Filton Abbey Wood - a great success? Emulate it just to the north??

[whole diary]

[simonw]

These are all very good points.

With the extra development at East Works (old Rolls Royce site), Charlton Hayes and Cribbs Causeway, it would be better to to leave Patchway station, be, save possible renaming it Patchway South and adding a new station where you suggest, at the bottom of Aztech West.

The effect on Pilning station would be interesting as well. A large carpark at Pilning, with a regular service to Aztec West, East Works area, Filton Abbey Woord/UWE and then Bristol Centre  must surely be sensible?

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

Our Bristol office is located in Aztec west, its currently a drive job for me from Andover... putting aside the lack of a station close by my morning commute....timetable as it stands would  require driving to Salisbury and then changing at Westbury for unit with no seats no first class and an unacceptable number of cyclists on board (nothing like ruining a new suit when some selfish idiot rams his dirty oily bike on to an already full train)

The alternative is via reading however that comes with a significant cost increase which i have only been able to justify once

ANYTIME DAY R
SDR   Route
WARMSTER-SALSBRY   Validity
ON DATE SHOWN   Adult
£23.70

ANYTIME R
SOR   Route
NOT VIA LONDON   Validity
Outward: FIVE DAYS
Return: ONE MONTH   Adult
£167.80

[Red Squirrel]

The current location of Patchway station is a bit suboptimal though, isn't it? It somehow manages to be in the middle of everything without being near to anything.

The best place for a station to serve Aztec West, Bradley Stoke, Patchway and Charlton Hayes is, as grahame suggests, immediately north-west of the B4057 bridge. Trouble is it would not be cheap, given the extremely 3-dimensional character of the site, and sadly the Western Super Mayor looks set to spend all our money on roads.

It would be fun though. I was reminded of Roger Bacon's observation in Flight International that all the best aeroplanes were ASCLOFs (Aviation Story - Costly, Late, Overweight and Fun). Grahame's new station would for certain be a RSCLOF (Railway Story - Costly, Late, Overspecified and Fun). But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a good idea.

[Bmblbzzz]

Doctor Mirabilis indeed to be writing on such subjects 725 years after his death!

As for a service from Pilning, it's not that close and I don't think there's room for a car park. Besides the lack of platform.

[grahame]

As for a service from Pilning, it's not that close and I don't think there's room for a car park. Besides the lack of platform.

Pilning is not close to Aztec West ... way separate case.  No lack of platform (unless they've been doing things I hadn't heard about) ... just lack of a footbridge.   It will be very interesting to see where the supports for the catenary are places at Pilning - whether or not they obstruct any future options to bring the unbridged platform back into passenger use.

[Red Squirrel]

Doctor Mirabilis indeed to be writing on such subjects 725 years after his death!

Not that Roger Bacon, silly. The real one. who wrote this kind of thing, in his Straight and Level column:

Amid the mourning (sorry, celebration) of Concorde's retirement, the stories just keep coming out. Former supersonic ace Jock Lowe recalls missing the red carpet when he landed at Barbados carrying the Queen and Prince Philip. The reason? Apparently, overcome with civic pride, the airport manager at the last minute donned the fluorescent marshaller's jacket having decided that the important job would be done by no-one but himself. To Jock's surprise, the marshaller's crossed-hands-above-the-head signal, warning him to come to a stop, seemed to take much longer than expected. After some frantic "brake now" gestures from the ground, the crew braked and realised they had overshot the carpet by a few metres. It seems the manager had been "enjoying the good life" in Barbados for some years, and the jacket was too tight to allow him to raise his arms over his head.

Strangely enough, after Alpha Golf landed proudly at her final resting place at Seattle's Museum of Flight following an (unofficial) record breaking 3h 55min 12s flight from New York, the confusingly fenced off ramp entrance caused the aircraft to overshoot the museum area after landing. After a serious air traffic delay, a broken tow bar and mis-adjusted air stairs, the engines were finally shut down almost an hour after touchdown!

Best crew quote from G-BOAG (when asked for most memorable event of the Mach 2.02 transcontinental passage): "Passing a JAL 'blunter' [Boeing 747] 30,000ft below us going backwards at 700mph."

