit more clarity on the Network Rail Temple Meads account on Twitter...

11th-15th July - Queen Anne Gate - platform 4 (am/pm peak hours)
18th-22nd July - Bonaparte's Gate - platform 3 (am/pm peak hours)

https://twitter.com/networkrailBRI/status/749883173572636672

[ChrisB]

Here, in Network Rail's own words....

Trials of additional ticket barriers will take place at Bristol Temple Meads station in the coming weeks as part of Network Rail’s Railway Upgrade Plan, with the aim of easing passenger congestion during peak travel times.


Network Rail staff will be on hand to direct passengers to the new gate line locations, which will operate during the station’s busiest periods, 7.30-9.30am and 4.30-6.30pm, from Monday, July 11 to Friday, 15 July and Monday, 18 July to Friday, 22 July.

The usage and impact of these additional barriers will be monitored to gauge their effectiveness at easing passenger congestion and providing a smoother experience for station users.

Following the trials, further engagement activities are planned to assess passenger feedback before taking work forward.

To discuss the aim of these trials in further detail and to answer questions on future improvements for the station, Network Rail and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff will be present at two drop-in events, which will be held at platform 3 on Monday, 4 July and Friday, 8 July from 7.30am to 9.30am.

Network Rail’s scheme sponsor, Lisa Evans, said: “We are always looking at ways to improve the passenger experience at our stations. Bristol Temple Meads is a major transport hub in the South West and can get quite congested during peak travel times.

“We hope by undertaking these trials, we can get a better insight into the passenger flow and can test out other gate line locations within the station, to see where improvement can be made both in the short and long term”.

[Stroud Valleys]

The Queen Anne Gate on platform 4 would be my favoured option.

Hopefully they can encourage the current ticket barrier to be mainly used for people coming into the station and from the ticket hall, and to direct people leaving the station to use the Queen Anne Gate on platform 4. Would certainly help passenger flows up the stairs i.e. leavers on the left and the others coming in from the right. You could then successfully remodel the space outside Temple Meads to an extent i.e. new bus stops, drop offs, taxis etc

[TonyK]

The Queen Anne Gate on platform 4 would be my favoured option.

Hopefully they can encourage the current ticket barrier to be mainly used for people coming into the station and from the ticket hall, and to direct people leaving the station to use the Queen Anne Gate on platform 4. Would certainly help passenger flows up the stairs i.e. leavers on the left and the others coming in from the right. You could then successfully remodel the space outside Temple Meads to an extent i.e. new bus stops, drop offs, taxis etc

Part of the grand plan will be to move all the taxis and buses around the side of the station nearest to the ferry stage. Your plan will work with that, even if this is a stop-gap solution to an immediate problem.

[John R]

The Queen Anne Gate on platform 4 would be my favoured option.

Hopefully they can encourage the current ticket barrier to be mainly used for people coming into the station and from the ticket hall, and to direct people leaving the station to use the Queen Anne Gate on platform 4. Would certainly help passenger flows up the stairs i.e. leavers on the left and the others coming in from the right. You could then successfully remodel the space outside Temple Meads to an extent i.e. new bus stops, drop offs, taxis etc

I've often wondered that and then thought "no, it's so blindingly obvious that I must be missing a very good reason why it wouldn't work".  I can't see Bonaparte's gate working half so well as it doesn't provide the segregation of flows that you describe so well.

[chuffed]

The opening of the Queen Anne gate for 'exiteers' whilst leaving the existing barriers for those entering the platforms, along with moving the buses and taxis to the underused road on the other side of the Brunel engine shed platforms seems like a win-win to me. Just as long as the side entrance can still be used by pedestrians from the Knights Templar.....One wonders how this stop gap solution fits with the overall grand plan for Temple Meads which seems to be all talk and no action.

[TonyK]

I'm afraid "Queen Anne Gate" is too grand for me.

[johnneyw]

Brunel Gate for me.

[Spaceship]

Something that always seems to create a bottleneck is the entrance/ exit into the old passenger shed if they got rid of the sliding doors the old entrance would width would be fine

[initiation]

Something that always seems to create a bottleneck is the entrance/ exit into the old passenger shed if they got rid of the sliding doors the old entrance would width would be fine

Absolutely! Pass through this every morning. Especially bad when passing through with a bike or large luggage as this all but stops other traffic.

The area outside temple meads is chaos at the moment due to the building works going on, all foot and cycle traffic directed down a relatively narrow path directly outside loads of shops then either over a bridge one at a time or a bridge with a blind entrance.  Fantastic....

[ellendune]

Welcome to the Coffee Shop initiation