Metrowest Status

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

As m'colleague FT, N! sort of half-alluded, it used to be a lot nicer before they cut down all the trees on the embankment. I think the sheet piles are temporary, so it may not be quite so stark when the soil nailing is finished.

Actually, soil-nailing sounds like the kind of spa treatment that might attract some glampers... 

[Bmblbzzz]

It's at least five years since I've been past there so I expect it still had trees back then.

[chuffed]

Turning things around......Nail soiling is not the sort of activity one would associate with glampers, even for a nano second ! Actually, could you see any of  the metrobus people getting their hands dirty for that amount of time, even if they were thought to be handling just £1 of 'laundered' money

[TonyK]

As m'colleague FT, N! sort of half-alluded, it used to be a lot nicer before they cut down all the trees on the embankment. I think the sheet piles are temporary, so it may not be quite so stark when the soil nailing is finished.

I think that's what I was doing.

Is that the place you're talking about! I wonder if anyone has ever actually 'glamped' there?

Glumped, maybe...

[johnneyw]

Isn't it always the same? Big local headlines heralding Portway Parkway going ahead some considerable time back for good PR^▸ (Public Relations), now nowt. I guess the engineer's ground surveys must be finished but try to find out where things are now and it's a black hole.
I say this because a successful P&R^▸ (Park and Ride) there (which I take as a given) could really convince everyone of the value of Metrowest, hence my perhaps unreasonable impatience but I find the lack of a my more information disappointing.
Has anyone on the forum got an "info fix" for me?

[TonyK]

Has anyone on the forum got an "info fix" for me?

All is quiet, for sure! The funding has been agreed, which is normally the point where someone starts looking for a shovel. That was done via the LEP^» (Local Enterprise Partnership - about), which no longer has responsibility for transport. I've looked at the website for the West of England Combined Authority (WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about)) to whom the burden was passed. It details nothing with a timescale under a couple of decades or cost of under a billion. Nothing in recent Bristol City Council papers about it either, the last mention being a press release from the mayor's office over a year ago, in which he lays the ground for claiming credit for the idea, or moving it to Filton if his Malaysian Masters think that best.

Portway new railway station works underway
15 Aug 2017

Work is underway to help design the first new railway station in the Bristol area in over 20 years. The station will serve the existing Portway Park & Ride site near Avonmouth.

Over the next month rail engineers will survey the development site next to the Portway Park & Ride to assess ground conditions to inform the design of the new £2.23m station, which is due to be completed by 2019.

Bristol City Council secured £1.67m from the government’s New Stations Fund to make the project possible after working with Network Rail on developing the project.

The newly formed West of England Combined Authority and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) is supporting the project by providing some of the additional funding required to deliver the station, as well as wider investment to better link the new station to the Park & Ride site.

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said:

“Securing this much-needed rail funding from the government is great news for Bristol and it will help meet a long held aspiration to build a new station to serve the Portway Park & Ride site. It will complement the existing bus services which will continue to serve the city centre and encourage more people from a wider area to use these routes, reducing congestion and improving our air quality.

“Council colleagues have already been working with Network Rail over the last few years to develop the scheme and detailed development work is underway. We are working towards completing the station during 2019/20.”

The scheme forms part of a long-term rail strategy for the city region through the MetroWest programme, including improved frequencies on the Severn Beach Line which will serve the station by 2020.

The funding from government announced last month will help the scheme move forward with credibility after being endorsed by the Department for Transport (DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) and the rail industry.

Cllr Mhairi Threlfall, Cabinet Member for Transport at Bristol City Council, added:

“To improve the flow of people across the city and connect them to jobs, education and healthcare, we need the right transport infrastructure - and rail improvements like this are an important part of our travel planning. The Portway scheme will also play a critical role in improving access to both the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone and the Avonmouth Enterprise Area, which are anticipated to accommodate up to 31,000 new jobs over the next 25 years.”

Malcolm Parsons, Director Route Business Development at Network Rail, said:

“This is great news and will significantly improve journeys for passengers in Bristol at a time when more people are using the railway than ever before.

“Securing the funding is the culmination of years of hard work and supports the wider upgrades being delivered in Bristol which includes the biggest signalling modernisation anywhere in the country, Filton Four Tracking and improvements to the Severn Beach Line. These upgrades will provide greater capacity, more frequent services and a more reliable railway with the new Portway Station further enhancing Bristol’s rail network.”