Source: Flight Global

As for a service from Pilning, it's not that close and I don't think there's room for a car park. Besides the lack of platform.

Well it has two platforms, it's just that you can't get to one of them any more. The other problem with Pilning Station is that it is a long way from anywhere other than Pilning, but Pilning is better-served by Severn Beach Station.

[Bmblbzzz]

Well yes, I know it has two platforms, but the unusability of the westbound platform might be a problem. Most commuters want to go home at the end of the day. Some want to go home before lunch but they usually try to hide this from the boss. And some leave work, go to the pub and then straight back to work the next morning. They usually get a seat in the boardroom.

I'm trying to work out what the point of involving Pilning is. The idea seemed to be a bus from Pilning station to Aztec (and back again!) but in that case why the car park? I suppose instead of train to bus, it would be drive to P, park, take bus to AW. Then the lack of westbound platform ceases to matter. A shuttle bus from Patchway might work as well or better though?

[Red Squirrel]

I'm trying to work out what the point of involving Pilning is.

There's the germ of a catchphrase here:

"I'm trying to work out what the point of involving Pilning is. You're trying to work out what the point of involving Pilning is. We're all trying to work out what the point of involving Pilning is."

(No Tim Vine fans out there? I'll get me coat.)

[grahame]

I'm trying to work out what the point of involving Pilning is. The idea seemed to be a bus from Pilning station to Aztec (and back again!) but in that case why the car park? I suppose instead of train to bus, it would be drive to P, park, take bus to AW. Then the lack of westbound platform ceases to matter. A shuttle bus from Patchway might work as well or better though?

In what I've posted, I've not intended to link passenger flows at Pilning with passenger flows at Aztec West.   There is/was talk of Pilning - near to the Severn Bridges and with lots of space for potential parking - being another Parkway station that's easily accessed off the motorway.   And if you had significant extra traffic at AZW and at PIL they would be using the same trains, justify a better rather than a worser service which in turn, and up to a point, would bring more traffic still.

[Red Squirrel]

The JSP has got Park and Ride covered - the nearest location to Pilning under consideration is 'A4018' which I presume would be located close to Henbury Station (though I've not been able to find details).

I can't see Pilning making the cut as a P&R^▸ (Park and Ride) - traffic coming over the Severn Bridges would presumably go down the M5 to Avonmouth and use the Portway P&R or stay on the M4 and go to Bristol Parkway which, lest we forget, is at least in part a P&R.

Best use I can think of for Pilning Station is as a shrine to St Jude.

[Bmblbzzz]

Sorry, I misunderstood you then. But in that case the lack of parking (to my knowledge) at Pilning becomes a problem. Unless there's room for a car park on the south side of the tracks, by the westbound platform?

And if you had significant extra traffic at AZW and at PIL ...

But but but... AZW is not a recognized station code!!!  

[John R]

Currently Pilning wouldn't be an attractive parkway station for passengers travelling into Bristol as why would you pay a £6.80 toll when you could use Severn Tunnel Junction?  However, with the tolls shortly to be abolished, that all changes.  There has been talk of house prices just over the bridge rising in anticipation of the tolls ending and thus it becoming a more attractive place to live and commute into Bristol.  

A route already exists from Jn 1 of the M48, (ideal for Chepstow and north thereof) and it would be very simple to create a non-motorway exit off Jn 22 of the M4, although the residents of Pilning would probably be unhappy at the prospect of increased traffic through their village.

[Bmblbzzz]

Best use I can think of for Pilning Station is as a shrine to St Jude.

Interesting. I thought St Anthony was the patron saint of lost causes. Wikipedia has him as the p.st of lost objects, but certainly many Catholics regard his as the p.st of lost causes. Perhaps this is due to the contradictory non-universality of the Catholic church!

[grahame]

But but but... AZW is not a recognized station code!!!  

Yet     

... in all seriousness, just because something's worth talking about doesn't mean the case would stack up. And if the case did stack up, doesn't mean it would be the best case way to provide. And even if it was the best way to provide, doesn't mean that the political or financial environment to provide it would happen.

[Bmblbzzz]

Friend says "Given the office is almost next door to the BMX track, that would make bike + train a much more realistic option than at present."