Bristol Underground System proposals - merged posts

[whole diary]

[Bmblbzzz]

I haven't found a website of that name to try to connect to.

[Red Squirrel]

Future4West is a thing: https://www.future4west.co.uk/

Not very exciting at the moment, but maybe it’ll change with time. I presume the ‘4’ refers to the four proposed rapid transit lines, as well as being a homonym of ‘for’.

If you google it, you may find stuff about a band from Dundalk and all sorts of other things. Google assumes the ‘4’ is a mistake unless you tell it otherwise.

[Noggin]

Has anyone actually managed to connect to the site

Future4West

Because I have not.

I see a login page but if you go to https://staging.future4west.co.uk/ in Google Chrome and ignore the security messages you can see something on the A38 upgrade which may or may not be news.

[Noggin]

Just a it seemed to me that WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) or more specifically our Metro Mayor had put the whole issue of underground mass transit out of the question, along comes this different take on matters from New Civil Engineer:

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/tunnelling-work-for-planned-bristol-underground-would-be-relatively-easy-22-03-2023/?tkn=1

So, is it back on with WECA or isn't it?  I'm confused (as regulars to the Coffee Shop will likely already know).

Or perhaps it was just horse-trading? WECA pay £13.8m consultants fee to kick the project into the grass long enough for Marv to be out of office. Marv gets to say "I got this transformational idea to the next stage". Marv stops blocking WECA. WECA include in the report scope some stuff they might actually be interested in.

In the scope of the report they include a bunch of stuff 

[TonyK]

Not very exciting at the moment, but maybe it’ll change with time. I presume the ‘4’ refers to the four proposed rapid transit lines, as well as being a homonym of ‘for’.

Four Lines Now? I'm interested...

[johnneyw]

Bristol Live claim to have seen a report by senior WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) transport managers regarding the feasibility of a mass transport system for Bristol.  It doesn't rule out an "underground system" entirely but clearly leans towards most of it being above ground.  Article link below.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/exclusive-report-bristol-underground-says-8756011?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

[johnneyw]

Despite the reports in the previous post regarding mass transit in Bristol, Metro Mayor Dan has once again poured cold water on the "underground" scheme and instead seems here to confirm that he'll tackle the problem with buses. 

That should solve it.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-underground-plans-ruled-out-8779052

[TonyK]

Bristol Live claim to have seen a report by senior WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) transport managers regarding the feasibility of a mass transport system for Bristol.  It doesn't rule out an "underground system" entirely but clearly leans towards most of it being above ground.  Article link below.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/exclusive-report-bristol-underground-says-8756011?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

In fairness, 55% of London Underground is above ground.

Despite the reports in the previous post regarding mass transit in Bristol, Metro Mayor Dan has once again poured cold water on the "underground" scheme and instead seems here to confirm that he'll tackle the problem with buses. 

That should solve it.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-underground-plans-ruled-out-8779052

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. Planning for more buses will get Bristol nowhere. A mix of heavy rail where it can be done and light rail where it can't is the way forward.

[Red Squirrel]

Indeed. A local rail campaign recently tweeted:

Honest question: Can anyone explain the point of the 'guided busway' sections of the m2 bus route?
The (specially equipped!) bus slows to a crawl, enters the busway, dawdles through it, then speeds
up again when it gets to the end. #bristolrail

So far this has 8413 views and 47 likes. Seems to have struck a bit of a chord.

[simonw]

The fact the Bristol has a mayor (soon to be replaced by committee) that wants an underground, and the West of England has a mayor that wants buses is interesting.

Too much ambition by one and zero by the other.

Whilst not a transport guru, I'd like to see the FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) (Bristol Rail Campaign) plan for the West of England come to fruition, with frequent services, local bus hubs and finally an integrated local rail and bus tickets that facilities local travel and not make it impossible by public transport.

[johnneyw]

Interesting though that the Bristol Live report carrying Mayor Dan's reassertion that there wouldn't be an underground was followed by him talking of visiting Coventry shortly to see a transport innovation in the city.  He was presumably talking about the Very Light Rail facility there.

[chuffed]

Given the width of the guidedbusway rails on the m2...I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Marvin ordered some broad gauge trains to replace the buses.....as a parting shot to a certain WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) mayor.

[TonyK]

Given the width of the guidedbusway rails on the m2...I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Marvin ordered some broad gauge trains to replace the buses.....as a parting shot to a certain WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) mayor.

Maybe not broad gauge, but light rail would fit nicely. The skew bridge could be an issue though.

[Red Squirrel]

Given the width of the guidedbusway rails on the m2...I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Marvin ordered some broad gauge trains to replace the buses.....as a parting shot to a certain WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) mayor.

Maybe not broad gauge, but light rail would fit nicely. The skew bridge could be an issue though.

Nice bit of interlaced track would sort that!

[Noggin]

Given the width of the guidedbusway rails on the m2...I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Marvin ordered some broad gauge trains to replace the buses.....as a parting shot to a certain WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) mayor.

Reminds me of the Basque country where they basically build everything to metre gauge, including new tramways and metros, presumably to annoy the rest of Spain, that is apart from the new high-speed line which will be standard gauge, presumably that's OK because it connects to France.

Incidentally, if you think HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) is taking a long time, Google the Basque high-speed lines where there are long lengths of the route with the civils done but no track or overheads because they can't agree how to get the lines into the big cities.