Bit of an update regards the resignalling and recontrol work to
TVSC» , as well as other related work in the Bristol area. A magazine article recently came to my attention through another forum and it gives some of the work dates for 2017 to 2019 so it looks as if the schedule is currently as follows:
February 2017: Recontrol of Badminton line from Bristol
PSB▸ to TVSC Didcot. This will bridge the gap through to Alderton and will also render the Stoke panel at Bristol PSB redundant. A website (RealTimeTrains) suggests that there will be a line closure - the only one in the Bristol Parkway area for the whole of the month - for the weekend of
18th & 19th February so I guess the work is to be done then. Buses will replace direct trains Bristol Parkway to Gloucester but CrossCountry trains will, by the looks of things, be diverted via. Severn Tunnel Junction to Newport from which they will head back to Severn Tunnel Junction and take the line via. Lydney up to Gloucester and then rejoin their normal route.
November 2017: More work at Bristol Parkway! Reconfiguration of layout with new platform.
April 2018: Control of signalling at Bristol Temple Meads to pass to TVSC Didcot.
December 2018: New platform brought into service at Filton Abbey Wood and also new signalling, with re-quadrupling between Filton Abbey Wood and Dr. Days Junction. I am guessing that the signalling from Lockleaze (Wessex Avenue bridge, current boundary between Bristol PSB and TVSC Didcot) through to Dr. Days Junction will pass from Bristol PSB to TVSC Didcot on completion of this work. I also think that TVSC Didcot will, at this point, take over the Severn Beach line from Narroways Junction, where the SBL leaves the main line to Filton, through to Clifton Down. There is a plan to amend the signalling at Clifton Down to make it similar to that used at Avonmouth so that it will be possible for late-running trains from Temple Meads to cross over to the other line and terminate at Platform 2. Terminated trains will then be able to start back to Temple Meads from Platform 2 which is the platform they normally use when travelling in that direction.
A new timetable is expected to commence between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads using the new Class 800 (I.E.P) trains.
April 2019: Control of signalling between Bristol East Junction and Bath Spa to pass from Bristol PSB to TVSC Didcot. The article refers to the "Bath corridor" so I guess that TVSC Didcot will also take over control up to just east of Box Tunnel (where the current Bristol PSB / TVSC Didcot boundary is located on that line) and also down the Avoncliff line as far as Avoncliff / Bradford-on-Avon.
Once all the above work is done, Bristol PSB (signalbox) will be a shadow of its former self and will only control as far as the Bridgwater area (somewhere between Bridgwater station and the M5 bridge just north of Junction 24, which is Bridgwater south). Any passenger in a car who looks off the southbound side of that bridge as they pass over it will notice that there is a pub there called the Boat and Anchor. That pub marks the rough location where the next signalbox to the south (Exeter PSB) takes over from Bristol for trains heading southbound.
For anyone interested, the article which is my source for most of the above information can be found at
https://www.railengineer.uk/2016/10/26/bristol-area-signalling-renewals/HTIOI,
Dave
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