The current estimated cost of the project is £2.63m which includes £2.23m for delivering the rail infrastructure plus funding to make improvements to the Park & Ride site to accommodate the station, including a new amenity building to benefit both rail and bus passengers.

The West of England LEP Joint Committee awarded funding from the Local Growth Fund (LGF) for this scheme in June, subject to further development work and planning permission being secured, in the knowledge that a bid to government for part of the New Stations Fund was pending. This was to ensure the scheme could continue to progress in case the bid wasn’t successful.

The money from the New Stations Fund will reduce the call on the LGF by £1.67m and means this funding back go back into the regional programme to support other key projects.

It is beginning to show some of the more worrying characteristics of MetroBust, being already 5 years past the original sheduled opening date, and way over the planned budget.

[SandTEngineer]

FTN, It looks a long walk from the station to the bus stop.

[TonyK]

FTN, It looks a long walk from the station to the bus stop.

It does indeed, but drivers will be choosing one or the other in the main. I suppose a few of the few people who live closer to it than they do to Avonmouth or Shirehampton may take advantage of what will be for them a shorter walk, but it is primarily for car drivers. I have never seen it anything like full, so putative rail passengers will be able to park very close to the station. That could actually give it a lot of passengers from Lawrence Weston and Shirehampton who have been put off using rail because of the minimal provision for parking at the other nearby two stations.

[Western Pathfinder]

Not to mention Sea Mills.

[TonyK]

Not to mention Sea Mills.

Yes, wise advice.

[Lee]

Isn't it always the same? Big local headlines heralding Portway Parkway going ahead some considerable time back for good PR^▸ (Public Relations), now nowt. I guess the engineer's ground surveys must be finished but try to find out where things are now and it's a black hole.
I say this because a successful P&R^▸ (Park and Ride) there (which I take as a given) could really convince everyone of the value of Metrowest, hence my perhaps unreasonable impatience but I find the lack of a my more information disappointing.
Has anyone on the forum got an "info fix" for me?

I have been in touch today with Mhairi Threlfall, Bristol City Council Cabinet Member for Transport, and she has provided the following update for the benefit of forum members:

- The government funding that we have secured for the project via the New Stations Fund requires that the rail infrastructure must be completed by the end of February 2020.

- The ground surveys demonstrated that the construction of the station is feasible and informed its design.

- Although Network Rail has experienced some minor delays in completing the required surveys and follow up design work, they are confident that this will not impact on the overall completion date.

- The planning application was submitted in July, which is currently being assessed.

- We are currently awaiting the outcome of Network Rail’s ‘GRIP4’ study which has developed the proposal in detail and updated the scheme costs. Once we have received this information and assessed it, we will update the public on the progress and viability of the project. This should be in the next couple of weeks.

[Red Squirrel]

- The planning application was submitted in July, which is currently being assessed.

So it was: 18/03830/F

[TonyK]

Hm. A quick butchers suggests that despite the passage of many years, there is much work to do on all those things the statutory consultees take interest in. Trees, bats, newts (obviously), World War 1 infrastructure remnants, lichen, wildlife corridors and cycle parking are but a few of the things needing survey and reports. Of the three members of the public to have written in, two support and one objects.

At least it has to be completed by the end of February 2020. Fortunately, that is a leap year. I predict a hastily cobbled together opening ceremony on the 29th, with the paint still wet.

[johnneyw]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Radio Bristol news have added a story from late afternoon today that lighter trains or even trams are to be looked at as a means of making the reopening of the Portishead line more affordable. That's all I could find for now, online BBC local news has nowt and I'm not even going to bother with the online Evening Post as they probably won't find out about this before November.

[Red Squirrel]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Radio Bristol news have added a story from late afternoon today that lighter trains or even trams are to be looked at as a means of making the reopening of the Portishead line more affordable. That's all I could find for now, online BBC local news has nowt and I'm not even going to bother with the online Evening Post as they probably won't find out about this before November.

Let's not be too hard on the Evening Bristol for not knowing about this; Portishead Railway Group don't seem to have heard either. Maybe some journo just overheard some friends and I fantasising after 5 pints in the front bar of the Highbury Vaults...